The State Archives of Baden-Württemberg is the memory of the state and its preceding territories since the Middle Ages. It takes over, stores, preserves and makes accessible all documents of lasting value from the authorities, courts and other agencies of the state.

As a competence center for regional studies, it makes the archive material accessible to the public and evaluates it. It can be used on-site at the archive locations and via a comprehensive online service. With a diverse program of exhibitions, lectures, guided tours and seminars, it actively contributes to cultural and historical-political education. In addition, the state archive is part of the state's research infrastructure.

The most frequently used holdings of the State Archive include denazification files, restitution files, records of ministries and authorities, collections and numerous sources for family research. In addition, special highlights are the aerial photographs of the State Surveying Office of Baden-Württemberg from 1968, numerous digitized maps and photo holdings or individual objects such as the Golden Bull issued by Emperor Charles IV in 1356.

Digitization of important national photographic collections from estates

As part of the "Targeted Digitization Funding at Cultural Institutions from the German Digital Library Network," the State Archive of Baden-Württemberg digitized over 350,000 images from three significant photographic estates and put them online for free use. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) funded the project in the NEUSTART KULTUR program.

Between 1880 and 2004, the photographs illuminate numerous facets of everyday and unusual occurrences and scenes. Over 120 years, they depict significant political, cultural and social changes in southwestern Germany and beyond in Germany and other European countries.

From the extensive collection of Willy Pragher (1908-1992), which is kept in the State Archives in Freiburg and comprises around one million photographs and is already largely available online in the State Archives, 5,149 medium-format slides from the period from around 1950 to 1992 were digitized. The diverse motifs were taken during numerous trips to Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Burghard Hüdig's (1933-2020) photographs, who lived in the state capital from 1956 onwards, focus on topics relating to southwest German state politics and everyday life in the Stuttgart area. The oldest surviving negative strips were digitised in 10,000 photo pockets in the Main State Archive in Stuttgart.

The 6,754 glass plates from the Wehnert photo collection in the Main-Tauber archive network were selected as the third collection. They provide a comprehensive historical retrospective of the city of Wertheim, the associated villages, and the nearer and wider surroundings. The very old photographs date back to 1880-1925 and often offer the only preserved photographic evidence of that time.

About half of these digitized files were also contributed as a data set for this year's Coding da Vinci Baden-Württemberg cultural hackathon (07.05.-24.06.2022).

The images can be viewed anytime without restriction and free of charge. The photographic works of Burghard Hüdig can be found at the division Stuttgart Main State Archives Q 2/50, the entire collection of Willy Pragher at the division State Archives Freiburg W 134 to W 137 and the Wehnert photo collection at the division Wertheim State Archive S-N 70. The images are also available in the German Digital Library as well as in Archivportal-D.

Further information can be found on the website of the State Archive of Baden-Württemberg: www.landesarchiv-bw.de

For questions, please contact landesarchiv [at] la-bw.de (landesarchiv[at]la-bw[dot]de).