Digitalization of the archival sources "Ältere Verlassenschaftsakten Mannheim" with focus on the period 1790 to 1860

“遗产档案”是一份非常特殊的档案，是历史研究的宝贵财富。但是，不幸的是，这已经是一个意见问题很长一段时间。近代早期的宫廷记录被认为只具有地方重要性，因此对一般的历史研究不感兴趣。除此之外，这些档案的庞大数量，也让研究变得极为困难。只有更加关注日常文化的新方法以及在互联网上提供元数据的可能性才增加了这些记录的价值。今天，“Verlassenschaftsakten”被看作是它们的真实面目：社会的一面镜子，它们为有关人民的经济、社会、宗教和个人事务提供了真实的见解。所谓的“Ältere Mannheimer Verlassenschaftsakten”是这类记录的一个突出例子。它们包括大约10，000个实体，为历史研究提供了大量的可能性。这些档案中最大的一部分涵盖了1790年至1860年，这是曼海姆城市历史上的一个关键时期。在这些年里，曼海姆从一个拥有精致宫廷生活和行政管理的城市转变为一个经济不断增长、资产阶级日益重要的城市。这些记录的索引已经存在，可以在互联网上找到。这就是为什么我们的项目将重点放在文件的数字化和他们的Archivportal D和DDB上的出版。

“Verlassenschaftsakten“ (inheritance files) are very special and a great treasure for historical research. But, unfortunately, this has been a matter of opinion for a very long time. Court records of the early modern period were considered to be of only local importance and therefore not interesting for general historical research. In addition to this, the huge mass of these files made research extremely difficult. Only a new approach with more focus on everyday culture as well as the possibility of making metadata available on the internet have increased the value of these records. Today the “Verlassenschaftsakten“ are seen as what they really are: a mirror of the society and they provide real insights into the economic, social, religious and personal affairs of the people concerned. The so-called “Ältere Mannheimer Verlassenschaftsakten“ are an outstanding example of this type of records. They include about 10,000 entities and offer a huge amount of possibilities for historical research. The largest part of these files covers the years 1790 to 1860, a key period in the history of the city of Mannheim. In the course of these years Mannheim changed from a city with an elaborate courtly life and administration to a city with a growing economy and an increasing importance of the bourgeoisie.An index of these records already exists and is available on the internet. That´s why our project will focus on the digitalization of the files and their publication on the Archivportal D and the DDB.