Western European Studies

This site aims to introduce Triangle area library resources to support the study and teaching of Early Modern German history, literature, and culture. The “jewel in the crown” is Duke’sJantz Collection of German Baroque Materials and Early German Americana held at the Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library (RBMSCL). In the 1970s, Duke was fortunate to acquire the remarkable 10,500-volume collection of early German printed books, engravings, and German Americana assembled by the distinguished literary scholar Harold Jantz. Professors Robisheaux and Borchardt have contributed introductions to the collection. A guide to the collection, prepared by RBMSCL, can be found here.

The libraries at Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have long worked to collaborate in the purchase of German monographs and journals, including those to support the study of the Early Modern and Baroque periods. Important purchases include the microfilms of other large Baroque era collections, namely the Faber du Faur collection bought by UNC (originals are held at the Yale's Beinecke Library), and the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft Collection, bought by Duke, (originals are held at the Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley). The latter, a microfiche set, is not yet complete at Duke. Efforts have been made to first purchase works not contained in the Jantz or Faber du Faur collections. All the titles have individual catalog records in the online catalogs. Using keywords combined with e.g. "jantz" or "fruchtbringende" works well. Davis Library at UNC holds the Bibliothek der deutschen Literatur, a microform collection of thousands of works on German literature, based on the entries in the "Taschengoedeke." It provides full-text access to German first editions from 1650 to 1925.

Duke University recently purchased access to the Digitale Bibliothek deutscher Klassiker im WWW, which includes the 10 volumes of the Bibliothek der Frühen Neuzeit. This set contains the works of Grimmelshausen, Gryphius, Böhme, Günther and Rollenhagen, as well as several volumes of collected plays, novels, and poetry.

For further information or research help with rare materials, contact RBMSCL Research.

The Baroque site was originally designed by Mike Millner and Helene Baumann. Banner images from the Jantz Engravings Collection.