Gleim's collections reflect the literary development of Gleim's time and the culture of friendship of the Enlightenment. It is not Gleim's household effects and not primarily Gleim's literary works that make up the Gleimhaus as a museum, but Gleim's collections of pictures, books and letters, or in short: the 'three Bs'.
Today, it is the largest surviving 18th century poet's estate in its original collection concept in its historical location.
Large parts of the collection can be researched on the Internet.
Gleim owned one of the most important bourgeois book collections of the 18th century, which has largely been preserved in its original location. Supplemented by a research library, the total holdings of the house today amount to around 30,000 volumes. The library holdings of the Gleimhaus are listed in K10plus, the union catalogue of the libraries of ten German federal states, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and a large number of other scientific, political and cultural institutions. In the OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue) it is only possible to search the holdings of the Gleimhaus. Selected works will be successively added to the Digishelf portal.
The library of the Gleimhaus is a member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Spezialbibliotheken e.V. / Section 5 of the German Library Association.
Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim was a real bibliomaniac. Even as a young man, he collected books, antiquarian and modern. With its incunabula, numerous books from the 16th and 17th centuries and its extensive collection of books from the 18th century, the Gleim Library is one of the largest surviving private bourgeois libraries of the time. Gleim's wide range of collections makes the book collection important for research in various disciplines to this day. In the modern extension to the Gleimhaus, all visitors can take a look at Gleim's wealth of books.
Gleim himself also saw himself as a collector of books for others, as his book owner's mark, his bookplate "Gleimii et amicorum", makes clear. The books were available to 'Gleim and friends'. Many of his friends used the collection as if it were a public library. In his will, Gleim stipulated that the books should remain accessible to the public even after his death.
The library has been constantly expanded since then, with a focus on Gleim's works.
The collection can only be used by registering in the reading room.
In addition to the historical book collection, the working and research library collects relevant academic editions on Gleim's time as well as relevant research literature from various disciplines. The literary, cultural and social history of the 18th century form the focus of the collection, as do publications on Gleim and people in his circle of friends as well as corresponding editions of letters. Works of art history, books on the history of paper, books and libraries as well as publications on regional history are also available, as is the extensive collection of reference works, encyclopaedias and bibliographies.
The library can be used during opening hours in the reading room and most titles can be borrowed for a period of two weeks.
Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim began to compile an extensive collection of his friends' manuscripts at a young age. This included letters, manuscripts of works and other handwritten documents such as autobiographical writings, official letters, etc. In later years, Gleim's "letter archive" or "Musenarchiv" was widely known. Anyone who wanted to keep something sent it to Gleim. It is therefore fair to speak of the first German literary archive. Thinking beyond his own time, Gleim stipulated in his will that his collection of manuscripts should be used by posterity. The museum and researchers continue to fulfil this task to this day.
The Gleim House's collection of letters is recorded in K10plus, the union catalogue of the libraries of ten German federal states, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and a large number of other academic, political and cultural institutions.
It is also being successively catalogued in the national reference portal for estates, autographs and publishing archives Kalliope.
In the OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue), research is only possible in the holdings of the Gleimhaus. In addition to the bibliographic information, the digitised letters are also displayed here, as well as in the digishelf portal.
"Each friend's letters, arranged chronologically, would make a good contribution to the history of German literature ..." (Gleim)
The most extensive collection of manuscripts are the letters, which include not only letters from Gleim's correspondence, but also letters written by friends to third parties. Almost 10,000 letters from around 500 correspondences have been preserved in the Gleimhaus. The entire collection of letters has been digitised. The collection of letters is continually being expanded through acquisitions.
Although only a small number of autobiographical writings, official letters, receipts etc. have been preserved in the Gleimhaus, they provide important information about the context of literary life in the 18th century. The files relating to Gleim's work as cathedral secretary are kept elsewhere.
The autobiographical texts include a writing by the poet Johann Benjamin Michaelis (1746-1772), who died young and whom Gleim took into his house when he was seriously ill and who wrote down his life at Gleim's suggestion, as well as Gleim's business book as a student.
The majority of the manuscripts collected by Gleim comprise his own literary work. He worked on his poems again and again and was never satisfied. In addition to Gleim's poetic legacy, the collection also contains many works by his friends. Their digital cataloguing is in preparation.
Gleim himself repeatedly emphasised that he was already very interested in collecting the works of his friends. A manuscript was considered safe in Gleim's hands. In consideration of posterity, Gleim confirmed the handwriting on the sheets or explained the context of origin. This shows once again that Gleim wanted his poetic works to be used by posterity as well as his letters.
Several friends entrusted Gleim with their poetic legacy, such as Ewald von Kleist, Jakob Immanuel Pyra, Anna Louisa Karsch and Johann Benjamin Michaelis. But friends such as Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Johann Heinrich Voss also sent poems along with their letters, which were carefully preserved by Gleim.
If you want to 'look the 18th century in the face', then take a look at the "Temple of Friendship" by Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim. Around 120 portraits, hung close together, illustrate the literature, art and friendship culture of the time. Important poets and writers are among those depicted, such as Lessing, Herder, Klopstock, Gellert, Bodmer, Jean Paul, Anna Louisa Karsch and Sophie von La Roche, but also painters such as Johann Heinrich Tischbein the Elder, Adam Friedrich Oeser and Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, statesmen such as Ewald Friedrich von Hertzberg and scholars such as Johann Joachim Winckelmann.
For his picture collection, Gleim acquired such famous painters as Anton Graff, various members of the Tischbein family, Bernhard Rode and many others - a rendezvous of German portrait painting. The entire layout of the picture gallery is an expression of a new sense of friendship in the 18th century. In later times, the circle of those portrayed expanded more and more beyond Gleim's personal friends to include deserving personalities of the time. The Temple of Friendship took on the features of a collective monument, which was intended to honour the virtues and merits of the personalities represented in the portraits and to serve as a model for the public.
Here you have the opportunity to find out more about the Temple of Friendship, the graphics and art collection and the artists' estates.
Gleimhaus
Museum of the German Enlightenment
Domplatz 31
38820 Halberstadt
Tel: 03941 6871-0
E-mail: gleimhaus@halberstadt.de
