Accession Books of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: Kunstbibliothek
Reporting period 1868 – 1992
Known by a range of different names – “Journal of the Accession of Acquisitions and Donations”, “Accessions Lists” “Accessions Catalogues” or “Inventory Logs” – these acquisition logs meticulously documented every new accession.
The first entries date back to 1868, which is the year that the Kunstbibliothek was founded. The year before, an initiative of the Greater Berlin Trades Association had founded the Deutsches Gewerbe-Museum zu Berlin, which also included a library and a teaching institute. Today, the Kunstbibliothek is not only an important art-historical, archaeological and ethnological research library, but also boasts a significant collection of graphic works relating to the decorative arts, and this is largely due to the special circumstances surrounding its origin. The ideals that underpinned the museum’s foundation also determined the library’s acquisitions policy. Its essential purpose was to convey historical knowledge to artists and artisans about style, technique, material and methods, as well as to expose them to the leading trends and innovations from all over the world. Thus, from the very beginning, the library collected not only technical and artistic books and magazines, but also drawings, prints and photographs depicting artisanal craftsmanship. The result was a comprehensive, exemplary reference collection for all areas of decorative art. These holdings span the entire spectrum of the history of art, ranging in date from the late Middle Ages up to the present day. Today, the Kunstbibliothek is divided into the Architecture Collection, the Book and Media Art Collection, the Lipperheide Costume Library – Fashion Image Collection, the Photography Collection, the Graphic Design Collection and the Ornamental Engravings Collection.
However, the acquisition logs are not organised around these themes. The first volumes listed both literature and applied graphic works in equal measure (A). This was followed by joint inventories for books and photographs0 (which were initially understood purely as a means of documentation) (B). Later, there were separate inventories for the library’s accessions on the one hand (C) and those of graphic art and photography on the other (D); while, for its part, the Lipperheide Costume Library – Fashion Image Collection created special inventories (E). In contrast, acquisitions from the area of book and media art can be found via the library inventory (C). In 2014, new acquisitions began to be recorded in a digital database.
