Oral history and other research in Berlin

I am thrilled to have had some great opportunities here for recording oral history related to the artist I’m working on. A recent interview was particularly exciting: after hearing from multiple sources that the family no longer owned any of her work, I learned that quite the opposite is true. While most of her well-known works are now in museums, many of the very early works were there (which I’d read about but not seen), many location-unknown mid-career works were there, as well as quite a few late, til-now-unknown works.

And, I am still searching out new archives and libraries–apparently endless in Berlin–and am very glad for helpful archivists and friendly librarians.

The Landesarchiv, located in the former Mauser weapons factory out in the suburbs.
The library of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, located in a separate unmarked building around the back.
Former bank building transformed into a gorgeous library
And if they don’t yet have a lot of material entered into their computer database, at least they have really extensive card catalogue systems still in place!
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