Collections at HU

A wide range of options

Humboldt-Universität maintains collections in almost every faculty. Further collections are held in the library, at the Computer and Media Service, and at the Zentrum für Kulturtechnik. Some of these collections, such as the Berlin Archive of Special Education or the Grimm Correspondence, were established as part of research projects and are currently the subject of intensive research. Others, such as the Geomorphological and Geological Collection or the Zoological Teaching Collection, were originally set up as teaching collections and are still used in current teaching. 

Some individual objects are over 100 years old. They are constantly regaining relevance through new research questions, investigative methods and their use in other disciplines or contexts. Objects from these collections are now also being utilised in other fields of research and areas of activity. This includes, for example, public engagement through exhibitions. The ongoing development of research methods makes the collections a material foundation for current research questions. These relate to topics such as climate, soil conditions, materials research or historical upheavals.

The university’s collections therefore also include living material, such as the long-term field trials in arable and horticultural farming or the Späth Arboretum, which are utilised in research into biodiversity or the agriculture of the future. Specific collections are frequently requested for various purposes, such as the Lautarchiv for dialect recordings, the Moor Archive for renaturation, or ‘The Levant in Historical Photographs’ for the study of the development of a historical cultural landscape.

Various digital platforms are used to provide an overview of the available collections. In future, artificial intelligence is set to assist researchers in locating the material they are looking for within the collections.