Vikas Maitri
Voluntary Development Society in Jharkhand
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www.vikasmaitri.org |
website for rural and tribal development |
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Vikas Maitri |
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Voluntary Development Society in Jharkhand |
Spiritual heritage and archive management The archieve of the Gossner Mission and the Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in India By Wolfgang Krogel 1. Purpurse of the project
In December, 2005, The Gossner Mission, in collaboration with Humboldt University and the Landeskirchlichen Archive, made a proposal to the DFG to have to Gossner Archives indexed and filmed. The proposal was granted in 2006, and Mrs. Ursula Unterumsberger, who had been retained by the BMW archives, could begin on November 11th, 2006. The project was expected to be completed in two years. Mr. Klaus Vogler, a second trained specialist, has also been involved in the project since May 2007. The objective is to itemize the files of the Gossner Mission in a databank. The project entails such preparation, as de-ironing, cleaning (when necessary), moving the documents from Files into boxes, labeling, classifying the existing organizational system, creating a catalogue and making the files accessible for research through the internet. 2. Preconditions and starting point
The Gossnerhaus Archiv was located in Berlin Friedenau. In the last days of the 2nd world war it was destroyed when the Red Army moved into Berlin, probably on the 27th of April 1945. The missionhouse was caught in the crossfire as it was located directly in the corridor that lead into the inner line of defense the 3rd armoured tank cavalry intended to infiltrate, in order to reach and destroy the command center at the bunker near Zoologische Garten. Therefore, the greater part of the documents in the archive were destroyed. In the aftermath, only individual files and letters were partially saved. One of the files is titled, the first file after the fire. The archive was revived through collections of mission employees, missionaries and bequests. This information was provided by Siegwart Kriebel, former director of the Gossner Mission. The previous organization system consisted of 2 groups: B, files from Berlin and F. Kolsmission. It is not known when this system was introduced.. There are even older files containing the original writings of Gossner. These are to be found under the title "Personal files of the founder, Johannes Evangelista Gossner" without signature. A new organizational system was created for The Gossner mission between 1974 and 1978 and the files were given new registration numbers. (as we see here, the large numbers on the files differentiate the new system from the old). The old files were integrated into the new system. Old files were put into files and perfored, larger documents were folded and damaged. The work was done by Klaus-Martin Seeberg. In 1992, the Western and Eastern missions were reunited, and the archive was moved from Handjeristrasse to a cellar in Fennstrasse in Berlin-Schoneweide. Many of the files suffered water damage through repeated flooding and broken pipes which have left a major part of the collection mildewed and severely damaged. The standing files were given small consecutive numbers either by Dieter Hecker or directed through him, according to Kriebel. There were stored doubles, for whatever reason Documents of the Gossner mission in the GDR were stored without files in chests. There is an old systematik with letters and numbers. Due to losses from the 1945 fire, interest in the
historically valuable printed documents has increased, especially in the
older volumes from the Grossner Mission Review, "Die Biene auf dem
Missionsfeld" (1846-1941). At the starting point of the project, the archive contained 150 meters of standing files, binders, bound volumes, loose material, generally sorted by consecutive nummers. Some of the loose material was organized and some wasn't. About one third of the material in the archive was in poor condition due to age, water damage, or mildew. The origins of the archive stemmed from two sources, files from the Gossner Mission in West Berlin, and files from the Gossner Mission in the East German Democratic Republic. 3. Work program
Recording of the central files (old files and internal administration and Adivasi Mission-India) as well as the files of the United Missions to Nepal and the Church and Organization will nearly be completed by September. At present, the databank contains 826 data entries, which represent one third to almost one half of the collection. Special attention has been given to the recording of the older files. They had been filed page by page. Only partial files or single pages of this material have been preserved, most of them handwritten documents. Tables of contents were compiled and inserted into the files which were stored in the computer under the file signatures. The contents of all the other files entered in the database as precisely as possible and necessary. Where the file title is sufficient, no table of contents field will be entered. Classification of the basic organizational system will be completed, and continue to be expanded, so that all the files can be organized Up to 160 files show grave water and paper damage and 50 files that have mildew had to be specially cleaned. Mr. Vogler is working on the files about publicity and congregation services of the Gossner Mission. At present there are two offers for filming and digitalizing the files which are estimated to be in the range of 100,000 Euros. Additional expenditures will include costs for binding the database (images) in preparation for application in the internet. Since the Landeskirchliche Archive which is responsible for the administration of the Data is transferring the data from the Archive program "Scope" after March 2008, a cost estimate for this part of the project won't be possible till the end of the first quarter of 2008.
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