With more than one million objects, the media history collection of the German Museum of Books and Writing at the German National Library is one of the most extensive in the world.

Along with manuscripts, historic prints and modern book art, you will find a wide range of archival materials and legacies focusing on the history of books, writing and media, the world’s biggest watermark collection, graphics, decorated papers, early writing surfaces and implements, and book and paper-making machinery and equipment that go right up to the present day. The links integrated into the collections facilitate a complex, interdisciplinary approach to issues in cultural and media studies.

The collection of the German Exile Archive 1933–1945 at the German National Library is made up of documents, legacies, letters, manuscripts and other archival materials. Its central focus is the fate of those who were forced to leave their homes in Germany and flee into exile.

All holdings can be researched in the catalogue of the German National Library. Most of the exile monographs have been digitised and can be accessed in the reading rooms in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main. The Anne Frank Shoah Library in Leipzig focuses specifically on the Holocaust and Shoah, anti-Semitism and racism.

In the German Music Archive, which has been a part of the German National Library since 1970, we collect not only sound recordings and sheet music but also other treasures. These include historic sound recordings and sound reproduction devices. At present, these collections encompass more than two million works. Important parts of the collection include the archive of the Music Information Centre of the Association of Composers and Musicologists in the GDR (MIZ) and the archive of the Society for Musical Performing and Mechanical Reproduction Rights (GEMA). Moreover, the collection contains a number of musical estates. The “Bonner Katalog” is a catalogue of musical materials that can be hired from music publishers for performance.