The academy’s memory bank

The academy’s archive documents its 250-year-plus history. 

This is where the academy’s administrative documents and minutes of meetings are filed, stored and shared with visitors. The academic legacy of prominent members are also archived. 

Some of the records dating back to 1850 were lost during World War II.

Dr. Johann Pörnbacher
+49 (0)89 23031-1104
E-Mail

Wednesday and Thursday 8:00–16:00. 

Visitors must make an appointment to see the archive.

The contents of the archive are recorded in a database and partly accessible via an online catalogue.

Archive highlights:

• Minutes of meetings held by the academy and its classes (since 1779 but incomplete).
  The minutes of meetings held between 1779 and 1806 were made accessible using modern tools with support from the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung.
• Correspondence dating from the foundation years.
• Documents from the “Attributes” and successor institutions affiliated to the academy after 1807.
• “Regensburg Grabsteinbuch” (book of gravestones).
• Files and bequests of members
  (e.g. from Friedrich Baethgen, Karl von Goebel, Karl Theodor von Heigel, Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, Heinrich Mitteis, Hans Raupach or Richard Wilhelm).

The academy’s archive also acts as a depository for the Archive of the Historical Commission (overview of collection).

Access to the archive and its contents is governed by the Bavarian Archive Law and the Regulations for Use of the Bavarian State Archives, as amended.

Our online database gives you access to:

• Member and election files
• Bequests from prominent members
• Minutes of academy meetings

Link to online database of academy archive 

The book of gravestones can also be viewed as a PDF. If you require a higher resolution, please ask our archive contact.

• Hans Nusser/Bernd Görmer, Das Archiv der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in München. In: Der Archivar 38 (1985), col. 301-308.
• Sylvia Krauss, Kaleidoskop der Münchner Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Das Archiv der ältesten wissenschaftlichen Einrichtung besteht seit 1759. In: Akademie Aktuell 02/2009, pp. 84-86.
• Dr. Silvia Strodel, Aufbruch der Wissenschaften. In: Akademie Aktuell issue 3/2011, pp. 50-53.

German only.

2016 Yearbook (PDF)
2015 Yearbook (PDF)
2014 Yearbook (PDF)