Digitization of historical newspapers of the municipal archive of Rendsburg: Schleswig-Holsteinische Landeszeitung 1808-1945

• Applicants: Dr. Kerstin Helmkamp; Dr. Dagmar Hemmie
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 443975533

The aim of the project of the municipal archive of Rendsburg (StA RD) and the University Library Kiel (UB Kiel) is the digitization of the “Schleswig-Holsteinische Landeszeitung” 1808-1945.The newspaper „Schleswig-Holsteinische Landeszeitung“ was first published in January 1808 under title of „Gemeinnütziges Wochenblatt für Rendsburg und die umliegende Gegend“. It began as a small news sheet with mainly news from the danish royal court, supplemented by lyrics and prose. In the 1840s the paper changed to daily appearance, containing political news. The new title „Schleswig-Holsteinische Landeszeitung“ (1916) expresses the publisher’s claim to be the first and largest newspaper of Schleswig-Holstein. In the beginning the newspaper had a circulation of ap-proximately. 2.000 copies (1891: 2.200). In 1919 it was subscribed by 6.600 people. In the 1920s the „Schleswig-Holsteinische Landeszeitung“ was the scond largest newspaper of the province behind the „Kieler Neuesten Nachrichten“.The „Schleswig-Holsteinische Landeszeitung“ had and still has a supra-local function. It is of special importance fort the analysis of the crucial turning points in the history of Schleswig-Holstein/Germany/Denmark (1848, 1864 and 1920), being a vocal mouthpiece of the Schleswig-Holstein provisory government, regularely commenting the danish speaking press. Seen from this angle, the „Schleswig-Holsteinische Landeszeitung“ is a first hand source for all aspects of regional and north european history. Besides, the newspaper also offers many opportunities for research in social and economic history, in politics and media science. In contrast to the source value of „Schleswig-Holsteinische Landeszeitung“, the newspapers of Schleswig-Holstein in general were poorly adopted until recently, also due to poor digital infrastructure, not meeting the scientific needs of direct and fast access, which often is restricted by opening hours. Today the „Schleswig-Holsteinische Landeszeitung“ is accessible only during opening hours of the StA RD in the reading room. Via digitization there will be online access 24-7.Dem herausragenden Quellenwert widersprechend wurden die Schleswig-Holsteinischen Zeitungen insgesamt bislang sehr wenig bzw. erst in den letzten Jahren vermehrt rezipiert. Ein wesentlicher Grund dafür ist die vielfach nur sehr eingeschränkte Verfügbarkeit zu den Öffnungszeiten der besitzenden Einrichtungen. Dies gilt auch für die Schleswig-Holsteinische Landeszeitung, die derzeit nur während der Öffnungszeiten des StA RD im Lesesaal einsehbar ist. Durch die Digitalisierung der Schleswig-Holsteinischen Landeszeitung wird der freie Zugang online ermöglichtThe UB Kiel has a proven expertise in the digitization, development and presentation of library stocks (see https://dibiki.ub.uni-kiel.de/viewer/) and the necessary technical infrastructure. This includes a crowdsourcing module for the collaborative work with digitized content.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• Participating Institution: Stadt Rendsburg ; Stadtarchiv; Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel; Universitätsbibliothek