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Research

Photo: Deutsches Museum

Archive collections

An overview of our holdings

The Deutsches Museum’s archive is distinguished by the diversity of its outstanding collections relating to the history of science and technology. Here, we provide a structured overview of this unique collection.

Online research in selected archive collections

A selection of the archive collections with digital finding aids can be searched via the “Deutsches Museum Digital” portal. Some significant collections are available in their entirety in digital form. The range of search options is regularly expanded. These online finding aids are listed on our overview page and are also available for download as PDF files.

Go to the online finding aids

Stock Overview

Estates

380 outstanding collections by researchers in the natural sciences and engineering

Image archive

1.4 million positives and negatives since the dawn of photography

Corporate publications

Catalogues, user guides and sample books from around 17,000 companies

18Stock groups

6.5 Kilometres of shelving containing unique archive material

LRD

Aerospace documentation

Plans

Around 120,000 plans and technical drawings

Company archives

More than 40 (partial) archives of major companies and organisations

Manuscripts and documents

A selection of unique pieces dating from the 13th century

Administrative Archives

Documents on the history of the Deutsches Museum and its artefacts

Graphs

Hand-drawn sketches, watercolours and prints

Scientific reports

Allied reports (CIOS, BIOS, FIAT), aviation research (ZWB) and American nuclear research reports

Minor acquisitions

51 holdings that cannot be classified under any other holding category

Portraits

Over 12,500 paintings, prints and photographs

Audiovisual media

Moving images and sound recordings

Maps

Around 8,000 sheets dating from the 16th to the 21st century

Posters

Technical, scientific and industrial topics, as well as posters from the Deutsches Museum

Paper History Collection

Coloured papers and documents from the Centre for the History of Paper

Medals and commemorative coins

A major European specialist collection (around 4,000 items)

Bookplates, advertising, seals and stamps

Searching the collections

Photo: Deutsches Museum | Hans und Botho von Römer, München

Haven't found what you're looking for yet?

You can search the archive’s collection overview using the search box at the top. This means that only the descriptions of the archive’s holdings are searched here.

A comprehensive search of the contents of some of the archive collections is possible via the online finding aids.

For specific enquiries, please also contact the Deutsches Museum Archive: archiv@deutsches-museum.de.

‘Deutsches Museum Digital’ enables a cross-collection search across the archives, the library and the artefact collection: