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Research

Photo: Deutsches Museum

Corporate Publications

This specialized collection, which is unique in Germany, comprises over 170,000 items from approximately 17,000 companies and documents the technological development of industrial products, machinery, and instruments. The collection consists of printed material from individual companies. The collection focuses primarily on the period from around 1850 to the present day. The documents from the 19th and early 20th centuries are particularly rare.

Preistafel mit Abbildung der Zweicylinder-Reise-Cyklonette mit Verdeck und Windschutz, 1913, Signatur: FS 720/11. Photo: Deutsches Museum

Options for a Wide Range of Research

Company publications enables systematic, product-oriented research across the history of technology, industry, business, and design. These publications document innovations, aesthetic trends, and price developments, providing insights into the evolution of individual companies and entire sectors, as well as their locations within industrial centers. They are also consulted for conservation and restoration work. Ultimately, trade literature serves as vital source material for contextualizing exhibitions and reconstructing everyday technical life.

Trillerglocken mit Stahlschalen. Firma Globus Glocken. Vereinigte Thüringer Metallwarenfabriken, Zella-Melis, ca. 1906-1910. Signatur: FS Globus Nr. 29. Photo: Deutsches Museum

Types of Documents

Detailed operating instructions and manuals enable conservators of technical objects to repair and restore historic equipment, or to generate animations of functional processes. More than 500 sample books—some containing original materials such as automotive lacquers, floor coverings, fabric swatches, artists’ paints, and paper—serve as fundamental source material for conservation research.

Reference catalogues from construction companies are a key resource for heritage and monument conservation. For historical research spanning the late 19th century onwards, trade literature can provide crucial evidence and even serve as an authentic visual reference for historical film productions..

  • Catalogues (sales catalogues, catalogues featuring reference projects)
  • Leaflets (product descriptions, advertising leaflets)
  • Technical data sheets
  • Schematic diagrams (schematic diagrams of electronic devices)
  • Instructions (operating instructions, assembly instructions, maintenance)
  • Sample books (textiles, paper, plastics)
  • Price lists

Karussell-Drehbank, Neisser Eisengießerei und Maschinenbau-Anstalt Hahn & Koplowitz Nachf., ca. 1920–1923. Signatur: FS 505352 GF. Photo: Deutsches Museum

Firmenkatalog der Firma Karl Krause Leipzig, 1904. Signatur: FS 506197. Photo: Deutsches Museum

Halbautomatische Gegendruck-Bierflaschen-Füllmaschine "BAVARIA", Ortmann & Herbst Kellereimaschinen-Fabrik Hamburg, Signatur: FS 505327. Photo: Deutsches Museum

Key Areas of the Collection

  • Agricultural technology (soil cultivation, dairy farming, brewing)
  • Automation technology, robotics
  • Automotive engineering (road vehicles, transport technology, electric cars)
  • Mining
  • Construction technology (building materials, construction machinery, building structures)
  • Mineral resources, crude oil, natural gas
  • Office technology (typewriters, accounting machines, photocopiers)
  • Chemical industry
  • Railway construction and rail transport
  • Electrical engineering industry
  • Precision engineering and optics
  • Photography, cinematography, film technology, cinema technology
  • Geodesy, land surveying
  • Domestic appliances (kitchen appliances, household goods)
  • Heating engineering, air-conditioning engineering
  • Metallurgy
  • Computer science, computers, programme control
  • Civil engineering, bridge construction, industrial building construction
  • Lighting technology (workplace, street and domestic lighting)
  • Aviation
  • Power plants (steam power, hydroelectric power, wood gas)
  • Power stations (hydropower, nuclear power)
  • Mechanical engineering
  • Mathematical instruments
  • Metalworking and woodworking
  • Medical technology
  • Marine technology, diving equipment
  • Model-making (including Graupner, Robbe, Hegi)
  • Musical instruments
  • Navigation
  • Paper technology
  • Physics, laboratory equipment
  • Renewable energy technologies (solar technology, wind energy)
  • Sanitary engineering
  • Maritime, Diving Technology
  • High-voltage engineering
  • Writing and printing technology
  • Telecommunications (telephony, communications technology)
  • Textile technology
  • Technical toys
  • Environmental technology
  • Consumer electronics (radio, television, record players, tape recorders)
  • Scientific instruments
  • Time measurement

Search by Company Name

Photo: Deutsches Museum

The search covers the approximately 17,000 company names for which corporate documents are held in the Deutsches Museum Archive. Please enter the company name in the search field.

To find out more about the scope and nature of the company documents in the search results, please contact us: archiv@deutsches-museum.de.