Research

As a research institution, the Theodor Fontane Archive carries out literary, media and cultural studies projects, researches questions of archival science and archival mediation practice and compiles editions.

The archive has provided a forum for Fontane research for more than half a century with the Fontane Blätter  and the Fontaneana series, published jointly with the »Theodor Fontane Gesellschaft e.V.«. The organization of symposia, congresses, workshops and lectures supports the archive’s mission to be a central point of contact and an important forum for discussion for national and international Fontane research. The archive also produces editions of works, writings and letters by Theodor Fontane.

Since 2017, the archive has been stepping up its research into the digital transformation of literary archives. In cooperation with the Network Digital Humanities at the University of Potsdam, the research focus ›Digital Literary Archive‹ has been established, which is differentiated into several research areas.

In addition to research projects on its own holdings, such as a current project on the Fontane’s Reference Library collection, the archive is also continuously developing research publications and editions.