Resources

The Firestone Library, which comprises five million printed volumes, has an outstanding collection of works relating to German language and literature and other Germanic literatures of all periods. A study room, which also contains a collection of handbooks, periodicals, and frequently used texts, is located at the heart of this collection. Our German Studies librarian assists individual research projects by acquiring special material through interlibrary loan or in the form of microfilms or copies.

In April 1966 the Gruppe 47 came to Princeton on the invitation of the German department. The event, which took place over three days, was recorded. Princeton University is the exclusive owner of this unique material. The complete recordings of the readings and the discussions – 16 hours on 20 reels – have been digitized and made accessible by the German Department at Princeton.

Princeton’s Department of German houses the Alexander Kluge Research Collection. The collection is still under construction, but will eventually include the entirety of Kluge’s writings, film, and video, as well as extensive holdings of the scholarly literature dealing with this internationally acclaimed filmmaker, writer, and social theorist.

The collection, including streaming video of many of Kluge’s films and videos as well as PDF versions of primary and secondary literature by and about Kluge, is available online from within the Princeton University campus.

The collection offers modest stipends for scholars who wish to make use of its resources. Please direct inquiries to Professor Emeritus Michael Jennings, Director, Alexander Kluge Research Collection.

The Firestone Library holds the Molly Shenstone Collection which includes correspondence, photographs, souvenirs, printed material, and other miscellanea collected by Molly Shenstone about Thomas Mann.

A collection of Erich von Kahler’s papers can be found in the Manuscripts Division of Firestone Library, Princeton.