Structure and tasks

Founded in April 1950, the Herder Institute is a member of Section A (arts and educational research) of the Leibniz Association. As an institution for East Central European research and associated academic services, its financing is shared 50/50 between the Federal Government (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, BKM) and the 16 Federal states, under the leadership of the state of Hesse (Hessian Ministry of Science and Art, HMWK).

The Herder Institute is involved in the history and culture of East Central Europe from the Middle Ages to the present. It focuses on the territory of what are today Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the eclave of Kaliningrad; the Institute is also dedicated to the subjects of Hungary, the Ukraine and Belarus within the scope of comparative research and collaborations. In the case of research subjects and infrastructure projects, the Herder Institute is currently following the project perspectives listed below:

  1. Collection, protection, mediation and visualisation
  2. Academic image and media access to East Central European research
  3. Knowledge cultures and transnational academic dialogue with an historical perspective
  4. Area, regions, identities
  5. Political orders, majorities and minorities

The Herder Institute serves international research as a meeting place and contact point, and is active in the following areas:

An additional basis for the work of the Institute are its collection holdings, unique in the world, which are accessed through catalogues and indexes:

  • Research library (approx. 425,000 media items, OPAC) and newspaper collection (weekly and daily papers from East Central Europe since 1952, archive of cuttings of over 5 million items)
  • Image archive (approx. 570,000 items, catalogue)
  • Map collection (approx. 37,000 items, 1,200 old maps and 6,300 aerial photos, index)
  • document collection (Collection of archival materials on the history of Estonia, Livonia and Courland, as well as the states of Estonia and Latvia, around 1,300 running archival metres, index, database)

A third focus lies on the development and expansion of an online resource on the history and culture of East Central Europe:

The governing authority of the Herder Institute is made up of 18 institutions and commissions. In the case of academic and conceptual questions, the Institute is advised by an international academic advisory board. Decisions on structural and finance questions for the Institute finally rest with the board of trustees.