German Language Humanities : Home

UW-Madison has been a leader in the field of German Studies (now part of the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic) since 1890. German-language holdings may be found within the collections of Memorial Library, the Wisconsin Historical Society, and the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies. These collections emphasize the languages, literatures, and cultures of German-speaking countries, as well as the German element in the United States, and include Germanic linguistics, foreign language education, German-Jewish relations, and more. Dutch literature and linguistics comprise an evolving component of our collections.

This guide features both library and Internet resources in the area of German Studies. Resources have been selected to help users identify current trends in German Studies in general as well as to highlight particular holdings at UW-Madison.

While updates will occur periodically, please let me know if links have gone awry or if there are resources you would like to see noted here. E-mail me with comments on this guide or questions regarding your research objectives and search strategies!

Bibliographies | Biographical Resources | Book Reviews | Dissertations | Encyclopedias and Handbooks | Image and Sound Resources | Language Dictionaries | Library Catalogs | Indexes to Journal Articles | Journals | Manuscripts and Archives | Open-Access Resources
Websites and Primary Sources

Just beginning? Be sure to visit Tips and Tools in the Help Section

Be sure to also see resources specific to:
Dutch Language and Literature | German Americana | German Culture | German Linguistics | Literary Studies

Search for holdings in libraries across the U.S. and worldwide in OCLC WorldCat

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A. R. Hohlfeld served as chair of UW-Madison's Department of German [now the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic] from 1904 until his retirement in 1936. In 1906 he wrote an article for Die Glocke, a German-American journal published in Chicago, in which he assessed the state of German Studies at UW-Madison, including the holdings of German-language materials at the University Library (at that time housed in the building that is now the Wisconsin Historical Society).

For a more recent overview of our German-language humanities collection, please click here.

The most complete collection of beekeeping literature in the German language outside the Berlin Zoological Museum is held at Steenbock Library on the UW-Madison campus?

The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) is an international consortium of university, college, and independent research libraries that supports advanced research and teaching in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. CRL acquires and preserves newspapers, journals, documents, archives, dissertations, and other traditional and digital resources from a global network of sources and makes them available through interlibrary loan and electronic delivery.

Three electronic resources helpful for German Studies!

To discover earlier works, consult these print resources:

Together, these two titles are a comprehensive bibliography of primary and secondary German-language materials for the given time periods

Our Special Collections contain a wealth of rare books, pamphlets, and documents, most of which can be identified through the Library Catalog.

Learn more about using UW-Madison's Special Collections here -- examine collection strengths in European history, literature, and social sciences here.

Organizations at UW-Madison with German language / cultural / historical programming