Special collections

 

 

Over the years the library has been enriched by donations of rare books, special editions and significant personal collections.

  • The Saarland-Lorraine-Luxembourg-Alsace Literary Archive, which developed from the former Gustav Regler Research Unit, has been administered by the SULB since 1996.
    The archive focuses on fiction writers with a connection to the greater Saar-Lor-Lux and Alsace regions.
    The archive collects manuscripts, books, photographs, films, audio recordings and personal papers. It examines and indexes materials donated as bequests or living legacies, and it supports and encourages academic research and analysis of the archived materials through scholarly events, special editions, etc.
     
  • Fritz Hellwig was a historian, politician and business consultant from Saarland who in 1997 bequeathed his valuable collection of manuscripts and books about the Saar-Lor-Lux region and neighbouring localities to the SULB.
     
  • Deutsche Steinkohle AG also donated two libraries to the SULB and these have substantially enriched the library’s holdings regarding the industrial history of Saarland.
     
  • Rainer M. Kelter was a major bibliophile and collector whose collections included the most important editions from the heyday of French illustrative art, between about 1825 and 1870.
    The books in the Kelter collection are distinguished by their elaborate bindings and valuable copperplate prints. The collection totalling some 300 volumes was given to the SULB by Kelter’s widow, Rosemarie.
     
  • The Saarbrücken wholesaler Gustav Obenauer collected valuable first editions of classics of German literature. After the death of Obenauer’s grandson, Werner Hempel, the Hempel family bequeathed the extensive collection in 2018 to the SULB. The bequest is currently being prepared for indexing.
     
  • The library has also been fortunate to receive a collection of illustrated works from the German publishing house Büchergilde that was donated to the SULB by the Saarbrücken zoologist Raymund Schuler.
     
  • From 1966 to 2014, the SULB received funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) to curate the national special collection in psychology (Sondersammelgebiet Psychologie).
    The aim of the DFG-funded initiative was to establish the fullest possible collection of national and international research literature and journals published in the field of psychology. The SULB therefore offers students of psychology a very comprehensive collection of materials from this period.