Corporate Archives

  • zoom+
  • zoom-

Corporate Archives

The Corporate Archives of Axel Springer AG, established in the late 1980s, are housed in the Axel Springer building in Berlin.

The Corporate Archives collect

  • files
  • unpublished works
  • photographs
  • sound and film recordings
  • advertising material
  • magazines
  • newspapers and
  • books

relevant to the history of the enterprise and its publications, and make them accessible.

The Corporate Archives are chiefly for the use of persons employed by the publishing house. But part of the collection can be made available to outside circles, i.e. journalists, publicists, scientists and students, for research purposes.

Please submit concrete inquiries in writing, using the email form, or by fax or letter. Individual inquiries can be processed and answered by the Archives. More extensive research should be carried out by the user on the spot, by appointment, at the Corporate Archives. The head of the Archives will decide who is to be admitted to the collections.

Collections

Files and unpublished works

Nachlässe

Documents from all departments and levels of Axel Springer AG since the company was established in 1946, for example from the levels

  • marketing
  • advertising
  • newspapers
  • magazines
  • engineering
  • from publications (especially DIE WELT)
  • from Hammerich & Lesser and
  • Ullstein GmbH or Ullstein AG (also from the period before 1945).

Documents resulting from the professional work of important journalists employed by the company (including unpublished works).

Photographs

About 14,000 photographs documenting the history of the publishing house and its titles - both press photos and photographs that have not been published.

Fields:

  • buildings (history of their construction, extensions, official openings, furniture and equipment, editing and printing techniques)
  • receptions and official functions (presentation of awards to journalists, Golden Camera [Goldene Kamera, from HÖRZU], Golden Steering Wheel [Goldenes Lenkrad, from BILD AM SONNTAG])
  • conferences (DIE WELT forums, sales conferences)
  • individuals (Board of Management, chief editors, journalists, other employees).

Sound and film recordings

Sound recordings and live film recordings of

  • historic occurrences
  • speeches and
  • organized events

connected with Axel Springer AG and its publications are available (e.g. radio recordings; documentary and image films; recordings of meetings and gala events such as the Golden Camera.)

Advertising material

You'll find printed advertisements and reader and distributor advertising from the newspapers and magazines published by Axel Springer AG, e.g.

  • posters
  • kiosk signs
  • objects (Mecki, BILD-Lilli etc.) and
  • cinema and TV commercials.

Copy archive (collections of newspaper clippings)

You may use the following copy archives:

  • Copy archive (1908-1953) of Broschek, publishers of Hamburger Fremdenblatt: biographical collection and specific subjects, A-Z.
  • Copy archive (1945-1948) of Die Neue Zeitung, published in Munich by the US American authorities after the war: cultural topics.

Library

The Coprorate Archives contain over 6,000 books and essays on

  • the history of the press and the media
  • journalism
  • the world of newspapers and magazines (including unpublished studies, degree dissertations on the company's titles) and
  • press reviews

with references to Axel Springer AG and its titles.

What the Corporate Archives do not contain

Certain newspaper editions and articles are not archived. In other words, the Corporate Archives do not contain complete volumes of BILD, WELT, HAMBURGER ABENDBLATT, B.Z., BERLINER MORGENPOST, HÖRZU etc.

For these collections and for general research into a subject you should inquire to the company's own text agency, Axel Springer Infopool. The same applies to searches for newspapers to be reproduced for anniversaries.

Your contact in Berlin

recherche.infopool@axelspringer.de
tel. +49 30 2591 72000

Contact

Rainer Laabs, M.A.
Head of Corporate Archives
Axel-Springer-Straße 65
10888 Berlin
Tel: +49 30 2591 73612
Fax: +49 30 2591 71782

Advertising media

Objects