Project description

The Gotha Research Library and Gotha Research Centre are conducting collection-based research on the history of early modern education in a three-year project funded by the Thuringian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. The basis for this is the sources on the history of education collected between 1640 and 1732 by the ducal house of Saxony-Gotha-Altenburg, which are now stored in the various institutions at Friedenstein Castle (the Research Library, the Thuringian State Archives of Gotha, the Friedenstein Castle Foundation) and the Gotha Municipal Archives . The aim of the project is to make the hitherto almost unknown collection holdings visible to researchers and the public in their genesis and context, and to demonstrate their potential for European historical educational research in an exemplary manner. The question of the genesis and change of pre-modern school and educational structures as the basis of or in interaction with early modern cultures of learned knowledge is the guiding principle. The focus is on a practice- and actor-related perspective. The project will be implemented in two closely related subprojects, in which the sources will be qualified on the basis of two pilot studies and a research infrastructure will be designed(Gotha Portal zur Bildungsgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit, Digitales Repertorium). This includes publications, third-party funded projects, workshops and conferences. The aim is to create a sustainable profile for the history of education in the early modern period at the research location Gotha.