Digitale Historische Bibliothek Erfurt/Gotha (DHB)
The DHB (Digitale Historische Bibliothek Erfurt/Jena) is a digital repository and database where we upload all the digitized items of our project – which contains handwritten sketch maps, maps, reworkings of maps, atlases, and many more. This is an ongoing effort, as we are constantly uploading items.
Partly because the DHB is a shared platform for all digitized collections in Gotha and partly because it is in German, it can be tough to navigate and search. An easy workaround is to use part of the actual call numbers of the items to narrow down your results. For a first orientation use “SPK” to access the map collection of the Perthes Collection, “SPB” for digitized objects of the historical library of the Perthes Collection, containing atlases and print media, and “SPA” for archival resources of the Perthes Collection. All digitized items of the project Cartographies of Africa and Asia belong to the map collection, therefore “SPK” might come in handy. For further precision, use “SPK 40” to search for maps of Africa and “SPK 30” for maps of Asia.
GlobMapLab
This website, which is hosted by the University of Erfurt, comprises a complex presentation of a selection of source material from the Perthes Collection. It showcases the relations between different holdings and allows a deeper understanding of their interconnectedness.
It is in German only.
Kalliope Union Catalog
The Kalliope database contains data from numerous German archival collections; the Perthes Collection’s archive is also featured there, although only partly. You have numerous filtering options on Kalliope, which is an extensive database with over 1.2 million entries.
Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes’ Geographischer Anstalt
The Mittheilungen was a geographic and cartographic journal of the Justus Perthes publishing house, which was founded in 1855 and soon enjoyed worldwide circulation. Later named after its founder and most famous editor August Petermann, its most remarkable quality was the publication of maps depicting the newfound insights described in the articles. The database of the Thuringian State and University Library Jena also offers a full-text search of the content.