With its online section ‘Exhibit of the Month’ on the Website

of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria, the Bavarian Economic Archive (BWA)

has been presenting special, curious or unexpected finds from its holdings since 2012. The Chamber of Industry and Commerce Nürnberg

has also now added the internet column, which provides an insight into the diversity of the archive's treasures. The State Economic Archive is a joint institution of the Bavarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce organisation and has the task of securing unique and irreplaceable source documents from the economic history of the Free State, preserving them permanently and making them accessible to researchers. The BWA preserves valuable written, visual and audio documents from chambers of commerce and industry, associations and federations, traditional companies and prominent figures in the business world.

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The BBWA publishes a monthly column with miscellaneous articles about Berlin companies and business personalities in the business magazine ‘Berliner Wirtschaft’ for the general public. ‘Berliner Wirtschaft’ is the chamber magazine of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The short texts focus on presenting the characteristic, unique or special features that can be gleaned from archival sources. A loose series is dedicated to architects in industry.

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The information on the companies' histories was collected from contemporary witnesses of the companies, edited by Dipl.-Ing. Adalbert Stenzel and then published on the Webseite

of the Historical Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technology Association (HKK).

The collection of company histories covers a period from the end of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century, including stories from the GDR era and the upheaval following reunification. The website features company histories from, among others:

The economic history of the Rhineland-Palatinate region has hardly been researched to date. Although there are publications on some companies and industries in certain periods, these leave large gaps, especially for the period beginning with the founding of the federal state. The Institute for Historical Regional Studies at the University of Mainz, one of the most important research institutions for regional history in Germany, wants to contribute to research into the corporate history of Rhineland-Palatinate and also encourage other actors, not least the companies themselves, to engage with these topics. The publication series ‘Economic History of the Rhineland-Palatinate Region’ was established in 2020 for these studies.

Since autumn 2012, the institute has been running the website

as a thematic page of the Rhineland-Palatinate regional portal

, where companies from Rhineland-Palatinate in the fields of agriculture, industry, crafts and services can present their history. Longer articles provide a scholarly account of the history of companies that no longer exist.
Users can currently access an overview of 115 company histories (as of 2 March 2021). They can also find out where to obtain further information, additional literature and any points of contact.
The ‘Essays’ tab presents economic focal regions, such as the shoe industry in south-western Palatinate or the Westerwald pottery region. The ‘Research’ section presents museums, research institutions and other organisations that research and communicate the economic and corporate history of Rhineland-Palatinate. As with the regional portal

, anyone interested is welcome to contribute to the website. If you are interested or have any questions, please contact:

Dr. Ute Engelen
Institut für Geschichtliche Landeskunde an der Universität Mainz e.V.
Hegelstraße 59, 55099 Mainz
Tel. 06131/276 70-13
engelen@uni-mainz.de

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Social and economic change led to a process of consolidation among cooperatives, which caused the original structures to disappear. The archive dates back to the founding of four credit cooperatives, with others joining later. It contains annual financial statements, audit reports, annual reports, minutes, press reports, photographs and characteristic file entries. There are documents from over 500 cooperatives, including credit cooperatives, purchasing and marketing cooperatives, dairies, water supply cooperatives, Germany's only cooperative hospital in Salzhausen, and newly founded service and energy cooperatives. The collection is constantly growing. The archive data, which is stored in a database, can be searched online

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