Gigantic project: Digitization of the folklore atlas in Bavaria!

Gigantic project: Digitization of the folklore atlas in Bavaria!

As part of a new project to develop the Bavarian holdings of the Atlas of German Folklore (ADV), scientists Prof. Dr. Malte Rehbein and Prof. Dr. Alexander Werth from the University of Passau launched a comprehensive initiative supported by the Bavarian State Library. The project, which is scheduled to run from 2025 to 2027, aims to digitize the ADV's valuable materials and publish them via the bavarikon internet portal.

The ADV is the largest humanities project in Germany that documents everyday culture in Germany at the end of the Weimar Republic. The comprehensive surveys carried out between 1930 and 1935 offer a unique insight into living conditions at the time. In Bavaria, over 450,000 data sets were recorded at a total of 1,820 locations, covering topics such as holiday customs, wedding and death rituals, eating habits and superstitions. This valuable data has remained largely unexploited as only a few maps and analyzes have been published.

Importance of digitalization

Prof. Dr. Alexander Werth emphasizes how important the project is for opening up a treasure trove of data that has so far received little attention. Furthermore, Prof. Dr. Malte Rehbein has the opportunity to further develop the laboratory for digitization of cultural assets at the Chair of Computational Humanities through this project. The materials, including handwritten notes and questionnaires, should be prepared using modern digitization techniques.

In addition, a research collaboration was launched with the Institute for Folklore in Munich of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in order to jointly analyze and evaluate the findings from the ADV. The project is also thematically linked to the “Methodikum” science center, which deals with basic methodological research in the humanities.

Scholarships and research funding

As part of the project, a scholarship is offered that focuses on the systematic processing of ADV materials. This scholarship offers monthly funding of 1,400 euros, tax-free, and allows additional income of up to ten hours per week. Applications can be submitted until July 25, 2025, with the documents sent by email to malte.rehbein@uni-passau.de should be sent.

Requirements for the scholarship are a completed university degree in history, ethnic studies, geography or digital humanities as well as skills in data analysis, GIS and text and data mining. Particular research interests may include historical social research and ecological studies, particularly in relation to correlations between cultural and landscape factors in the geologically uniform Bohemian Forest.

The award of the scholarship is not only in the context of data development, but also promotes interdisciplinary approaches and the development of machine-processable research data. Tracing everyday and cultural aspects of life in Weimar Germany also provides the basis for a deeper examination of the evolving human-environment relationships during this time.

Overall, the project aims to make a significant contribution to scholarship and our understanding of everyday cultural history by providing contemporary perspectives on historical data. The scientists are convinced that the digital development of such content represents a step into the future of cultural heritage that is worthy of an award.