This website amalgamates the results produced by two research and infrastructural projects conducted by the Montanhistorisches Dokumentationszentrum (montan.dok) [Mining History Document Centre]: The purpose of “Getrenntes Bewahren – Gemeinsame Verantwortung” (GBGV) [Separate preservation – Joint responsibility] and “montan.dok 21”. Archival appraisal, consulting expertise and central service provider for German mining heritage” is to facilitate the research of collections and objects relating to mining cultural heritage at the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum.
The projects have two very clear objectives from a practical perspective. First there is the general scientific investigation of the material heritage of hard coal mining in Germany, and second, more specifically, is the historical research of the objects contained in montan.dok. The starting point for both projects is to document, research and preserve the material legacies of hard coal mining in Germany, worthy of preservation as important witnesses to bygone living and working environments.
Getrenntes Bewahren – Gemeinsame Verantwortung [Separate preservation – Joint responsibility]
So, two processes were adopted for the work performed in the “GBGV” from November 2014 to January 2017: The first consideration was recording the hard coal mining heritage preserved in museums through Germany, and the second one was developing new standards in the recording and documentation of mining-related objects. This entailed recording and systematically categorising 91 museums and associations with mining-related collections.
The impressive outcome is now available both to researchers and the general public on the website. Users simply have to perform a search using a variety of search parameters.
montan.dok 21
Launched in February 2017, “montan.dok 21” is a project that aims to strategically qualify the findings obtained through the "GBGV”. The focus here is on the continuous optimisation of the collection-based research and information infrastructure, and on the continued rigorous upgrading of montan.dok to become the central service department for mining heritage in Germany.
On the other hand, through its comprehensive development and recording activities regarding the institution’s own collections, the “montan.dok 21” team is also dedicating itself to academic research into the material heritage of the hard coal mining in Germany. The results achieved here will provide a new foundation for the historical object research conducted at the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum. This will be made visible and tangible in various ways, including through academic theses focussing on the collection and history of the institution.
The website
www.bergbau-sammlungen.de amalgamates the findings and insights yielded by both projects: Alongside the purely scientific facts, and the capability of digitally searching the material objects of the collection, the “montan.dok 21” research project also focuses on academic communication. To this end, these pages are jointly prepared by an editorial team comprising researchers and archivists, to make the findings from the relevant collections accessible, and equally to provide insights into the work of a research and information infrastructure, for example in the case of the Object of the Month and the Find of the Month.
This website provides services to academics, lay researchers, people with an interest in mining and anyone else who requests them.