Ludovico-Maximilianea
The platform Ludovico-Maximilianea is a joint project shared between the University Library, the University Archive and the Herzogliches Georgianum Munich. The aim of the project is to collect documents with particular significance for the history of the University. The name derives from an earlier designation of the present-day Ludwig Maximilians-Universität München and refers to the founder of the University in Ingolstadt, Duke Ludwig the Rich of Bavaria-Landshut, and to Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of Bavaria, who had the University transferred to Landshut before it was relocated to its present home in 1826.
The platform Ludovico-Maximilianea provides interested scholars with electronic access to items of particular historical relevance to the LMU in the holdings of the three above-mentioned institutions on the basis of Open Access policy subject to the "Budapester Open Access Initiative" and the "Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities".
The holdings contributed by the University Library mainly highlight printed series:
- University calendars (with lacunae from 1548-1980),
- Staff and student registers (1826-1946),
- Annals (1472-1826) and chronologies (with lacunae from 1867-2000) and
- Indices of graduates and dissertations (1472-1970).
These series are commonly used as a starting point for research, mainly on individuals.
Finding a common denominator among the holdings made available by the University Archive is less easy, simply because the archive sources are so disparate. One unifying factor when comparing them both with each other and with the other series is the periodical nature of the information they contain, such as matriculation registers, the minutes of meetings or collections of documents. For this reason all the official records in the period from 1472 till 1800 were selected, with some exceptions being made for the 19th century. A first stage, already fully accessible, encompasses the official records of the Faculties of (Roman Catholic) Theology Faculty, Law, Medicine and Philosophy. A second stage will include the official records of the Rector's Office and the Academic Senate.
Finally the holdings made available by the Herzogliches Georgianum form an indispensable supplement to the official records of the Faculties of Theology and Philosophy. The Georgianum is the oldest and noblest foundation in existence at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität. In the course of the centuries following its foundation in 1494 the establishment gradually took on the role of a seminary, a character it retains to this day. A historical chance lead to the transfer of nearly the entire archive of the Faculty of Theology and a small part of the archive of the Faculty of Philosophy to the archive of the Herzogliches Georgianum.