Think History!

 One could write a book about your history?

 
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Think History!

Do you want to make historical documents accessible online?

 
OUR DIGITAL SERVICES

 

Think History!

Do you need a historical fact checking on

a script, a documentary or movie?

 
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Think History!

Are you curious about your family history? Would you like to know more on your family’s past?

 
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Our Motto Is: Think History!

Facts & Files is the expert on historical research, provenance research, archive management and History Communication.

We are combining academic expertise with efficiency and due dilligence. Facts & Files has been conducting historical research, provenance research, and archive management since 1999. An introduction to our services and projects can be found on the coming pages. To get in contact, please write or call us!

FEATURED PROJECTS

Museum of Natural History Berlin

Archival Services

Facts & Files was commissioned by the Berlin Museum of Natural History from 2020 to 2022 to inventories archival records and coordinate the archive project. A second archive project was finished by spring 2023.

Archive of the DRK

Facts & Files was conducting archival services for the General Secretariat of the German Red Cross from 2013 to 2022.

Archive Study on SBZ/GDR Record Groups

Facts & Files was commissioned in 2021 by the Berlin Commissioner for the Study of the SED Dictatorship to conduct a study on archives from the SBZ or GDR in Berlin.

Europeana 1914-1918

Launched in 2011, the “Europeana 1914–1918” project is a pan-European collection of personal memorabilia from the First World War

Facts & Files was handling press relations and organised the collection days during which documents and other objects could be digitised.

Saxony at Work. Digital Industrial Culture

In 2020 the Free State of Saxony celebrated 500 years of industrial culture.

The project “Saxony at Work. Digital Industrial Culture” collected and transcribed historical sources online.

“Views of Berlin at Potsdamer Platz”

Facts & Files curated an open air exhibition at the Panoramapunkt Berlin.  

The exhibition’s topic is the history of the legendary Berlin square Potsdamer Platz.

Objects at East Frisian Museums

Provenance Research

The aim of the project at four East Frisian museums was to reconstruct the provenance of over 600 objects, which have so far mainly been classified as “seafarers’ souvenirs” from China. The analysis of the marks on the objects revealed that many items described as “Chinese” actually originated from Japan. The research unfolded that a large proportion of objects are export and mass-produced products as well as everyday objects.

Collection Inventory of the Jewish Museum Berlin

Since August 2002 Facts & Files has been inventorizing objects of the collection of the Jewish Museum Berlin.

Provenance Research on the Library of the Berlin State Archive

commissioned by the Berlin State Archive

Starting January 2020, Facts & Files had been investigating the provenance of the holdings of the Berlin State Archive’s library. This academic reference library contains about 150,000 records.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Research at German Archives

Facts & Files inventories records for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), Washington D.C. within the framework of the “USHMM International Acquisitions Program”.

Art Collection of Lotte and Georg Koch, Wiesbaden

Provenance Research

The research project aimed to reconstruct the art collection of the Wiesbaden pediatrician Georg Koch and his wife Lotte, née Seeligmann. The project started in January 2021. The works of art, among them works by Alexej Jawlensky, Christian Rohlfs and Emil Nolde, were packed into the lift vans, and “disappeared” in the port of Hamburg in 1942.

Research Project “Erschossen in Moskau …” (Shot in Moscow…)

Research Project on German Victims of Stalinism

“Shot in Moscow…” was an international research project, supported by the Foundation for Examination of the Dictatorship in East Germany.

World Heritage at the Saale and Unstrut Rivers and the Naumburg Cathedral

As part of the application for recognition as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 2012, Facts & Files prepared a study of the area’s High Middle Ages history. In 2018, the Naumburg Cathedral became World Heritage site.

Art Collection of Herbert M. Gutmann

Provenance Research

Herbert M. Gutmann (1879-1942) collected paintings, porcelain, tapestries, and antiques. Mr. Gutmann was a collector of Dutch landscape as well as French and German Rococo paintings. Mr. Gutmann also collected Asian porcelain, Persian sculpture and porcelain.

Art Collection David and Lola Leder, Chemnitz/Berlin

Provenance Research

The project on the collection of David and Lola Leder, Chemnitz/Berlin, began in June 2021 and ended in August 2022. The project aimed to reconstruct David and Lola Leder’s art collection, research the provenance and whereabouts of artworks from the collection, and identify artworks.

Wittenberg, 2020

Provenance Research at Municipal Collections of Lutherstadt Wittenberg

From August 2020 to February 2022, the provenance of objects from the collection of Julius Riemer, which is no part of the Municipal Collections of Lutherstadt Wittenberg was researched. The objects belonged to the Berlin zoologist and mammalogist Oscar R. Neumann before.

Art Collection of Richard Semmel

Provenance Research

Since 2002, Facts & Files has been conducting research on the art collection of the Berlin factory owner Richard Semmel, who collected Old Dutch masters as well as works by French artists, mostly impressionists paintings.

Expert Report for the University of Cologne

On behalf of the University of Cologne, Facts & Files had prepared a report which looks at the entanglement of the National Socialist regime with the university’s charitable foundations, honorary titles and grants awarded to academics and institutes.

Research Project on Counterintelligence during the Cold War

commissioned by Professor Michael Wala of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Facts & Files is commissioned to conduct research on intelligence and counterintelligence operations of the Ministry for State Security at the archives of the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security of the former German Democratic Republic.

Building at Berlin, Hohenzollernkorso 11, now Manfred-von-Richthofenstrasse, undated

Research on Julio Metal

Julio Metal was a banker and investor, who lived in Berlin and Vienna. His property was “aryanized” after 1933. He fled to the USA in 1938. His granddaughter produced the podcast “Recovering Julio” about the history of her family and Julio Metal.

Europeana Transcribe

Citizen Science & Crowdsourcing

Europeana Transcribe is the crowdsourcing platform for European cultural heritage on Transcribathon.eu to for enriching, transcribing, annotating or geo-tagging of historical documents.

Forum Opposition

Facts & Files was commissioned by the Robert Havemann Association in 2021 with a concept for a feasibility study for the “Forum for Opposition and Resistance”.

Estate Carlshagen, Potsdam, around 1930.

Research on the Hagen Family, Berlin/Potsdam

The Hagen Family owned the banking house Hagen & Co. in Berlin, Germany. When the Anti-Jewish laws were enacted the bank house was forced into liquidation by January 1, 1938. The family was forced to sell property, including paintings, books, and other works of art.

Exhibition on Karl Fischer

Facts & Files was commissioned in 2020 by the district office Steglitz-Zehlendorf to archive the papers of Karl Fischer and to compile an exhibition concept on it.

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