Abstract
The „Bibliothek des Ärztlichen Vereins“ belongs to the Hamburg medical association. The library’s area of collection places its emphasis on medicine, public health and history of medicine. It is in a unique situation within the German library scene because it is the only one with a collection size comprising 120.000 volumes, 190 current journals and public access that is financed by a general medical association.
Founded in 1816 together with the “Ärztlicher Verein”, an association for continuing medical education, by a handful of physicians in Hamburg, it has passed through an eventful history, containing one actual and one averted destruction.
The first 26 years were characterized through continual increase of the collection and lively usage by Hamburg’s physicians and foreign guests. In May 1842, a disastrous fire destroyed the city of Hamburg and the library. The physician/librarian Dr. Nikolaus Schrader rescued some of the books from the burning building, but most of the 10.000 volumes were destroyed by the flames. Schrader was inconsolable, thus he published an appeal in a medical journal, asking for books and journals in order to reconstruct the library stock. The call met with a lively response: donations were given by physicians and libraries not only from Germany, but from throughout Europe. Hundreds of valuable books where donated to the library in this act of “bibliophilic solidarity”.
Thanks to that, the library soon reached its former collection size and the stock increased further.
In 1937, the National Socialists disbanded the “Ärztlicher Verein” and integrated the library within the “Reichsärztekammer, Gau Hamburg”. In contrast to most of the libraries in Hamburg, it was not destroyed by the bomb raids in 1943 and got through the Second World War without any loss. This was the merit of Prof. Max Nonne, a neurologist, who outhoused the complete collection on his own initiative into his house in the countryside.
The Hamburg medical association has been newly established in 1946 and took-over the library. Since 1954, the library is accommodated in the university library of Hamburg.
Nowadays, it is a modern library, used by physicians and medical students, and by anyone who is interested in medical information. Especially historians appreciate the historic collections including about 50.000 volumes from the publication date between 1534 and 1900.
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