The correspondence and working papers of the Director of the Royal National Theatre in Berlin.

The dramatist and actor August Wilhelm Iffland served from 1796 to 1814 as Director of the Royal National Theatre in Berlin. Under his direction it became the most important theatre in Protestant Germany. During his time as director he set up an archive that held his correspondence with authors, composers, actors, singers, theatre directors, tradespeople and officials as well as working papers of various kinds. The archive was a part of his dramatic and administrative activity and documents it. The archive of letters and documents is of such great importance for the history of the theatre, literature, music and cultural history since it is preserved almost complete and illustrates the business of theatre in all its complexity.

The goal of the project is to record in full the content of the 34 folio volumes with their ca. 7,500 written sheets, in order to make them accessible to researchers and interested members of the public. Each piece of writing will be recorded with a description of its content in a database freely accessible via the Internet. The metadata will be linked to the digital image of the relevant manuscript. As well as this electronic accessibility of the collection of letters and documents, a printed edition of select items will be prepared.
 
The cataloguing and editorial project is cooperating with the Landesarchiv Berlin and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. It is being funded by the Lotto Stiftung Berlin, the Stiftung Preußische Seehandlung, the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the Volkswagen Foundation and the Fritz
 
Thyssen Foundation. Start: January 2016, Duration: 5 years