The so-called C-Files or C-Manuscripts are the legacy of historian and former second librarian of the Dombibliothek Johann Michael Kratz (1807-1885).
His financial stability and networking skills made it possible for him to spend his life studying and researching the history of Hildesheim, the diocese and wider region. Kratz collected any and all historic documents he could get his hands on, copied and reproduced them through sketches and notes with detailed annotations, analysis and commentary.
This exceptional dedication is even more valuable against the backdrop of history. Secularisation at the beginning of the 19th century often lead to important sacral cultural goods being lost and the bombings during WWII also destroyed many of the original objects that Kratz had worked with. It is due to all of this that his work is not only an important but sometimes even the only source left available to us.
Kratz‘ legacy consists of about 1500 fascicles, 585 books and 23 manuscripts. Unfortunately, almost none of it has been properly analysed yet and a rough index is all that is available so far:
- pages 001 - 099 [here] (C 0001 - C 0446)
- pages 100 - 199 [here] (C 0447 - C 1056)
- pages 200 - 350 [here] (C 1057 - C 1610)
The analysis and digitisation of these important C-Files is a project that is currently being developed together with the Bistumsarchiv and the University of Potsdam.
