D O C . 2 0 1 D E C E M B E R 1 9 1 9 1 7 1 this aim to the fullest possible extent. I should be very pleased if you would satisfy this request and thus help the collection add the names of almost all major modern physicists. Perhaps you would like to take a look at the collection yourself. It would be a great pleasure for me to be allowed to show it to you, and I am at your disposal daily 10–12. With utmost respect, yours very truly, L. Darmstaedter. 201. From Ludwig Darmstaedter Berlin, [8 December 1919][1] I permit myself to submit to Your Honor the following petition. For years I have been accumulating about 70,000 original documents, manu- scripts, and letters of prominent personalities from all areas of the sciences, arts, and technology, which together comprise about 30,000 names from every nation.[2] After having donated this collection to the Prussian State Library, it is my aim, as a member of the board of trustees, to expand it in all directions, to lay the indis- pensable groundwork for the main purpose of the history of science, which consti- tutes researching the emergence of scientific ideas and their further development. In order to achieve this, the items obtainable on the market are not nearly enough. A large resource of irreplaceable value for the history of science and tech- nology is in the possession of scholars, private persons, institutes, associations, and official agencies. These holdings are constantly in danger of getting lost or being destroyed during inevitable moves or other changes. The Darmstaedter Manuscript Collection has long been endeavoring to save this invaluable material from ruin [before] it is too late, as we have unfortunately had to find out in many instances these last few years. What place would be more suitable for collecting, viewing, and preserving doc- uments for research than the largest German library, whose halls provide to the historian simultaneous access to the largest print and manuscript resources? Private initiative is what has made the British Museum, the Bibliothèque Natio- nale, and the American libraries so great.–[3] Our appeal therefore goes out to all, to relinquish their valuable correspondence during their lifetime, or if this is not desirable, to bequeath it by will to the Darmstaedter Document Collection of the Prussian State Library. It should be noted that publication of the documents may appear only 30 years after the death of the author and that we shall adhere to any other publication restrictions desired.