History and Development of German Studies Archive
This collection represents the output of a result of a project to compile a history of German Studies teaching in the UK, first proposed in the mid-1960s by Frederick Norman, Professor of German at King's College London.
The Conference of University Teachers of German in Great Britain and Ireland (CUTG, now the Association for German Studies) charged Hugh D. Sacker with leading the project in c.1965. Sacker was a lecturer in German Studies at University College London in the 1950s and early 1960s and, from 1965, was at Bedford College, where he remained until his appointment as Professor of German at Trinity College Dublin in c. 1971. The core of the material in this archive was sent in response to the appeal he made to German university departments nationwide in 1965-1966 for scholars’ reminiscences and historical accounts of German Studies teaching at their institutions.
When Sacker left London for Dublin, he deposited the material gathered at the Institute of Germanic Studies (now Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies), where further German Studies-related material was added to it by John Flood, Deputy Director of the Institute from 1979 to 2002.
This collection contains correspondence and papers of the Conference of University Teachers of German (CUTG) sub-committee convened by Hugh D. Sacker to document the history of German Studies in the UK.
In response to the appeal for material, replies were received from the Universities of Aberdeen, Bangor (University College of North Wales), Birmingham, Cambridge, Trinity College Dublin, Durham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Reading, St Andrews, Sheffield, Glasgow, King's College London, University College London, Liverpool, Birkbeck College London, Royal Holloway College London, Queen Mary College London, and Keele.
The collection also contains a series of open-reel tapes with accompanying transcripts of recordings of personal accounts on the history of German Studies: subjects include Frederick Norman, Oliver Edwards, F.H. Sandbach (on his father F.E. Sandbach, Professor of German, University of Birmingham), and L.W. Forster.
Several miscellaneous items shed light on individual University German departments, German Studies scholars, and the teaching of German Studies in UK HE institutions more generally, such as radio and lecture transcripts and newspaper and journal articles pertaining to the history of German Studies.
HGS/1: University German Departments: Historical Accounts and Reminiscences
HGS/2: Individual German Studies Scholars: Reminiscences
HGS/3: Oral History Recordings by Individual German Studies Scholars
HGS/4: Miscellaneous Articles, Reports and Other Publications relating to the History of German Studies Teaching
University of London Archives
University of London, Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies