Two large book donations supplement the library’s humanities collection

In the summer, two large book donations were made to the University of Tartu Library, adding to its existing collection of books on the classical and early modern periods.

At the beginning of summer, the University of Tartu received a donation from the reputable classics researcher Deborah Boedecker – the library of her husband Kurt Raaflaub, former Professor emeritus of Classics and History at Brown University (1941–2023). The donation contains a rich selection of publications on classical history and literature and on ancient sources.

Mait Kõiv, Associate Professor of General History, who helped the book donation reach Estonia, says that he was impressed by Raaflaub’s library already when he met the professor in the United States. He is very pleased that it is now available for use at the University of Tartu. “Professor Raaflaub’s books are a significant addition to the materials here and will surely delight all our researchers of ancient history and literature in the future.” The collection is not limited to classical antique culture but includes literature on early societies, cultures and religions.

The other large donation of books came from Germany. Trudl Wohlfeil, the widow of Professor Rainer Wohlfeil (1927–2024) of the University of Hamburg, donated most of her husband’s library to the University of Tartu Library. Wohlfeil’s research focused on the history of Europe in the early modern period, particularly on the history of the Reformation, visual material as a source of history, and military history. According to Professor Anti Selart, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the donated material was underrepresented here and now fills a large gap. “The book donation complements our library primarily with works published in the 1960s–1990s in the fields of history, ecclesiastical and literary history, art and book history, philosophy, theology and military history,” said Selart.

Contacts between the heirs of Rainer Wohlfeil and the University of Tartu Library were made possible thanks to Jürgen Sarnowsky, Professor at the University of Hamburg, and Kerli Kraus, Junior Research Fellow in History at the University of Tartu. As a result, 150 boxes of publications arrived in Tartu at the end of August. 

Publications from both donations have now been processed by the library and are being gradually added to the ESTER e-catalogue. The books already added to the catalogue can be found by searching by the name of the donor.

Besides the two new book donations, the university received a large donation last year from the widow of Hans-Christoph Schmitt, a former Old Testament professor at the University of Erlangen. Urmas Nõmmik, Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Studies, writes about this donation, which is particularly welcomed by biblical scholars, in the library’s yearbook.

The University of Tartu is sincerely grateful to the professors’ families for their precious gifts.