Dissemination of the pre-war dissertations of the University of Wrocław in the WUL's online catalog

The project is co-financed from the state budget, allocated by the Minister of Science under the Social Responsibility of Science II Program.

Total project value: 37,352.00 PLN
Funding from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education: 33,579.00 PLN

In 2024, the University Library received funding of 33,579.00 PLN for the project: Dissemination of the pre-war dissertations of the University of Wrocław in the WUL's online catalog, financed under the Ministry of Science and Higher Education's Social Responsibility of Science II – Support for Research Libraries program. Employees from the WUL's Department for Silesian-Lusatian Documentation undertook a retrospective and comprehensive computer processing of selected items.

The University of Wrocław was established in 1811 through the merger of the Catholic Leopoldina Academy (founded in 1702) and the Protestant Viadrina (founded in 1506 in Frankfurt (Oder). Initially, it operated under the name Königliche Universität zu Breslau (in the foundation act as Universitas Litterarum Wratislaviensis), and in 1911 it was renamed to Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau. The University operated continuously until January 1945.

The first defenses of doctoral theses took place as early as 1812, while the last ones took place in 1944. During World War II, when printing theses was difficult, dissertations were also submitted as typescripts in A4 format.

Pre-war doctoral and habilitation dissertations in the WUL's collections come primarily (though not exclusively) from two sources: the preserved resources of the Königliche und Universitätsbibliothek and the Stadtbibliothek. The dissertations from the former City Library were originally intended to form part of the Wratislavian collection — a pre-war collection of printed works related to Wroclaw, arranged by topics and designated with reference numbers beginning with the letters Ya, Yb, Yc ("Y-greeks"). The doctoral theses supplemented the entry "University of Wrocław," receiving the call number Yu. Heinrich Wendt did not include them in his Katalog der Druckschriften über die Stadt Breslau (1903) and Nachtrag (1915), because he planned to prepare a separate catalog – which, however, was not created in the end.

After the war, the dissertations were incorporated into the general collections of the University Library, with the exception of materials thematically related to the Silesian-Lusatian profile. It was the items from the former Silesia-Lusatian Cabinet, now part of the Silesian-Lusatian Collection, that were included in the work of this project.

300 items were designated for retrospective computer cataloging. The selection criterion was the lack of a bibliographic record in the National Library's electronic catalog (since 2024, the Wroclaw University Library has been collaborating with the National Library within a shared cataloging environment). Each newly created record received a set of descriptors and a full description of the item. It was also necessary to create master files for the dissertations' authors, as as many as 99% of them did not previously have personal entries in the National Library.

Dissertations from the University of Wrocław constitute a single, formally unified collection. Each copy is a small booklet, usually without a cover – the first page of the thesis usually serves as the cover and title page. A condition for a dissertation to be accepted for defense was its prior publication in print – not necessarily by a standalone publisher; publication in a scientific journal was also acceptable.

Offprints submitted for defense were provided with an additional title page. They differed from the book version only in pagination, retaining the original page numbering from the journal. Title pages often also included the date and time of the defense, as well as the names of the supervisor, reviewers, and faculty dean.

Another characteristic feature of this collection is the inclusion of the author's biography on the last or penultimate page of the dissertation; it was exceptionally rare for it to appear immediately after the title page. The biographies contain valuable biographical information, such as date and place of birth, full name, parents' names, father's profession, religion, educational background, and any professional experience. This data constitutes an important source for research on the social and geographical origins of contemporary scientists.

In the group of 300 dissertations processed for the project, covering the years 1831-1941, majority of works was from the field of medicine, and to a lesser extent - law and art history.

Nearly 70% of the authors came from the territories of historical Silesia, primarily from present-day Lower Silesia, but also from Greater Poland and various regions of Germany. Most of the theses were written in German, with a few in Latin. Among the approximately 300 theses, 14 were habilitation dissertations. Of the approximately 300 authors, only 17 were women, reflecting the realities of the era — women were allowed to attend lectures only from the mid-1890s, and the first woman to receive a doctorate from the University of Wrocław was Clara Immerwahr (1900).

Over 70% of dissertations were printed in Wroclaw. The most frequently used printing service was the one from the printing house Breslauer Genossenschaftsbuchdruckerei (founded in 1870), while earlier works were produced, among others, at the Korn or Robert Lucas publishing houses. Although Fraktur remained popular until the early 20th century, it was used in only seven cases.

Pre-war dissertations constitute valuable source material for scientists, historians, science researchers, and anyone interested in the intellectual culture of the region. The project's result is an expansion of the knowledge base, supplementing the WUL's electronic catalog and expanding information about the collections by introducing them into Polish and international bibliographic and scholarly circulation.

Text:
Katarzyna Grodecka, Department for Silesian-Lusatian Documentation, Wroclaw University Library