From the World Brain to the First Transatlantic Information Dialogue: activities in information and documentation in Germany in the first half of the 20 th Century

Wilhelm Ostwald , Biology of the savant: a study in the psychology of personality. Scientific American, Supplement No. 1862, 9. September 1911, pp. 169-171.

See Paul Schneiders , De Bibliotheek- en Documentatiebeweging 1880-1914: Bibliografische Oder-. nemingen rond 1900, Dissertation, Amsterdam, 1982, and K.O. Murra , Histoiy of some attempts to organize bibliography internationally. In: Jesse H. Shera et al., Bibliographic organization: papers presented before the 15th annual conference of the graduate library school July 24-29, 1950, Chicago, 1951, pp. 24-53).

See A.M. Sorkin , Zur Entstehungsgeschichte des "International Catalogue of Scientific Literature". NTM, 1963, 1, 4:67-84, and also Murra,, History.

Maximilian Pflücke, Dokumentation:: zugleich ein Bericht über den Weltkongreß der Dokumentation vom 16. bis 21. August 1937 in Paris [Documentation, at the same time a report on the World Congress of Documentation ...]. Angewandte Chemie, 1937, 50: 955-963.

Elke Behrends , Technisch-wissenschaftliche Dokumentation in Deutschland von 1900 bis 1945: unter besonderer Berücksischtigung des Verhaltnisses von Bibliothek und Dokumentation [Technical and scientific documentation in Germany from 1900 to 1945: with special reference to the relationship between library and documentation], Harrassowitz / Wiesbaden, 1995. See also T. Hapke , History of scholarly information and communication: A review of selected German literature. Journal of the American Society of Information Science, 1999 , 50: 229-232.

Peter Burke , A social history of knowledge: from Gutenberg to Diderot, Reprinted, Polity Press / Cambridge, 2002. p. 2.

See also T. Hapke , Wilhelm Ostwald,. the "Brücke" (Bridge), and connections to other bibliographic activities at the beginning of the twentieth century. In: Bowden, M.E., T. B. Hahn, and R. V. Williams (eds.) Proceedings of the 1998 Conference on the History and Heritage of Science Information Systems, Information Today / Medford, NJ, 1999, pp. 139-147).

In the article of R.T. Bottle , Information Science. In: J. Feather et al. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Information and Libirary Science, 2nd, ed., Routledge / London, 2003 (pp. 295-297), on p. 296 is mentioned: Wilhelm Ostwald , Die chemische Literatur und die Organisation der Wissenschaft, Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft / Leipzig, 1919.

He published more than 40 books, edited a handbook (Handbuch der allgemeinen Chemie) and the 'Klassiker der exakten Wissenschaften', established scientific journals, wrote more than 4000 abstracts and reviews as well as more than 120 scientific papers and more than 10,000 letters.

See for example Wilhelm Ostwald, Wissenschaftliche Massenarbeit . Annalen der Naturphilosophie, 1903, 2: 1-28

Many of Ostwald's papers on the organization of science as a whole can be found in the compilations Wilhelm Ostwald, Die Forderung des Tages, Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft / Leipzig, 1910, and Wilhelm Ostwald, Der energetische Imperativ, Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft / Leipzig, 1912.

Wilhelm Ostwald , Ways of knowledge. The Thinker , 1931?, 4 ?: 53-55, on p. 55. (Also in Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Akademie-Archiv (BBAW), Ostwald papers, No. 5868.)

Anders Lundgren , Harmony and unity: Wilhelm Ostwald's program for science. Paper at the workshop 'Wilhelm Ostwald at the crossroads of Chem-Philosophy and Media Culture'. Leipzig, November 2-4, 2000 (to be published).

Paul Ziche , The 'new philosophy of nature' around 1900: metaphysical tradition and scientistic innovation. Paper at the workshop Wilhelm Ostwald at the crossroads ....'.

In this respect 'Ostwald was mentioned in some works e.g. by I. Dahlberg, Grundlagen universaler Wissensordnung, Verlag Dokumentation / Pullach bei München, 1974, on p. 14, or by E. de Grolier, Le système des sciences et l'évolution du savoir. In: J. A. Wojciechowski (ed.), Conceptual basis of the classification of knowledge: proceedings of the Ottawa Conference on the ... October 1st to 5th, 1971, Verlag Dokumentation / Pullach bei München, 1974 (on pp. 20-118), here on p. 25 and p. 37; and by E. I. Samurin, Geschichte der bibliothekarisch-bibliographischen Klassifikation. Vol. 2 (1969), Verlag Dokumentation / München, 1977, on p. 295 and on p. 706.

Gustav Schmaltz, Die Methode des Ordnens und ihre Anwendung auf technische Zwecke, Dissertation, Berlin / Vorlag des VDI, 1920, and Kurt Schulz, Die technische Berichterstattung in Deutschland, Dissertation, Braunschweig, 1930.

See Frederick W. Taylor, Die Grundsätze wissenschaftlicher Betriebsführung, Oldenbourg / Munich, 1919.

See Marion Casey , Efficiency, Taylorism, and libraries in progressive America. Journal of Library History, 1981, 16: 265-279. She wrote: "The three most important persons in this study, Melvil Dewey, Frederick Taylor, and Charles McCarthy [1873-1921, organizer of the movement of legislative libraries from 1901 until 1921], share the same characteristics: the desire to conserve time, energy, and human effort; the desire to organize industry, government; and libraries efficiently; the desire to bring order out of a society torn by technology." (on p. 275). Ostwald seems to be the fourth in this list.

Ostwald, Die chemische, on p. 96.

Wilhelm Ostwald, Lebenslinien, Klasing / Berlin, 1927, on p. 56 of Vol. 2.

Ostwald, Die chemische, on p. 93.

Moritz Goldstein, Magdzin der Gesamtwissenschaft. Zeitgeist, 4.8.1913.

An encyclopedia on the card-index system. Scientific American, 1913 (Sept. 13), 109: 213.

Phelps, R.H. , and J.P. Herlin , Alternatives to the scientific periodical . UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries, 1960, 14: 61-75.

There Bernal proposed the centralized national distribution of single papers combined with an announcement of abstracts on cards to subscribers in particular fields, see Harry East , Professor Bernal's insidious and cavalier proposals: The Royal Society Scientific Information Conference, 1948. Journal of Documentation, 1998, 54: 293-302.

W. Ostwald , Unser Format. Das Monistische Jahrhundert, 1912, 1: 104.

See Irene S. Farkas-Conn , From documentation to information science: the beginings and early development of the American Documentation Institute-American Society of Information Science, Greenwood / Westport, CT, 1990, on pp. 12-16.

These essays / were later published in two volumes, the first in 1914: Edwin E. Slosson, Major prophets of to-day, Little, Brown, and Company / Boston, 1914, and the second under the title Six major prophets in 1917. The essay on Ostwald appeared in the 1914 volume on pp. 190-241. See also for letters from Slosson to Ostwald in BBAW, Ostwald papers, No. 4171. On Slosson see also David J. Pfees, A new voice of science: Science Service and Edwin E. Slosson, 1921-1929, Chapel Hill, 1979. (Online: http://americanhistory.si.edu/scienceservice/thesis/).

Wlihelm Ostwald , Scientific management for scientists. "The Bridge." The trust idea applied to intellectual production. Scientific Americdn, 1913, 108: 5-6, on p. 5.

See on the history of the Bridge also Rolf Sachsse, Das Gehirn der Welt: 1912. In: Mitteilungen der Wilhelm-Ostwald-Gesellschaft zu Großbothen, 2000, 5, Heft 1: 38-57, also as online version at www. heise.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/co/2481/1.html.

Die Brücke (1910-1911). Annuaire de la Vie Internationale, 1910-1911: 623-632.

On the IIB see later in this paper.

Wilhelm Ostwald , Das Gehirn der Welt, Brücke / Munich 1912.

Henri La Fontaine , Une mémoire mondiale, La Revue , 1903: 201-208.

Friedrich Naumann , Das Gehirn der Menschheit. Süddeutsche Monatshefte, 1907, 4:799-764.

The idea of a world or global brain plays also a role as a model fox developments in the history of computer technology, see Hans-Dieter Hellige, Welt-bibliothek, Universalenzyklopädie, Worldbrain: zur Säkulardebatte über die Organisation des Weltwissens. Technikgeschichte, 2000, 67: 303-329.

Rayward, W.B. , H.G., Wells's idea of a world brain: a critical reassessment. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 1999, 50: 557-573.

From Wilhelm Ostwald , Ein Weltreich der Wissenschaft. Berliner Tageblatt, Friday, February 6, 1914: Title Page (BBAW, Ostwald papers, No. 5844).

Perhaps through Slosson, see above. Wells published also papers in the journal Nord & Süd in the 1920s, as did Ostwald.

Das Mono. In: Die Lithographie in der Schweiz, Verein Schweizer Lithographiebesitzer / Bern, 1944, pp. 253-254, on p. 235.

See Wilhelm Ostwald , Berzelius' Jahresbericht und die Organisation der Chemiker (1908). In: Ostwald, Die Forderung , pp. 586-594. Translation: Wilhelm Ostwald, Berzelius' "Jahresbericht" and the international organization of chemists. Journal of Chemical Education, 1955, 32:373-375.

Wilhelm Ostwald , Memorial on the, foundation, of an International Institute of Chemistry, Science, 191.4, 40: 147-156, on p. 154.

These connections can be traced back through research at the Archive of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften in Berlin which keeps his letters, and through a visit to the Wilhelm Ostwald Memorial, his country house 'Energie' in Großbothen in Saxony, which hosted his former living quarters as well as his library and laboratory. See www.wilhelm-ostwald.de.

F. Donker Duyvis , The International Federation for Documentation . Journal Of Documentary Reproduction 1940 , 3: 176-191.

See Schneiders, De Bibliotheek, on p. 89.

W.B. Rayward , The universe of information; the work of Paul Otlet for documentation and international organization. VINITI & FID / Moscow, 1976, g:180.

W. Ostwald , Moderne Naturphilosophie. I. Die Ordnungswissenschaften, Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft / Leipzig, 1914, on p. 296.

Wilhelm Ostwald , Die Pyramide der Wissenschaften: eine Einführung in wissenschaftliches Denken und Arbeiten (The pyramid of the sciences: an introduction to scientific thinking and working), Cotta / Stuttgart, 1929, pp. 76-82.

See W. Boyd Rayward , Visions of Xanadu: Paul Otlet (1868-1944) and hypertext, Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 1994, 45: 235-250, on p. .238. For more on the IIB see the papers by Rayward and others in T. B. Hahn and M. Buck-land (eds.), Historical Studies in Information Science, Information Today / Medford, NJ, 1998.

See Behrends, Technisch-wissenschaftliche Dokumentation ...

See; Hermann Beck, Denkschrift betr. ein Zusammengehen des 'Deutschen Archivs der Welt-literatur' und des Bibliographischen Zentral-Verlags G.m.b.H., beide in Berlin, mit der "Bruecke" in Muenchen. Unpublished Source. 1911. BBAW, OstWald papers, No. 149.

Erich Pietsch , Dokumentation und mechanische Gedächtnis. Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Heft 38, 1954, pp. 33-79, on p., 49. On Erich Pietsch see later in this paper.

Julius Hanauer , The Institute International de Bibliographie in Briissel. Belfried, 1917, 1, 233-236.

Wilhelm Ostwald , Systematisches Erfinden. Prometheus , 1912, 24: 5-8,17-21. This paper is one example of others by Ostwald dealing with the organization of education to become a scientist, scholar or savant. See for another one the citation in the beginning of this paper.

Wilhelm Ostwald , Die Philosophie der Werte, Kröner / Leipzig, 1913. See on pp. 292-304 and 328-343. Ronald E. Day , The modern invention of information: discourse, history, and power, Southern Illinois University Press / Carbondale, 2001, cited Otlet - see on p. 13-20 - with similar metaphors seeing the book as a 'Machine' to transform 'thought-energy'.

See Julius Hanauer, Wilhelm Ostwald. Die chemische Literatur und die Organisation der Wissenschaft. Zeitschrift des Vereins Deutscher Ingenieure , 1920, 64: 850.

Letter to Ostwald, BBAW, Ostwald papers, No. 1072, May, 9, 1920. In the beginning of the 1920s there was a discussion in the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure about the system or classification of economics and technology: see the letters between Ostwald and D. Meyer and, the VDI in BBAW, Ostwald papers, No. 1983 and No. 4270. See also A. Schilling, Die Stellung der Technik im Rahmen der Wissenschaften. Technik und Wirtschaft, 1924, 17: 97-104, who built heavily on Ostwald.

Roger Fennell , History of IUPAC 1919-1987, Black-well / Oxford, 1994. On Gérard see pp. 16-17 and pp. 76-80 and also in Ulrike Fell, Disziplin , Profession und Nation die Ideologie der Chemie in Frankreich vom Zweiten Kaiserreich bis in die Zwischenkriegszeit, Leipziger Urnv.-Verl. / Leipzig, 2000, especially pp. 216-224.

See also Fayet-Scribe, The cross-fertilization, on p. 187.

From BBAW, Ostwald papers, No. 107.

See BBAW, Ostwald papers, No. 4301.

Wilhelm Ostwald , Quelques vues d'un savant allemand sur la documentation chimique. Chimie et Industrie, 1932, 27: 1201-1208.

Jean Gérard , L'organisation mondiale de la documentation universelle. Chimie & Industrie, 1932, 28: 209-215. For more on the history of documentation in France see: Sylvie Fayet-Scribe, Histoire de la documentation en France : culture, science et technologie de l'information 1895-1937, CNRS Éditions / Paris; 2000, on Gérard especially pp.186ff. and Fell, Disziplin ...

Jean Gérard , L'activité de l'Office International de Chimie. Comptes Rendus de la Douzieme Conférence. Lucerne et Zurich, 16-22 Aout 1936 / Union Internationale de Chimie, 1936, pp. 64-75, see also on the 'Office international de chimie' and the 'Maison de la chimie' in Fell, Disziplin , pp. 299-311.

Wilhelm Ostwald , Genie und Vererbung. Isis, 1913, 1: 208-214.

See on p. 128 of George Sarton, Bibliographie synthétique des revues et des collections de livres. Isis, 1914, 2: 125-131.

See the foreword to the Ve Bibliographie critique de toutes les publications relatives à l'Histoire, à la Philosophie et à l'Organisation de la Science. Isis, 1914, 2: 248-250, and an 'advertising, paper' before Isis, 1914, 2,, which sounds like an advertising leaflet of the Bridge: "Etablir une bibliographie sur fiches, de telle sorte que chacun puisse se constituer l'encyclopédie de son choix: une encyclopédie jamais terminée, toujours vivante et neuve..... Elle constituera une encyclopédie perpétuelle et eminement facile à consulter ..." Some letters between Ostwald and Sarton, survived in BBAW, Ostwald papers, No. 4174.

This part of the paper is to be understood as a progress report of my research. Hints for further literature or locations to get more information on the TWL and Hanffstengel are welcome.

Marianne Bader, Das Verhältnis von Dokumentation und Normung von 1927 bis 1945 in nationaler und internationaler Hinsicht: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Dokumentation, Beuth / Berlin, 1976.

See the citation of Ostwald in the beginning of this paper and his book Ostwald, Pyramide, ....

Oskar Lasche , Deutsches Technisch-Wissenschaftliches Vortragswesen, ein Beitrag zur Ingenieurfortbildung, Zeitschrift des Vereins Deactscher Ingenieure (VDI), 1922, 66;1: 1-3. Later this paper was distributed as offprint with the title.: Die Technisch-Wissenschaftliche Lehrmittelzentrale beim Deutschen Verband Techinsche-Wissenschaftlicher Vereine und ihre Bedeutung für das Ingenieur-Fortbildungswesen, VDI / Berlin. See also F. Romberg , Deutsche Technisch-Wissenschaftliche Lehrmittelzentrale im D.V, Der Betrieb, 1921 , 4: 172-173.

See: Zeitschrift für Organisation, 1931,5: 308.

According to Klaus Thielen: Dokumentation Verkehrswesen. In: Bausteine zur Geschichte der Informationswissenschaft und -praxis in Deutschland. Online: www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/infowiss/ frames/baust/Manthiel.html where is also cited a publication of the TWL in the 1950s: Technisch-wissenschaftliche Lehrmittelzentrale (ed.), Förderung der allgemeinen technischen Dokumentation auf dem Gebiete des Verkehrswesens, Darmstadt, 1959.

Oskar Lasche , Leitsätze für Vortragswesen und Lehrmittel . Der Betrieb; 1921,4: 169-172; Georg v. Hanffstengel ; Lichtbild und Film im Dienste des Maschinenbaus. Maschinenbau / Wirtschaft, 1925, 4: W17-W18 (77-78); G. v. Hanffstengel. Gegen die Systemlosigkeit im Vortragswesen . Zeitschrift für Organisation, 1928, 2: 33-34; G. v. Hanffstengel , Rationalisierung des Lichtbildwesens : Zeitschrift für Orgaizisation, 1928, 2: 257-261.

Georg. von Hanffstengel , Die Technisch- Wissenschaftliche Lehrmittelzentrale. Kölner Blätter für Berufserziehung, 1927, 3: 362-365.

It was also thought about creating index cards on valuable publications or on important experiences within companies (knowledge management !). See Georg v. Hanffstengel , Nachrichtenblätter in karteimässigem Druck. Maschinenbau / Wirtschaft, 1925, 4: W250-W251 (1104-1105). On the use of card indexes in offices and companies and its origins in libraries see Markus Krajewski ; Zettelwirtschaft: Die Geburt der Kartei aus dem Geiste der Bibliothek, Kulturverlag Kadmos / Berlin, 2002; and my review of this book in: Bibliothek, 2002, 26: 317-318.

See: Maschinenbau / Wirtschaft, 1922/23, 2: W16 (82).

In Memoriam Prof. Georg von Hanffstengel. IID Communications, 1938, 5, 4: 128.

F. Donker Duyvis , The International Federation, on p. 180.

Georg v. Hanffstengol , Neue Wege der Werboog im Maschinenbau. Maschinenbau / Wirtschaft, 1922, 1: 659 (75). See also his book, Die Reklame des Maschinenbaus; Springer / Berlin, 1923, containing at the end a chapter called 'New Ways' with a description of the TWL'. His book, Das technische Lichtbild: seine Herstellung und seine Verwertung in Schule, Vortrag und Industrie, VDI-Verl. / Berlin, 1930, seemed to be itself a promotion for the TWL containing dozens of photos from, the TWL collection.

For a more detailed view on Pietsch see Thomas Hapke, Erich Pietsch - International connections of a German pioneer in information science. To be published in the proceedings of the Second Conference on the History and Heritage' 'Of Scientific and Technical Information Systems, Philadelphia, PA, November 16=17; 2002-, see on the net at www. chemheritage.org/events/event-asist2002.html. For the papers of Pietsch see the Archive of the Max-Planck-Society for the Advancement of Science in Berlin, (MPG-Archive), III Abt., Rep. 0022 Pietsch papers and for the papers of the Gmelin Institute see MPG-Archive, II. Abt. Rep. 38A Gmelin Institute papers.

For a more detailed description of the Gmelin Handbook as part of the secondary literature in chemistry see Helen Schofield , The evolution of the secorldaiy literature of chemistry. In: Mary Ellen Bowden, T. B. Hahn, and R. V. Williams (eds.), Proceedings of the 1998 Conference on the History and Heritage of Science Information Systems, Information Today / Medford, NJ, 1999 (pp. 94-106, especially pp. 96-98). The history of the Gmelin Institute. in detail is described by Bernd Wöbke, Die Geschichte von Gmelins. Handbuch [The history of Gmelin's Handbook]. Berichte und Mitteilungen. Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, 1988, 3: 9-88; but see also the English paper by K.-C. Buschbeck, The Gmelin Institute. In: Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (Vol. 9, pp., 522-532), Dekket / New York, 1973.

Before his appointment other names were in discussion as successor of Meyer, because Pietsch did not guarantee, "that he supported the National Socialist state anytime without reserve." (Wöbke, 1988, p. 57, German original).

In 1957 the Gmelin Institute moved to Framkfurton the Main.

E. Pietsch ; Future possibilities of applying mechanized methods to scientific and technical literature. In: Casey & Perry, Punched cards, 1951, pp. 427-455, and E. Pietsch , Evaluation of mechanized documentation at the Gmelin Institut. In: R.S. Casey ; J.W. Perry , J.W. and M. Berry (eds.), Punched cards: their applications to science and industry. 2. ed. (pp. 571-618), Reinhold / New York, 1958.

Hans Bauer, Klaus Schneider. Information Wissenschaft und Praxis, 2002, 53: 53:

Michael Friedewald , Der Computer als Werkzeug und Medium: die geistigen und technischen Wurzeln des Personal Computers [The computer as tool and medium the intellectual. and technical roots of the personal computer], Verlag für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Technik / Berlin, 1999. On p. 85f:

There Perry "designed a relay-operated device to search data stored,on punched paper tape", the WRU Searching Selector, see W. Aspray , Command and control, documentation and library science: the origins of information science at the University of Pittsburgh. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 1999., 21, 4: 4-20. A present assessment of Perry's work in information science is given by Irene S Farkas-Conn , From documentation to information science: the beginnings and early development of the American Documentation institute — American Society for Information Science, Greenwood Pr. / New York, 1990, on pp. 140-142, 194-196.

Letter from J. D. Mack to Pietsch from 28.3.1957 and further papers, MPG-Archive Gmelin Papers, No. 43.

J.D. Mack , Intercontinental guided missives. In: J.H. Shera , A. Kent and J.W.Perry (eds.), Information systems in documentaion: based on the symposium on Systems for Information Retrieval held at Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio in April, 1957 (pp. 560-571), Interscience Publ. / New York, 1957. p. 562.

F. Donker Duyvis (ed.), Manual on document reproduction and selection, published by the International Federation for Documentation, printed with the financial assistance of UNESCO (Loose-leaf collection); FID / The Hague, 1953- 1958 (FID Publ. No. 264).

E. Pietsch , Next steps in documentation following the International Conference on Scientific Information. Revue de la Documentation , 1959. 26: 13-14.

Günther Pflug , Automatisierungsbestrebungen im deutschen Dokumentations- und Bibliothekswesen [Automation attempts in German documentation and library science]. Mitteilungsblatt der Bibliotheken Nordrhrein-Westfalens N.F., 1966, 16: 75-105.

For more on German information and documentation in these years see also H. Arntz , National Information and Documentation System in the Federal Republic of Germany . In: Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (Vol. 9, pp. 478-492), New York: Dekker / New York, 1973.

Hehnut Arntz , Er machte den Staat dokumentationsbewußt: Erich Pietsch zum 70. Geburtstag am 6. Mai 1972. [He made the State aware of documentation: Erich Pietsch on his 70th birthday on May 6, 1972]. Nachrichten für Dokumentation, 1972, 23: 138.

Wilhelm Ostwald , Ways, on p. 53.

See A.P. Schmidt , Von der interaktiven Enzyldopädie zum Menschenrecht auf Information. In: Roth, M. (ed.), Der Themenpark der EXP02000: die Entdeckung einer neuen Welt, Vol. 1., Springer / Wien , 2000 (, pp. 138-143), on p. 141.

Jonathan Furner , On recommending. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2002, 53: 747-763.

Ernst Bloch , Avicenna und die aristotelische Linke, Rütten & Loening / Berlin, 1952, on p. 9 (own translation).