Description of the Project

This project offers a searchable online bibliography of the German-Jewish emigré author Else Lasker-Schüler (1869-1945) in EndNote database format. In contrast to existing bibliographies in print or on the internet, the user can call up and enter data. Users (including researchers and archives) are requested to submit new data to the bibliographers. This will provide a continual updating of the current state of research, which can collect worldwide results in a central place and make them readily accessible. By including the catalogue numbers it would be conceivable to make the card catalogues various archives in the WWW accessible and to create in this way a virtual Else Lasker-Schüler Archive.

An open bibliography of this kind aims at providing a complete bibliography, which at this point is still lacking (even in printed form), and to thereby simplify the cooperation among the various archives and research institutes, that are scattered around the world.These include the Else Lasker-Schüler-Archiv in the Stadtbibliothek Wuppertal , the Else Lasker-Schüler Archive (Nachlass) at the Jerusalem National and University Library , the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach , the Staatsbibliothek Berlin, the Stadtbibliothek Dortmund, the Stadt- und Landesbibliothek Hamburg, the Munich municipal archive, theater collections of the University of Cologne and the Free University of Berlin), the Zentralbibliothek Zürich , the Stadt- und Landesbibliothek Wien , the Leo Baeck Archive in New York, and the Beinecke Rare Book Library  at Yale University.

In terms of content the current database will extend the limits of previous bibliogaphies, since it will offer the possiblity of including archive materials as well as making entire texts and audiovisual materials fully accessible.

Included Literature, Content

The bibliography includes publications dealing with Lasker-Schüler, mainly secondary literature, but also much of the primary literature, especially collections of her works and literature in translation. Listings of archive material and Lasker-Schüler's scattered publications during her lifetime, which are being included in the Kritische Ausgabe, and have not been included comprehensively here. Reviews of primary literature and dramatic performances have only been partially included thus far. 

The bibliography currently contains around 1900 entries (May 2005). In this first phase all scholarly works through the year 2004, including scholarly reviews, have been included, to the extent that the data was accessible to the bibliographers. Besides the catalogues of individual national libraries all specialized scholarly bibliographies were consulted (e.g. MLA; BDSL; Germanistik; English-, German-, and Japanese-language scholarly journal indexes; Calvin N. Jones: The Literary Reputation of Else Lasker-Schüler: Criticism, 1901-1993 (Columbia S.C.: Camden House 1994); Markus Hallensleben: Else Lasker-Schüler: Avantgardismus und Kunstinszenierung (Tübingen: Francke 2000). In addition, all sources that could be located on the internet were included in order to make musical settings, films, and other multimedia works on Lasker-Schüler accessible. If any hard-to-find titles are nonetheless missing, we request that they be submitted to us.

The open framework of an online bibliography makes the expansion or modification of the keyword catalogue possible according to need. There are plans to include annotations and commentary as well in the Abstract and Notes fields. In comparison to traditional bibliographies, use of the material will clearly be open to more possibilities, since, for example, new directions in research or new terminology will be able to be considered. This project contains a comprehensive bilingual documentation (German/English) to assure the widest possible utility.

The references are being collected and entered in an EndNote database. Users who themselves have EndNote (through Version 7.x) can directly import references into their own collections. Versions following 8.x have to be converted to Unicode (manual entry of special characters). Individual titles can then be called up by the user in a variety of standard bibliographical forms, including MLA. Users who do not have EndNote will still be able to search and gather relevant information that can be printed or saved digitally.

Reference Web Poster is used to place the EndNote database on the web and to allow users to conduct searches. This software still has a number of imperfections. See the Instructions for comments on its peculiarities and for hints on the most successful use.

Participants, Support 

The project is being carried out in cooperation with the following universities, institutes, and colleagues:
Dr. Calvin N. Jones , University of South Alabama, Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures  
Dr. Markus Hallensleben , University of British Columbia, Dept. of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies 

Much of the support for this project is being provided by the University of South Alabama , where the server is located. Jeff Davidson of the Computer Services Center provides technical assistance. The Update for 2005 was made possible by the Hampton Fund of the University of British Columbia, with the assistance of Jakub Kazecki.

Questions, Comments, Suggestion

For any questions, comments, or suggestions, please contact Dr. Calvin N. Jones , Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, HUMB 322, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36608, USA.
Telephone: 251.460.6291    Fax: 251.460.7130

Please submit new data entries through the form devised for that purpose.

Other Links
Info©Page (Markus Hallensleben)  
Else Lasker-Schüler Gesellschaft e. V. (Wuppertal)

Photo credits: The book covers on these pages contain Lasker-Schüler's own illustrations to the Gesamtausgabe of her works published by Cassirer in Berlin, 1920. Courtesy Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach am Neckar.

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  University of South Alabama    .     University of British Columbia. 

Calvin Jones and Markus Hallensleben/ Jakub Kazecki.