The archives of the Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus mainly contain materials on the history of the institution. Since 2001, the PFH has cooperated with the Alice Salomon Archive, which holds documents of the Social Women’s School from the founding period until today.
 

Archive and Documentation Centre for Social and Educational Women's Work

The Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus has existed since 1874. Here, its founder, Henriette Schrader-Breymann, developed her own kindergarten concept and put it into practice. At the same time, she also built a training centre for young girls and women. Thus, theory and practice were closely intertwined. This association became a defining feature of the PFH.

The kindergarten teachers’ seminar (“House I”), founded by Henriette Schrader-Breymann in 1878, was joined by Hedwig Heyl’s cooking and home economics school (“House II”) in 1885. In 1925, Alice Salomon’s Social School for Women was incorporated into the PFH (“House III”).

Important documents from this period are kept in the archive, which was established in 1985 on the initiative of a group of PFH lecturers. Although many materials and documents were lost during World War II, many gaps have been filled thanks to numerous donations and bequests from former students and staff, so that the history of the PFH is well documented.

The main focus of the collection is on materials relating to the history of the institution:

  • Association documents and newspapers
  • Commemorative publications, school and administrative records
  • Pupils’ documents and papers
  • Writings of the founders and further female employees of the PFH
  • Represenations from the welfare institutions
  • A photo archive of roughly 700 photos, photo albums and the like

Since 2001, we have worked together with the Alice Salomon Archive, which has documents of the Social School for Women from its founding period to the present day.

Interested persons are cordially invited to visit the Archive and Documentation Centre for Social and Educational Women’s Work. Please register your visit in advance by phoning and arranging an appointment with us.

As a consultation facility, we offer interested professional visitors the chance to visit the archive. Further information on consultations.