Mertonian’s family archive lends Bodleian insight into Anglo-German history

The Bodleian Library has just completed the first edition of its catalogue of the extensive Braun Family Archive, covering the family’s life over the last 200 years in Berlin and northeast Germany and later in Britain. The collection includes personal papers and writings of Merton classicist Thomas Braun (1935-2008), who was Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History from 1963.

The archive, which is now available to readers at the Bodleian Library, contains over 200 boxes of correspondence, personal and legal papers, diaries, memoirs, eulogies, articles and occasional verse dating from before 1800 to the beginning of the 21st century, as well as family trees, secondary literature and other material accumulated by family members. It has been donated to the Bodleian Library by Christopher Braun, Thomas Braun's brother, along with a grant towards preserving and cataloguing the collection.

Thomas and Christopher Braun in 1984, looking at an illustrated photocopied version of an old history of part of the family
Thomas and Christopher Braun in 1984, looking at an illustrated photocopied version of an old history of part of the family


Svenja Kunze, who has been working on the collection for the Bodleian, says:

"Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Friedmanns, Brauns, Lehmanns, Lehfeldts and Webers were established 'middle class' families, living mainly in Berlin, whose members were successful in business, the professions and government service, and extensively involved in literary and artistic circles. With different branches of the family having both Jewish and non-Jewish antecedents, the family faced persecution in Nazi Germany. Thomas and Christopher Braun's parents Konrad and Hildburg Braun managed to escape to England in the late 1930s, where they built a new life with the support of the Quakers.

"Telling the eventful story of a family throughout more than two centuries, as well as touching on a broad range of subjects in 19th- and 20th-century German and British history, the archive has a great potential for use in research. Thomas Braun's personal papers, together with his academic and many 'occasional' writings, might be of particular interest for his college friends and colleagues."

The main part of the Braun Family Archive is now available to readers at the Bodleian Library. You can find out more about the Braun Family Archive at the Bodleian’s Archives and Manuscripts blog or browse the catalogue online.

Thomas's share of the archive—somewhat more than half of the total—all packed up at his house in July 2010 ready for Christopher to take to the Bodleian Library
Thomas's share of the archive—somewhat more than half of the total—all packed up at his house in July 2010 ready for Christopher to take to the Bodleian Library