The books from the children's library of the Bürgerschule (citizens' school) of the Orphanage in Halle from 1833

When you read really good books, it's like reading in the company of angels.

With this quote and others, teachers at the »Bürgerschule« at the Halle Orphanage motivated their pupils to use the school's children's library. In 1833, they had a book catalogue printed, listing 662 titles sorted by grade level. While children in the lower grades, aged between seven and ten, were offered reading books, books on manners, fairy tales, fables and Bible stories, the range for older children was expanded to include magazines and almanacs for children and young people, books on historical and natural history topics, biographies, travel literature and belles-lettres. The children were allowed to choose and borrow one book per week from the selection. In this way, the teachers wanted to counteract the rampant ‘reading frenzy’ and encourage careful reading and study of the books. 

Under the directorship of August Hermann Niemeyer, school libraries were expanded or newly established at all foundation schools. It was particularly progressive that libraries were set up not only for teachers but also for pupils. This is impressively documented in the 1833 book catalogue of the children's library. Unfortunately, no copies from the children's library have been preserved in the holdings of the Francke Foundations Library. It is likely that books that were »worn out« were continuously discarded and replaced with new titles.

Dr Sebastian Schmideler is head of the Children's and Youth Literature Department at the Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and will give the public evening lecture on the children's library of the »Bürgerschule« as part of the conference »Historical School Libraries in Dialogue between Libraries, Schools and Research«.