Vesters Archives for the History of German pharmacies is a special collection within the personal archive of Dr. Helmut Vester (1913-2001), hosted by the Department for History, Philosophy and Ethics of Medicine of Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany. Based upon nationwide questionnaire projects of the mid-1920s and end-1940s, this collection mirrors the historical awareness of apothecaries in Germany. Thousands of questionnaires and letters, often with miscellaneous enclosures and further documents, have been catalogued by means of hundred-thousands of handwritten index cards, both sorted by town or family name. Their area is Germany in the borders of the Weimar Republic, their time scope ranges from the foundation of the respective pharmacy until ca. 1950, partly into the 1970s.

These sources were the basis for a comprehensive bibliography: Vester, Helmut: Topographische Literatursammlung zur Geschichte der deutschen Apotheken. 4 vols, Eutin 1956-61 [Bd. 1 = A-E, Bd. 2 (1959) = F-K, Bd. 3 (1960) = L-R, Bd. 4 = S-Z. Online-edition of chapters 2021 via Fachinformationsdienst Pharmazie TU Braunschweig <pubpharm/AT/tu-braunschweig.de>].

Awards

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft