International Cooperation and Networking
Academic cooperation links the Francke Foundations with partner institutions and scholars from various disciplines all over the world. The focus is on the regional, European and transatlantic spheres of activities of Halle Pietism as well as educational and social history from the 17th to the 20th century.
The contacts established by the Francke Foundations around the world in the 18th century are still reflected today in a wide range of international relationships, for example to South India, North America, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Great Britain and the Baltic States.
Through international cooperation, the Francke Foundations participate in joint, transnational research discourses. For example, research into the Francke Foundations' Cabinet of Artefacts and Natural Curiosites is a central and continuously pursued project, which is promoted through participation in the supra-regional network for cabinets of curiosities »Alliance of Early Universal Museums« (AEUM). AEUM was founded in 2020 in Halle by the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography "Peter the Great" – Art Camera in St. Petersburg (Russia), the Teylers Museum in Haarlem (Netherlands), the Francke Foundations and the expert for cabinets of curiosities Arthur MacGregor (Great Britain). The network has set itself the task of discussing current questions of a museal approach to cabinets of curiosities in a broadly based panel of experts and to stimulate further research.
A long-standing cooperation project, first with the Széchényi National Library, now with the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest and in collaboration with the Chair of Cultural Heritage and History of culture at the University of Eger, is dedicated to indexing and researching the Hungarica holdings of the Francke Foundations. The Francke Foundations were also cooperation partners in a three-year project funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education at the University of Zielona Góra on research into the connection between Halle and Züllichau from the 18th to the 20th century. In 1719, an orphanage with schools and a publishing bookshop was founded in Züllichau/Sulechów, modelled on Halle. Seven publications have resulted from this project.
A special focus within international relations is the German-Russian Encounters (GRE), which have been taking place since 1994. At these meetings, current research findings on German-Russian academic relationships in the 18th century and on the (natural) history and ethnography of Siberia are discussed at regular intervals. In 2022, the GRE will form a section of the international scientific conference "Müller Readings 2022". The partners of the German-Russian Encounters include in particular the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg as well as the International Georg Wilhelm Steller Society.
Last but not least, the Francke Foundations' scholarship programmes also make a decisive contribution to the institution's diverse international collaborations. Through the Dr Liselotte Kirchner Fellowship Programme and the Residency Programme, (junior) researchers from Germany and abroad come together in Halle every year for a joint academic exchange with the possibility of further networking.
