(Re-)cataloguing in the Burgerbibliothek Bern

The RISM Switzerland was charged with the re-cataloguing and correcting of those source descriptions at the Burgerbibliothek Bern that were wrong or too brief in the RISM database. While carrying out this work, the Swiss RISM discovered the existence of interesting historical sources that were not previously catalogued. Since the offices of the Burgerbibliothek had been moved to the National Library due to the renovation of the former location, the time was ideal to review the documents and identify the sources still to be catalogued in the RISM database. The RISM database will soon be enriched by the descriptions of these sources, which are important for musicology. A first step was the cataloguing of the Anna Feodorowna collection, containing many printed music books catalogued in the RISM series A/I (music printed before 1800). Music sources owned by Caroline Mathilde von Wattenwyl, née Pourtalès (1827–1890), mainly printed sources, have also been entered into the database. Thus, the number of documents from the Burgerbibliothek Bern in the RISM database is currently 357. Further sources will probably be added in 2016.

Contact: Yvonne Peters