Collections of the German Archive of Culinary Arts

The German Archive of Culinary Arts contains over a dozen collections and estates of renowned chefs, collectors, and food critics. We present these collections here in alphabetical order.

Birsner Collection

Birsner Collection
With the estate of the renowned chef Ernst Birsner (1935–2015), you will find one of the most extensive and valuable private culinary collections in the German-speaking world at the SLUB Dresden. It comprises an estimated total of 50,000 objects, including about 40,000 menus from several centuries, approximately 11,000 books, and gastrosophical manuscripts.
Eiermann Collection

Eiermann Collection
Lothar Eiermann, chef at the gourmet restaurant of the noble Wald- & Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe, donated speeches and correspondences from this period to the SLUB.
Kaufmann Collection

Kaufmann Collection
Lothar Eiermann, chef at the gourmet restaurant of the noble Wald- & Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe, donated speeches and correspondences from this period to the SLUB.
Lechner Collection

Lechner Collection
At the SLUB you will find, among other things, photographs and letters by the Austrian journalist Wolfgang Lechner, who was responsible for the cooking competitions and Wolfram Siebeck's column in the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT for many years.
Jens Pietzonka Collection

Jens Pietzonka Collection
The sommelier and owner of the Weinkulturbar donated the archive with a collection of food and drink menus from top restaurants.
Bibliotheca gastronomica – Collection Walter Putz

Bibliotheca gastronomica – Collection Walter Putz
The collector Walter Putz (1924-2015) from Baden-Baden donated his extensive Bibliotheca Gastronomica to the SLUB Dresden in 2005. It contains more than 4,000 objects, including numerous books, manuscripts, graphics, printed materials and correspondences on the subject of gastronomy and food culture.
Schönberner Collection

Schönberner Collection
With the Herbert Schönberner Collection, you will find at the SLUB a variety of menus and wine lists as well as the first German 3-star chef's large, personal collection of recipes.
Polaroid collection Siebeck

Polaroid collection Siebeck
For more than 15 years, Barbara Siebeck documented their life together across Europe with wit and a clear view for the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT.
Collection Gallery The Island by Barbara Siebeck

Collection Gallery The Island by Barbara Siebeck
In 1968, Barbara McBride, who grew up in Worpswede, opened the gallery ‘die Insel’ in Starnberg, where she showed David Hockney, Ed Kienholz and Roland Topor, among others. It was also here that she met her future second husband Wolfram Siebeck. At the end of the 1970s, the gallery moved to Munich and closed in 1983.
Wolfram Siebeck estate

Wolfram Siebeck estate
In 2018, the SLUB Dresden was able to acquire the estate of the publicist and food critic Wolfram Siebeck (1928–2016) with financial support from the TU Dresden. In addition to an extensive library, the collection also contains his written estate. It contains manuscripts, life documents, and correspondence as well as nearly 800 menu, food, and wine lists that Wolfram Siebeck collected during his work.
Eckart Witzigmann Culinary Library

Eckart Witzigmann Culinary Library
Prof. Dr. h.c. Eckart Witzigmann is donating his extraordinary culinary library comprising approximately 6,000 volumes to the German Culinary Archives. With this donation, the archive will receive for the first time a comprehensive collection of modern culinary works from 1970 onwards, documenting contemporary exquisite culinary art in a manner that enables fundamental analysis of the evolution of culinary aesthetics and further expansion of research.