The reconstruction of Johann Adam Steinmetz's library

Under Steinmetz, the pedagogical institute at Berge Monastary flourished once again and enjoyed an excellent reputation among aristocratic and bourgeois circles. The school's teaching methods were based on the educational philosophy of August Hermann Francke, which was reflected in the school programmes at Kloster Berge and in the recruitment of teachers from Halle.

Even during his lifetime, Steinmetz enjoyed immense prestige far beyond the regional environment, as he was involved in the global networks of Pietism and, above all, was in contact with numerous authors and booksellers from England. This is still evident today in his library of 4,300 titles, whose handwritten catalogue is kept in the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt in Halle. This catalogue was compiled in 1771 by Johann Friedrich August Kinderling (1743–1807), then librarian at Berge Monastery. Steinmetz donated his private book collection to the library of Berge Monastery in his will. When the Berge Monastery was dissolved in 1810, part of the library went to the University of Halle Library and part to the Francke Foundations Library.

Based on the 1771 catalogue, the project has been identifying Steinmetz's books that ended up in the library of the Francke Foundations since 2022 and recording them in OPAC with their corresponding provenances. The number of titles recorded with the provenance ‘Steinmetz, Johann Adam’ is therefore steadily increasing as the project progresses.