central portion of Deutsches Museum c1991 from issue 17-1 (note the aircraft to left of the Rotunda tower)
Toronto. Back in 1991, three PHSC members decided to visit photographic collections in European museums. Willi Nassau, John Durst, and Bill Belier did the tour while Bill wrote a rather detailed article that spanned two journal issues (16-5 and 17-1). Issue 17-1 contained the second part of Bill’s article, in a piece titled “München Stadtmuseum and Deutsches Museum“.
Bill’s article gives a sobering comparison of camera collecting in the old world compared to the new. At one point in part two of his article, Bill talks about visiting the Deutsches Museum, “Friday… now down to our final day of’ ‘museum crawling’. The Deutsches Museum is the world’s largest technical museum with a floor area of about 13 acres devoted to science and technology from its origins to the present day.
“The complex is so huge that it can accommodate a full size outdoor display of a twin-engine Dornier experimental aircraft in one corner of the courtyard (see drawing) leading into the rotunda of the main building. The various displays are contained on eight separate levels.
“The complex contains a reference library of approximately 720,000 volumes, an archive, reading rooms, a 2,400 seat auditorium, restaurant and gift shop. The photographic section of the archive has over 40,000 negatives of scientific and technological subjects. Prints can be obtained on application. …”.
You guessed it! Members at the time read Bill’s fascinating report in the hard copy journal originals while those members more recent, read the pdf format of the issues (contained on the free to members PHSC DVD). Not a member yet? It’s easy and inexpensive to join! See the material above (MEMBERSHIP) and at right (Membership – Join or Renew!). Questions? Drop Lilianne an email at member@phsc.ca.
