The Gotha Daily Newspaper Digital (1850-1918)

As the historical state library of the territories of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the Gotha Research Library collects the regional print production as completely as possible, makes it searchable, and provides public access to it. The Thuringian residence city was an important media location from the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century. The “Gothaische Zeitung: Gothaer neueste Nachrichten” (Gotha Newspaper: The most recent Gotha news) was the most important and long-lasting regional periodical that also had nationwide distribution. The daily newspaper was published by Friedrich Christoph Perthes and Mevius Publishing House and, besides providing current news from home and abroad, also featured the contents of the “Regierungs- und Intelligenzblattes” (Government and Intelligence Newsletter) in the main section since 1854. At times, the government-affiliated newspaper bore the title of “Official Gazette for the Duchy of Gotha” and published the legal texts of the duchy. The advertising section is also a valuable source of political, social, and economic historical information.

The Gotha Research Library preserves the only complete copy of the “Gothaische Zeitung” in 69 volumes from 1850 to 1918, marking the political end of the duchy. To make the unwieldy newspaper volumes that are partly threatened by paper decay easier to access and to take them out of use, they have been fully digitized and made available in Open Access in the Periodicals Portal Journals@UrMEL of the Thuringian University and State Library of Jena.