Handwritten Dissertations at Leipzig University Library
A special collection within the library’s holdings of University Theses consists of more than 2,700 handwritten dissertations, submitted to Leipzig University between 1751 and 1973, mostly in German and, in some cases, in Latin. The majority of them date from around 1870 to 1930. The following subject areas are represented in the collection (in descending order): legal, philological, and medical dissertations, as well as three veterinary dissertations from the 1920s.
These theses are an important source for the history of doctoral studies at Leipzig University from the 18th to the 20th century. They provide interesting insights into the requirements for obtaining a doctorate in the various disciplines at that time, and into the process of drafting, finalising and submitting a thesis. In many cases, corrections made by the supervising professors have been preserved in a column specifically designed for this purpose. Some dissertations are available in different versions, ranging from a corrected draft to a final copy featuring highly elaborate calligraphic designs.
As part of the digitisation project, which has been funded since 2025 under the State Digitization Program for Science and Culture of the Free State of Saxony, this collection is now successively being made available online.