A future with origins: 85 years of the Mercedes-Benz Classic archives

Stuttgart. History has to be alive and tangible - this is what the archives and collection of Mercedes-Benz Classic and their services stand for. The archives are the memory of the oldest automobile manufacturer in the world and offer - digitally as well as on site - important services for the company itself as well as for users from science, media and other areas. The tradition of today's archives goes back 85 years: On December 9, 1936, what was then Daimler-Benz AG published its administrative order no. 1145. It commissioned engineer Max Rauck “to collect and inspect our historical written and image material for the purpose of setting up and managing it of a historical archive ”.

Mercedes-Benz Classic Archive

• Important services based on the extensive inventory
• Digital offers have been an integral part for around 25 years
• Establishment of the Mercedes-Benz Archive with an administrative order dated December 9, 1936
• Living memory of the oldest automobile manufacturer in the world
• One of the largest and most traditional private business archives in Europe

Mercedes-Benz Classic has been maintaining one of the largest and most traditional business archives in Europe for many years. In addition to the considerable holdings of classic archival materials, digital media have long enjoyed a high priority. These make research easier, for example, with fast, worldwide access and make the archive holdings perfectly usable for today's use - whether as text documents, photos, films or sound files. The company institution has been digitally indexing for a quarter of a century: "Classic M @ RS - The digital archive" started around 25 years ago and continues to set database standards, constantly keeping pace with advances in information technology.

Historical competence for the company

The archive holdings also form an important basis for the work of the Mercedes-Benz Museum. Because they create the context for the presentation of automobiles from the collection of more than 1.100 vehicles from Mercedes-Benz Classic and other exhibits. The sources are also indispensable for the historical communication of Mercedes-Benz Classic and for the work of the Classic Center: The communication uses sources such as price lists, brochures, posters and press kits, but also board minutes and technical protocols, for example to relate the history of a vehicle series to come to life with their time. Historical photographs, illustrations, artifacts and films from the archives also serve to make the fascinating stories in the long history of the group shine. The products of this multimedia historical work include, for example, the DVD series “Magical Moments” on the motor sport history of Mercedes-Benz.

The Classic Center accesses the knowledge of the archives, among other things, for authentic restorations and repairs as well as for its expertise. These document the individual history of particularly high-quality Mercedes-Benz classics. The expertise is recognized in the classic automobile market as documents with a high level of informative value on the originality and authenticity of vehicles of the brand with the star. Among other things, information from the data cards is incorporated into the document, which makes the original delivery condition traceable for almost every Mercedes-Benz automobile produced since 1946. For vehicles that were built before the Second World War, there is corresponding information in the commission books.

History in constant change

On the basis of their sources, the experts answer around 1.600 inquiries about product and company history from science and media as well as other groups of people who are interested in classic automobiles. There is always new information. Because 85 years after it was founded, the archives of Mercedes-Benz Classic are constantly on the move.

The ongoing development of the holdings contributes to this: last year, for example, signed autograph cards from famous racing drivers from Rudolf Caracciola and Hermann Lang to Luigi Fagioli and Louis Chiron to Manfred von Brauchitsch were re-registered. Previously unknown photographs of the racing driver Sir Stirling Moss, who died in 2020, and his contemporary Juan Manuel Fangio are also among the archive materials currently available. In the current year 2021, due to the division of Daimler AG into Mercedes-Benz AG and Daimler Trucks AG, the organizational adjustment of the archives is due.

High priority from the beginning until today

The order signed by the company's board of directors made the high priority of the new facility clear 85 years ago: “All parts of our society” should support the archivist in setting it up, also by “pointing out material still available in their work area and giving him access to it procure ". There is an important historical reason for the date on which the archive was founded. Because in 1936 Mercedes-Benz celebrates the 50th anniversary of the invention of the automobile by Carl Benz in 1886. At that time, Daimler-Benz AG itself, in 1926 through the merger of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft with Benz & Cie. originated, only ten years old. The new archive is intended to help document the pioneering roles of Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler as automobile inventors as well as the development of the company and its products since 1886 through sources. The exhibitions department is responsible for the archive.

In the year the archive was founded, the company also set the course for today's Mercedes-Benz Museum and the Mercedes-Benz Classic collection: the existing holdings of historic vehicles and engines are collected and presented in newly created rooms at the Untertürkheim plant. In 1938 the first “Guide to the Untertürkheim Museum of Daimler-Benz AG” was published. The current museum in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, the archives in nearby Fellbach and the depots of the collection are spatially separated. The institutions work closely together.

One of the most important economic archives in Europe

From its foundation to the present day, what was then the Mercedes-Benz Archive has developed into one of the largest and most traditional private business archives in Europe. The holdings in the corporate, product and media archives include documents from the company's and product history, which take up around 17 kilometers of shelf space. Further archive materials are housed in special cabinets and in showcases.

There are also more than 4,5 million photos, over 10.000 film documents and the large archive library. The highlights include, for example, the first automobile driving license in world history and early patent specifications and commission books that go back to the company's early days. Collections on outstanding historical personalities such as Mercédès Jellinek, who gave the brand its name, set further highlights.

The Mercedes-Benz Classic collection includes more than 1.100 vehicles from the entire company's history. You can experience these automobiles from series passenger cars to racing cars, among other things, in the permanent exhibition and in special exhibitions of the Mercedes-Benz Museum as well as in driving use at international events of the automotive classic.

Social responsibility

Establishing and operating the archives of Mercedes-Benz Classic are also a lived social responsibility for the company. Because the oldest automobile manufacturer in the world has been keeping key documents of mobility, industrial and social history since 1886 for future generations. This is reflected in the inclusion of Carl Benz's patent for his groundbreaking "vehicle with gas engine operation" in the "Memory of the World" of the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) in 2011. Here the patent from 1886 ranks right next to certificates such as the Gutenberg Bible, the Nibelungenlied and the Magna Carta.

The first steps towards setting up an archive were made in 1933. At that time, Dr. Wilhelm Kissel, member of the Board of Management of Daimler-Benz AG since 1926 and later Chairman of the Board of Management from 1937 to 1942, organized the collection of historical material. The advertising center in Untertürkheim is supposed to take care of the storage. Three years later, the decision was made to found an archive in the true sense of the word. The then Daimler-Benz AG also used the company archives of other well-known companies that have been documenting their history since the beginning of the 20th century - for example Krupp (since 1905) and Siemens (since 1907).

From 1936, the archive holdings are initially stored on the ground floor of the casino building at the Untertürkheim plant. After the historical department was temporarily closed during the Second World War in 1942, the documents are housed in rented rooms of the J. F. Schreiber company in Esslingen. On April 30, 1944, parts of the historical archive were relocated to the “Karl” ore tunnels near Geislingen / Steige, among other places, to provide additional protection against the effects of war. Parts of the vehicle collection are also housed in mine tunnels. The archive holdings were returned to Untertürkheim in 1948. At that time, the archive - since January 1, 1947 - was again under the responsibility of the exhibitions department, with Paul Siebertz taking over from 1947 to 1953. In November 1953 the archive was attached to the company's main secretariat.

The path of history into the future

In January 1953, Dr. Friedrich Schildberger joined Daimler-Benz AG as an employee of the archive, only to take over its management after Siebertz's death in February 1954. The technology historian Schildberger argues neutrally, technology-oriented and factual and enforces a scientific claim. In 1954, the archive was transferred to the central administration division under Dr. Reported to Hanns Martin Schleyer. In 1957, the archive and the museum are organizationally combined.

Since then, the archives of Mercedes-Benz Classic have been developing continuously and together with the company. Among other things, eyewitness surveys with retired executives have been carried out since 1979. To mark the centenary of the automobile in 1986, the documentation "Daimler-Benz AG in the years 1933 to 1945" was published. With the scientific investigation of its own history during National Socialism, Daimler-Benz is one of the first companies to take this courageous step in public. In 1991, the Mercedes-Benz Archive launched the “Stuttgart Days on Automobile and Company History”. They promote historical debate in the automotive industry through an interdisciplinary dialogue between scientists, publicists, experts, journalists and those interested in history.

The great constant in 85 years of preoccupation with the history of Mercedes-Benz is the liveliness of history. This is also made clear by archival material newly opened up in 2021, which provides fresh perspectives on the past: for example, a photo album by the racing driver Hermann Lang, a cigarette case by the boat racing driver Hermann Weigand with a picture of the Daimler racing boat "Lieselotte" as well as other original vehicle brochures that are now available in the holdings of the archives.

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