Paul Siegfried Jäkel (1929-2004); philologist, musicologist, cultural studies expert.
Cooperated with the universities in Regensburg and Tübingen (Germany), Turku (Finland),Szeged (Hungary) and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań; member of the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington and the Institute for Advanced Studies w Princeton (USA),British Academy in Cambridge, Austrian Academy of Science in Vienna, Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, a collaborator of the Freie Universität Berlin of many years’ standing.
More information available on a website maintained by Professor’s Wife,dr Margit Niederhuber:
I want to suggest the foundation of a ‘Center for European Studies in Literature, History, Philosophy, Art and Music’. I think it should be possible to find an Institution to invite scholars at the beginning of their University-career for one year to their own research and at the same time give lecture-courses and seminars about a frame-topic. And because all European cultural movements in these 5 disciplines are based on what was developed in the Ancient World, in Ancient Greece and Rome, these activities should be taken into account from this point of view. […] for this purpose […] I would like to dedicate my private library (about 5000 books on the topics mentioned above)…
The Center for European Studies should also be open for students coming from other countries. Its purpose is to introduce the young academic generation to the History of European Culture based on the Classics, and Greek and Roman Antiquity in general so that they may look to their own cultural tradition also from another point of view, from outside.[…]
In the years to come it is also possible to think about the Center as a kind of Exchange-Institute where scholars from other countries may have the possibility to arrange conferences.
Professor Paul Siegfrid Jäkel chose Collegium Europaeum in Gniezno as an academic centre whose scientific curriculum would enable Him to realise His dream. Professor would have taken a personal part in the creation of the institution, had it not been for his untimely death in the beginning of 2004.
Nevertheless, his will has been done – on 30th November 2005, 170 cardboard boxes containing Bibliotheca Jaekeliana, were transported from Piimatie in Finland to the University Library in Poznań. Having been processed in the Horizon system, and after having been entered to NUKAT (National Universal Catalogue), the books arrived in the Library of Collegium Europaeum, to “begin their life” as Collection of Paul Siegfried Jäkel (presently Collection Bibliotheca Jaekeliana).
The cataloguing work on the jaekeliana lasted over two and a half years. In truth, it is not yet complete (work on the so-called Jäkel’s Archives, a collection of almost 2000 papers, photocopies and offprints, is still in progress).
On 1st June 2007, with university and local government authorities in attendance, Collegium Europaeum in Gniezno witnessed the opening of the Reading Room of Paul Siegfried Jäkel. The ribbon was cut by dr MargitNiederhuber-Jäkel, the wife of the Professor and the executor of His will and testament.The ceremony was accompanied by a conference entitled Books and People: yesterday – today – tomorrow, the first event of the kind held in memory of Paul Siegfried Jäkel.
The collection proper contains 4704 volumes of compact print (of which 812 are works published before 1945), chiefly on philosophy, Classical philology, history of literature (including literary texts), history, social sciences and history of art (here also picture albums and guides), dictionaries and companions. The collections features both well known publishing series, such as Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana,Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis or Goldene Klassiker-Bibliothek, as well as early editions of European authors and university publications from all over the world. In many cases, the volumes are the only ones available in our country, which is manifest in the interest in interlibrary loans. The collection also includes the so-called Jäkel’s Archives, an assortment of periodicals, offprints and copies of articles, which still require library processing.
Pursuant to the wishes of the donor, the collection in its entirety is kept in the Library of Collegium Europaeum as the Collection Bibliotheca Jaekeliana.
Given the modern architecture of the Collegium’s building, the older part of the collection is deposited separately – in the storerooms of the Special Section, protected from light and excessive temperature.
After the general processing at the University Library in Poznań, each volume of the collection was given bookplates in shape of a stamp with the inscription: “The gift of Professor Siegfried Jäkel”, while at the Library of Collegium Europaeum the volumes were provided with a local shelf mark – a symbol of the section in our library preceded by the prefix “Jä”.
Presently, the online library catalogue at www.lib.amu.edu.plwill enable searchwith Collection Bibliotheca Jaekeliana specification.
It was the donor’s intention that Bibliotheca Jaekeliana be a rudiment of a library – scientific workshop catering for researchers of various disciplines. Bearing that in mind, the collection is constantly being supplemented by publications that its creator would probably have chosen; these volumes will however not bear The gift of Professor Siegfried Jäkel ex libris. For those who wish to engage in a research of the Professor’s legacy, the Library of Collegium Europaeum grants local access to a catalogue of the collection drawn up by the Professor himself.