Documents from the family archive of the Counts von Lehndorff-Steinort. Online edition of select sources and a study

Across centuries the Lehndorff family, like the Dohnas and Dönhoffs, with the centre of their life in Steinort, their access to the court in Warsaw and then in Berlin, their official and political contacts, professional careers in the military and diplomatic services, marriage circles, engagement in society, public image, social life and, not least, their consumption of culture, have been prime examples of the East Prussian aristocracy. They also had to manage the processes of political, economic and social change of the 18th and 19th century and the loss of traditional points of orientation.
 
The letters and records in the family archive document the history of the family across centuries. Broken apart in the Second World War, the archive is today preserved in three archival locations, in Berlin-Dahlem, in Leipzig and in Olsztyn.

The goal of the project is an online select edition which, by taking the Lehndorff family as an example, will convey a source-based picture of the life and actions of the East Prussian aristocracy from the 18th to the 20th century. This will make available for research rich material on the history of an East Prussian aristocratic family. Further, a study that follows the thematic spheres present in the sources will sketch a history of the Lehndorffs, with the goal of giving new impulses to the study of the East Prussian aristocratic landscape.
 
The project is funded by the State Minister for Culture and Media.