Digitalisation of the collection of Robert Holsten’s Pomeranian toponyms from the 1930s

Abstract

The study presents the history and state of preservation of the unique collection of source materials for the old Pomeranian field and place names – Die pommersche Flurnamensammlung. Results of digitalisation carried out in recent years, as well as digital access to a part of this collection, which is currently stored in the National Museum in Szczecin, are also included. The collection of Pomeranian field and place names is based on source materials collected by teachers and regionalists in the 1920s and 1930s. The research and documentation were led by linguist and ethnologist Dr. Robert Holsten. They took on the form of a project covering the area of the then Province of Pomerania, including its division into middle-level units (German: Kreis, Polish: powiat) of local administration, which had separate name registers. The records amassed in the National Museum in Szczecin include 35 volumes from 21 administrative units and around 300 topographic maps (German: Messtischblätter). The entire collection was digitised in the period 2019–2021 and made available. Part of the collection – lists of names and accompanying maps from four administrative units – was studied with the use of geographic information systems (GIS) and published in a geoportal which was created specifically for this purpose.