The Archive as a Learning Space

The Augsburg City Archives sees itself as an extracurricular place of learning and offers teachers a wide range of opportunities to design history lessons directly using original sources. In addition to specialist literature and essential reference works on the history of Augsburg, it is above all the direct encounter with authentic documents that provides a vivid and engaging access to the past.

With prior appointment, school classes and other learning groups can participate in archive tours free of charge. These tours are individually tailored and can be offered as

• a general introduction to the duties, working methods, and holdings of a municipal archive, or
• a topic‑ or curriculum‑related tour addressing current learning content.

In addition, teachers have the opportunity to conduct teaching units directly in the archive. Suitable formats include, among others:

• source‑based history lessons,
• project‑based group work,
• independent research by the students based on prepared materials.

This offer is aimed not only at schools in Augsburg itself but explicitly also at educational institutions in the surrounding region. In particular, it provides an opportunity to become familiar with working methods, research techniques, and project-based learning in the archive.