In its anniversary year, the University of Oldenburg is offering interested parties the opportunity to take a look behind the scenes - and to get to know many unusual and exciting places that are not usually accessible to the public.
The slightly worn-looking dance lesson fan from the 1940s is one of Klara von Lindern's favourite pieces from the everyday textile culture collection. In her presentation, the art historian shows a photo of the object: the light brown fan consists of wooden sticks that can be pushed together and are held together at the top by a green ribbon. "The young men wrote small poems or verses directly on the individual sticks of the fan and received a business card from the owner in return," reports von Lindern, who has been the curator of the collection at the University's Institute of Material Culture since 2023.
On a rainy Thursday evening in February, a colourful group of visitors gathered at the University's Institute of Material Culture for an after-work tour to gain an insight into the collection's treasures, some of which are curious and extravagant, but others rather inconspicuous. The tour was one of the first of its kind: in its anniversary year, the university is offering anyone interested the opportunity to get to know areas of the university that are normally closed to the public - including various research laboratories, the library, the workshops of the Innovation Campus or the roofs of the buildings in Haarentor and Wechloy with their photovoltaic systems.
At the Institute of Material Culture, participants are given a small taste of the breadth of the collection as soon as they arrive: In the centre of the weaving room - which is characterised by the presence of looms rather than computers - there is a zebra-look platform shoe next to a shiny cap in the pattern of the British Union Jack made of PVC. A mannequin wears a black leather Spencer jacket with thick shoulder pads from the 1980s that reaches down to the waist.
Objects that tell a story
What these curious items of clothing are all about, however, is not revealed for the time being. Custodian von Lindern first introduces the concept of the collection. "We are not interested in haute couture or special designer fashion, but in everyday things. The objects we collect have to tell an exciting story," she explains. One example is the dance lesson fan, which provides an insight into a special part of everyday culture in the post-war period. "It is important that we know the context in which an object was used. In order to determine this 'object biography', we conduct structured interviews with the donors," reports von Lindern.
In the following 90 minutes, the participants learn that the collection not only includes items of clothing, but also dyes, other textile objects such as bags or belts and "writings" such as Otto catalogues, fashion magazines and fashion-related children's books. You will hear how donated objects are handled and inventoried - and take a look at the various components of the collection: In the "Clothes and Stories" archive, employee Veronika Dawydow is currently sitting and carefully sewing an inventory number onto a cream-coloured handbag studded with small pearls. The room is surrounded on three sides by floor-to-ceiling cupboards, some of which are stacked with acid-free cardboard boxes, others with elegant evening dresses hanging next to balloon silk suits and fancy knitted jumpers - a bit like a second-hand shop. Klara von Lindern takes a red cocktail dress with poppy appliqués out of the wardrobe and explains that the owner wore it at the Bayreuth Festival and later at other social events.
Finally, the tour returns to the weaving room and the collection pieces on display there: In a practical exercise, the participants of the guided tour are allowed to "interrogate" the objects themselves like researchers - and creatively approach their history using various methods.
Klara von Lindern sees the anniversary tours as an opportunity to make areas of the university more visible that "otherwise tend to go under the radar", as she says. "The collections are a beautiful, lively and creative part of the university that are definitely worth a visit," she says. In view of the positive response, she plans to offer her guided tour again in the summer and probably also in the autumn.
Searching for clues in the library
Numerous other areas of the university will be opening their doors during the summer semester: for example, the Telemedicine Centre will be presenting its work, the Institute of Economics Education will be inviting visitors to its premises, the University Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy will be offering an insight into the world of neuroscience, and at the ForWind Centre for Wind Energy Research, interested visitors can get to know the institute's large wind tunnel. All tours are free of charge.
One highlight is presented by Dr Oliver Schoenbeck, who is responsible for public relations at the library. On several dates during the summer semester, he will be offering an "archaeological" tour of the library, which will "search for curious and hidden traces of the university's history in its holdings and structural details", as the announcement states. "The history of BIS, the library and information system, goes hand in hand with the history of the university," explains Schoenbeck. The library building, which was planned from the outset as an open, flexible structure, has undergone repeated structural changes over the past decades.
This is also due to the fact that the role and tasks of libraries have changed over the past 50 years. Participants in the tour can experience this, for example, by looking into closed stacks where analogue media such as microfilms are stored; a selection of rare collections is used to show, among other things, the challenges libraries face in preserving old books. For nostalgic minds, Schoenbeck has an exhibition in the foyer of the library that documents the transformation of the building in photos since the early 1980s.
Anyone interested in taking a look behind the scenes of the university during the anniversary year should visit the website uol.de/50jahre/fuehrungen - and decide quickly when new dates become available: The previous tours were usually fully booked after just a few days.