The Eric Voegelin Library in Erlangen: A resource of European Voegelin research

In their essay on the Eric Voegelin Library, Dr. Eno Trimçev, the library’s director, and Dr. Łukasz Święcicki (University of Siedlce) introduce this lesser-known resource of European Voegelin research.

The core of the Eric Voegelin Library – which in total houses five separate collections – consists of the books Voegelin collected during his lifetime and which, at the time of his death in Palo Alto, California, were in his possession. Thanks to the efforts of his former student, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Gebhardt, they were brought to Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg.

The library is affiliated with the Chair of Political Theory and History of Ideas, headed by Prof. Dr. Eva Marlene Hausteiner, and is located at Glückstraße 5, close to the Botanical Garden, the main library, and the old town. It comprises three rooms, the largest of which contains the majority of the roughly 5,000 books as well as workspaces and technical equipment.

As the authors point out, the collection represents a resource of Voegelin research that, in many respects, remains largely unexplored and can inspire deeper engagement with Voegelin and his books. The various ways in which this can be achieved are presented in the full essay, available online at VOEGELINVIEW.