We thank all the supporters und donators – private persons, companies and foundations – who have helped us with their bestowments or money and non-cash contributions to fulfil our diverse tasks for the benefit of research and culture. Representing all our supporters, we list here the generous commitments made in chronological sequence starting in 1661:

2018 - from private ownership - the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz and thus also the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin received the estate of the artist Leni Riefenstahl as a gift

2018 - Friends and supporters of the library took on 190 book sponsorships worth over €42,000 throughout the year

2017 - Friends and supporters of the library sponsored 240 books worth over €48,000 throughout the year

2016 - Friends and supporters of the library sponsored 175 books worth over €40,000 throughout the year

2015 - Friends and supporters of the library sponsored 147 books worth over €25,000 throughout the year

2015 - Falk Dathe presented the extensive private photographic archive of his father, zoologist Heinrich Dathe, as a gift to the Manuscripts Department

2015 - The Department of Historical Prints received the first part of the estate of the master bookbinder Werner G. Kießig, who died in March, as a gift

2015 - with the donations of the participants of the E-Day 2015 the children's book by R. E. Raspe "Des Freiherrn von Münchhausen wunderbare Reisen und Abenteuer zu Lande" from 1905 was restored

2015 - Marie-Luise Zimmermann, Ratsherrin a.D. der Landehauptstadt Düsseldorf - donation of 580 leaflets dating back to the late 1960ies und 1970ies

2014 - patrons financing the restoration of 130 items from the special collections worth 21.500 €

2104 - Freundeskreis für Cartographica in der Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz e. V. - donation of a precious atlas showing Fort Narva, Estonia

2014 - from a private donator - donation of „Album der Proclamierung des deutschen Kaiserreiches im Schlosse zu Versailles. 18. Januas 1871“ (Berlin 1871) and „Gedenkblätter der Venus-Expedition 1874: Seiner Maj. Dem Kaiser Wilhelm I … dargebracht von den Mitgliedern der Expeditionen zur Beobachtung des Venusdurchganges 1874“ (Berlin 1877)

2014 - Mrs. Dierichs, former staff member of the East European Department - Donation of a letter and a postcard sent by Thomas Man to her father, a pneumologist Dr. Rudolf Dierichs

2014 - Dr. Wolfgang Kosak, Agyptologe - donation of 33 volumes containing oriental manuscripts written in Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Tibetian an ohter languages

2014 - Freunde der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin e. V. - financing of the cataloguing of correspondencies in the archive of Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht of the years 1890 to 1980

2014 - during his lifetime the singer, conductor and writer Dietrich Fischer-Diskau ordered the donation of his legacy

2014 - Ida Korsvold, friend and pupil of Elsa Lindenberg - donation of letters sent by the psyciatrist, psychoanalyist, sex researcher and sociologist Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) to the ballett dancer Elsa Lindenberg

2014 - Prof. Mario Rainer Lepsius - donation of letters of the egyptologist and leading librarian of the Königliche Bibliothek, Karl Richard Lepsius, who sent these letters during his first Egyptian expedition (1842-1846) to his father and the King of Prussia

2014 - Marianne Leibholz - Schenkung von Briefen aus dem  Nachlass ihrer Mutter Sabine Leibholz und von Briefen ihres Onkels, dem Theologen und Widerstandskämpfers Dietrich Bonhoeffer

2014 - Dr. Ernst-Jörg von Studnitz, früherer deutscher Botschafter in Moskau - Schenkung von 350 Büchern und Zeitschriften

2014 - Freundeskreis für Cartographica in der Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz e. V. - Schenung einer seltenen Manuskriptkarte vom thüringischen Henneberg aus der Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts

2014 - Nachlass der Bonner Slawistin und Professorin Margarete Woltner (1897-1985) geschenkt

2013 - Stiftung Würth Group, Hermann- Reemtsma Stiftung, Volkswagen-Stiftung, Gerda Henkel Stiftung, Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung - Kofinanzierung der vom Bund, der Kulturstiftung der Länder und der Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz aufgebrachten Mittel zum Erwerb der Amerikanischen Reisetagebücher Alexander von Humboldts

2013 - Freunde der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin e.V. - Kofinanzierung der Edition des Briefwechsels Fanny Lewald mit Adolf Stahr

2013 - Freunde und Förderer der Bibliothek übernahmen im Jahr 2013 insgesamt 125 Buchpatenschaften im Wert von 27.500 €

2013 - Tochter von Karl Höner (1909-1987) - Schenkung von 15 wertvollen Musikdrucke, zur Ergänzung des Nachlasses Karl Höner

2013 - Dr. Antonius Jammers, eh. Generaldirektor der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Schenkung eines historischen Papiertheaters

2013 - aus Familienbesitz - Schenkung des Nachlasses des Komponisten, Hornisten und Arrangeurs Wilhelm Kaiser-Lindemann (1940-2010)

2013 - Freunde der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin e.V. - Erwerbung und Schenkung des Handexemplars des Verlegers Friedrich Nicolai von der „Allgemeinen deutschen Bibliothek“ mit 139 Bänden

2013 - Witwe des Wirtschafts- und Sozialhistorikers SAKAJ Hajime aus Takarazuka/Japan - Schenkung der privaten Forschungsbibliothek des Wissenschaftlers mit mehr als 10.000 Werken

2013 - Gesellschaft für Bibliothekswesen und Dokumentation des Landbaus (GBDL e.V.) - Finanzierung des Kaufs des bislang als Kriegsverlust verzeichneten historischen Druckes Pflantz-Gart: Darinn grundtlicher Bericht zufinden / welcher gestalten Obst-Gärten(..) Mit Lust/ und Nutz anzustellen/ zu bawen/ und zu erhalten“, 1639

2013 - Familie Gerhart Hauptmann - Schenkung von Briefen, Postkarten und Telegrammen zur Ergänzung des Nachlasses des Nobelpreisträgers

2013 - Harry Czepuck - Schenkung seiner 23 (von insgesamt 25 in den Jahren 1948/1949 erschienenen) Ausgaben der Zeitschrift „Die Brücke. Zeitung der deutschen Kriegsgefangenen in Polen"

2013 - ungenannter Spender - dank de Spende war der Erwerb des seltenen „Bilderbuchs der Kunstschule für Frauen und Mädchen“ (Wien 1901) möglich

2013 - Freunde der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin e. V. - Finanzierung des Kaufs mehrerer Stücke: Vorzugsausgabe von „Le Dieu Pepetius“ von Paul Lacroix (1874, Auflage 15 Ex.); ein Widmungsexemplar von Theodor Storms Schriften; ein kostbar ausgestatteter Band Andachten von 1750

2013 - ungenannter Spender - Schenkung des seltenen und wertvollen Bilderbuchs „Ein trauriges Stuecklein“ (1906)

2012  -  Freunde der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin e.V., Kulturstiftung der Länder, Bernd H. Breslauer Foundation (New York)  -  co-financing of the purchase of mediaeval manuscript from the late 13th century

2012  - Trans BWG Umzüge Berlin  -  financial support for illuminating the building Potsdamer Straße

2012  -  family Weyert  -  bestowment of the estate of muscian and composer Franz Poenitz

2011 -  Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung& - generous support of the restauration of books of the collection Libri impressi rari

2011 - Bernd Dreesmann/Berlin - financing of the Restaurierung of Sefer ha-Sohar  manufactured 1623 in Lublin

2011 - Wüstenrot Foundation, Berliner headquarter of Siemens AG, friends of the Berlin State Library e.V.  - co-financing the purchase of Alexander von Humboldt's address book

2011 - De Gruyter publishing house - bestowment of 350 e-books

2011 - 97 patrons - financing the restoration of 150 items from the special collections

2011 - Ruprecht family/ Göttingen  -  bestowment of the archive of the scientific publishers Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht

2010  -  Bernd H. Breslauer Foundation, Cultural Foundation of the Federal States  -  co-financing of the acquisition of the medieval manuscript Ms. germ. qu. 2370

2010  -  Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation, Cultural Foundation of the Federal States  -  co-financing of the acquisition of the manuscript Rules of War of Margrave Albrecht von Brandenburg-Ansbach

2010  -  67 Sponsors  -  donations for the restoration of 97 special pieces from the library’ special collection as part of the sponsorships

2010  -  Walter de Gruyter Foundation  -  patron of the analysis of the archive of the de Gruyter publishing house

2010  -  Walter de Gruyter Foundation, Schleiermachersche Foundation, Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia, Friends of the Berlin State Library e.V.  -  co-financing of the acquisition of three manuscripts by Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher

2010  -  Till Cramer  -  bestowment of an extensive portfolio with several dozen fragments of incunabula as well as sheets of a manuscript from the 14th century

2010  - Reemtsma Foundation Hamburg  -  generous support with the acquisition of an aquarelle from Fanny Hensel's music room

2010  -  Prussian Seafaring Foundation  -  financing of the elaborate restoration of six works from the library’s early Electoral stocks

2010  -  Corvinus Press, Berlin  -  bestowment of 52 press proofs for the Collection of Artistic Prints

2010  -  Friends of the Berlin State Library e.V.  -  acquisition of a first-edition of the dramas "Now and in the Hour of our Deaths" by Rainer Maria Rilke

2010  -  Richard Burkhart  -  bestowment of 5 folios with 44 collages for the Collection of Artistic Prints

2010  -  Prussian Seafaring Foundation  -  financing of the analysis of the estate of Ernst Engelberg

2010  -  Horst Künnemann  -  the researcher of children’s books donates his extensive premature legacy

2010  -  Mohr-Siebeck Publishing House  -  bestowment of the publishing archive

2010  -  from a private individual  -  bestowment of the exceptionally rare English first edition of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”

2010  -  B. H. Breslauer Foundation (New York)  -  co-financing of the acquisition of four auction and antique dealer’s catalogues from the 18th and early 19th centuries

2009/2010  -  Richard K.H. Burkart  -  bestowment of 20 artistic prints

2009/2010  -  Prussian Seafaring Foundation, Foundation of Prussian Palaces and Gardens, Friends of the Berlin State Library e.V.  -  financing of the restoration of a painting of the family tree of the Margrave von Brandenburg-Ansbach

2009  -  65 Sponsors  -  Donations for the restoration of 80 special pieces from the library’s special collections as part of the sponsorships

2009  -  B. H. Breslauer Foundation (New York)  -  co-financing of the acquisition of a collection of rare literature from the storehouses for Jewish displaced persons

2009  -  from a private individual  -  bestowment of a portrait of a musician, dating to the middle of the 19th century, beginning of transfer of several hundred portraits

2009/2010  -  Richard K.H. Burkart  -  bestowment of 20 artistic prints

2009  -  Ernst v. Siemens Art Foundation  -  generous co-financing of the restoration of natural history masterpieces

2009  -  Mommsen family - bestowment of a collection of eight pages on which  Theodor Mommsen describes his stay in Rome in 1845

2009  -  94 private persons, foundations and companies heed the call for donations made by the Friends of the Berlin State Library e.V.  -  financing of the restoration work on the estate of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, purchasing of letters and other documents by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and family to supplement the estate

2009  -  Bonhoeffer family/Leibholz  -  bestowment of the estate of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s twin sister

2009  -  unknown publisher  -  bestowment of material from his publishing work

2009  -  Wolfgang Würfel  -  bestowment of a part of his original illustrations for children’s and young peoples’ books

2008  -  49 Sponsors  -  donations for the restoration of 68 particular pieces from the library’s special collections as part of the sponsorships

2008  -  B. H. Breslauer Foundation (New York)  -  co-financing of the purchase of a manuscript of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn written in his own hand

2008  -  Parish of London  -  bestowment of a portfolio of documents on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s assumption of office as parish priest in London, added to the Bonhoeffer estate

2008  -  B. H. Breslauer Foundation (New York)  -  co-financing of the purchase of a medieval Dutch manuscript

2008  -  Werner Papke  -  donation for the restoration of two garden art masterpieces

2008  -  Elisabeth Schmiedel, granddaughter of the composer Woldemar Bargiel  -  bestowment of the large part of the estate of Bargiel-Schmiedel incl. almost all of Woldemar Bargiel’s autograph scores

2008  -  great-grandson of Paul Mendelssohn-Bartholdy  -  170 letters from P. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy to his later wife

2008  -  Hans-Dieter Holzhausen  -  inheritance of his premature legacy by Friends of the State Library e.V. with the aim of using the money gained from the sales revenues to generate income to maintain special stocks

2008  -  from a private individual  -  bestowment of an extremely rare example of a Brockhaus sample volume for representatives on the publication of the 14th edition in 1894

2008  -  Bernhard Fabian  -  bestowment of a rare English-language print: James Thomsens. The Seasons, 1806, Gotha

2008  -  B. H. Breslauer Foundation (New York)  -  financial support for the exhibition A Patron’s Great Moment

2007  -  42 Sponsors  -  donations for the restoration of 52 special pieces from the library’s special collections as part of the sponsorships

2007  -  Jona'sche Family Foundation  -  donation to finance the analysis of estates

2007  -  Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin  -  donations for the restoration of 2 manuscripts

2007  -  Fujitsu Siemens Computer GmbH  -  donation to support a meeting of European museums, libraries and archives

2007  -  Legacy of Otto Perels  -  bestowment of the family estate of the Berlin theologian and priest

2007  -  35 private persons, foundations and companies heed the call for donations made by Friends of the Berlin State Library e.V.  -  part-financing of the purchase of a collection with autographs of Thomas Mann and first-editions of his books

2007  -  Robert Bosch Foundation  -  part-financing of the exhibition "A Patron’s Great Moment. Ludwig Darmstaedter Collection"

2007  -  Circle of Friends for Cartographica in the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation e.V.  -  bestowment of a hand-drawn textbook on surveying from the 18th century

2007  -  Circle of Friends for Cartographica in the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation e.V.  -  purchase and bestowment of a pocket globe (8 cm in diameter) produced in England

2007  -  former employee in the Manuscript Department  -  bestowment of 10,000 Euro plus interest, for the specific purpose of acquisitions for the Theodor Mommsen estate

2006 ff.  -  Government of the People’s Republic of China  -  annual bestowment of books from current production as part of the programme "Windows to China"

2006  -  Grandson of the historian Harry Bresslau  -  bestowment of supplementary documents on his grandfather’s estate

2006  -  from a private individual  -  donation to finance the purchase of two correction sheets to the "German Dictionary" of the Grimm Brothers, added to the Brothers’ estate

2006  -  Anja Hauptmann, Granddaughter of the Nobel Literature Prize winner Gerhart Hauptmann  -  bestowment of the remaining parts of the estate of her grandfather, added to G. Hauptmann’s estate

2006  -  Museum for Ethnology Hamburg  -  2 Ethiopian manuscripts

2006  -  Widow of Heinz Knobloch  -  bestowment of all of the remaining parts of the writer’s estate in her possession, added to the writer’s estate

2005  -  Book dealer from Augsburg  -  bestowment of a very rare incunabula printed on vellum from 1487

2005  -  Kathrin Raitza  -  bestowment of 105 Vietnamese books

2004  -  Community of heirs of Count zu Lynar  -  transfer of 380 prints from the Reformation period as a permanent loan

2004  -  Hans-Joachim Schauß  -  bestowment of his greeting card collection

2004  -  Heirs of Gerhard Rosenfeld  -  bestowment of the composer’s estate

2004  -  Heirs of the scientist Moustapha Haikal  -  bestowment of several thousand Arabic books relating to North Africa and the Middle East

2003-2007  -  31 private persons heed the call for donations made by Friends of the Berlin State Library e.V.  -  donations between 20 and 1,500 € to restore the largest Hebrew vellum bible "Erfurt 1"

2003  -  from a private individual  -  bestowment of the estate of Arno Peters, cartographer

2003  -  unknown visitor to the exhibition on "Lise Meitner"  -  bestowment of a letter from Max Born, added to the estate

2001  -  Circle of Friends for Cartographica in the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation e.V.  -  purchase and bestowment of the Columbus globe

2000-2003  -  1,100 donors from 13 countries heed the call for donations made by the Friends of the Berlin State Library e.V., including the major donors ZEIT-Foundation, The Packard Humanities Institute,

BASF Aktiengesellschaft, Montblanc GmbH, Hermann Reemtsma Foundation, Christian Schwarz-Schilling -  restoration of an autograph of Johann Sebastian Bach damaged by acid decay

2000  -  Christa Karoli  -  creation of a foundation with large assets for the benefit of the library under the condition that it be used to acquire literature and autographs of and about E.T.A. Hoffmann

2000  -  Niece of Konrad Haebeler  -  bestowment of scientific estate material of the incunabula researcher and one oil painting of her uncle

2000  -  Elisabeth Furtwängler, widow of Wilhelm Furtwängler  -  bestowment of part of an estate on composers and conductors

2000  -  US troops stationed in Göppingen up to 2000  -  bestowment of American children’s books of the 1950s to the 1990

1999  -  Circle of Friends for Cartographica in the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation e.V.  -  purchase and bestowment of a globe for travelling the world produced by Dietrich Reimer in 1905

1997-2009  -  various unnamed donors  -  28 bestowments of fragments, manuscripts, autographs, a war diary, catalogues, colleagues’ postscripts and other

1997  -  Bernd H. Breslauer, New York  -  bestowment of the estate of his father Martin Breslauer and his own premature legacy

1986  -  Swiss family of Carl Maria von Weber  -  conversion of the Weber family estate from a deposit into a bestowment: therein the Archive of the composer Carl Maria von Weber with autographs, correspondence u. a.

1964  -  Hugo von Mendelssohn Bartholdy  -  donation of his collection on the Mendelssohn family built up in Basle, now the Mendelssohn Archive

1928  -  Friends of the Prussian State Library e.V.  -  purchase and bestowment of 130 letters by Rainer Maria Rilke

1910  -  Grandson of the philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte  -  bestowment of the philosopher’s estate, which had been in the hands of the library as a deposit since 1899

1908  -  Ernst von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy  -  bestowment of music autographs of Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and others

1907  -  Ludwig Darmstaedter  -  bestowment of his autograph collection, which he had built up to 190,000 autographs of 45,000 authors by the time of his death in 1927, also bestowment of 25,000 gold crowns; the Darmstaedter collection is one of the library’s three largest autograph collections

1906  -  Karl and Erich Mommsen  -  bestowment of the correspondence of their father Theodor Mommsen

1905  -  Berlin publishing bookseller Hermann Paetel  -  purchase and bestowment of Robert Schumann’s estate

1900  -  Ernst August von Sondermühlen  -  bestowment of over one hundred hand-drawn views of Berlin

1890  -  Clara Schumann, widow of Robert Schumann  -  transfer of the composer’s estate as a deposit

1881  -  Ludmilla Assing, niece of Karl August Varnhagen von Ense, husband of Rahel Varnhagen  -  L. Assing inherited the Varnhagen von Ense autograph collection under the condition that the collection containing 400,000 autographs of 9,000 authors (in 85 boxes and 391 capsules) be reappraised and then bequeathed to the Royal Library; the collection is one of the library’s three largest autograph collections, it is currently in Krakow on loan

1878  -  Legacy of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy  -  bestowment of the composer’s musical estate; in return the Prussian State founded a Mendelssohn Scholarship, now continued as the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation

1874  -  Richard Wagener  -  bestowment of the first part of the autographs of Johann Sebastian Bach "The Well-Tempered Clavier"

1866  -  Banker Ferdinand Jaques  -  bestowment of the autographs of the "The Magic Flute" opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1860  -  Legacy of Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann  -  bestowment of the historian’s estate

1851  -  Caroline Weber, widow of Carl Maria von Weber  -  bestowment of the autograph of the “Der Freischütz” opera by Carl Maria von Weber

1847  -  Widow of E.T.A. Hoffmann  -  bestowment of her husband’s musical estate to the king, who passed this bestowment onto his Royal Library

1817  -  Privy counsellor Heinrich Friedrich von Diez  -  bestowment of 800 manuscripts and 17,000 prints

1805  -  Alexander von Humboldt  -  bestowment of Mexican illustrated manuscripts on aloe paper, which he brought back from his travels in South America; the bestowment was the starting point for the newly created collection manuscripta americana

1796  -  Imperial Countess Elisabeth von Schwerin  -  bestowment of a large oil painting and a red-leather-bound prayer book “In eternal memory”

1692  -  a lady named Rösel, possibly the wife of Benjamin Neumark  -  bestowment of a Hebrew bible in four volumes, this constituted the opening of the library’s Hebraica collection

1688  -  Elector Friedrich Wilhelm  -  bestowment of all his private books, over 2,000 volumes

1684  -  Ernst Bogislaus von Croy  -  inheritance of his selected book collection

1684  -  Kleve Chancellor Daniel Weinmann  -  bestowment of the Codex of Suetonius from 1477 and a painted herbarium in 16 folio volumes

1680  -  Wilhelm von Rochow  -  bestowment of the Latin manuscript with the Ms. Theol. lat. fol. 73 signature

1665  -  Otto Wilhelm von Berlepsch in the name of those people of Asseburg  -  bestowment of a “Saxon Mirror” written on paper von 1473

1664  -  Prince Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen  -  bestowment of the "atlas of the Great Elector", still the largest bound atlas in existence today

1661-64  -  Prince Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen  -  bestowment of 6 volumes with illustrations of Brazilian animals and plants

1661  -  Colonel von der Gröben  -  Inheritance of his books