The Archives and Collection department is often referred to as the company's memory. Indeed maintaining tradition is itself a tradition at Mercedes-Benz and Daimler AG, since the archives at the historic Untertürkheim location have existed as an institution since 1936. However, the practice of collecting at the company founded by automotive pioneers Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz went back much further – to the beginnings of automotive design.
Preserved here is the history of the company, its products and technology dating back over 120 years of automotive design. The material ranges from design drawings, test reports, correspondence, minutes of meetings and Board of Management records to personal bequests, brochures, vehicle operating manuals, press kits, photographs, films and rare posters.
The sheer scale of the collection is impressive in itself. Laid out end to end, the archived materials would stretch out more than 15,000 metres, and the photographic archive contains more than 3 million images.
Archived materials are organised according to their relative importance to the archive and can be researched using analogue or electronic search tools.
The archives are principally used by Daimler AG itself, which makes use of the wide-ranging material for maintaining its own tradition. In addition, however, selected materials can be accessed by the general public — and is used first and foremost by journalists, academics, historians and authors. In principle, the archives and library are on open access to anyone displaying a valid interest.
