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Dear Colleagues,We have all heard the reports of scholarly catastrophe in Europe:  the fire inthe Anna Amalia Library in 2004; the collapse of the City Archive of Cologne in2009.  They are immeasurable scholarly losses:  two valuable collections of rarebooks and archival documents, unique sources from the past that can never bereplaced.I write today to alert you all to developments that threaten another greatcultural treasury.  The City Archive of Augsburg is now one of the mostimportant city archives in Germany, housing the greatest collection of documentsfor a single city from the period between the early eleventh and the earlynineteenth century.  On the basis of its serial collections alone, it isarguably the most valuable city archive for research in the late medieval andearly modern periods, when Augsburg was one the greatest cities of the Empireand of Europe, a metropolis of commerce and culture, home to Fugger and Welseras well as to Breu and Holbein, site of the Augsburg Confession and theReligious Peace.  Located in a nineteenth-century Bürgerhaus, however, thisgreat archive is at great risk.  The current situation meets modern standardsfor neither study nor preservation.Those of you who are familiar with the City Archive know from personalexperience that the reading room is small, stuffy and shabby.  It lackssufficient space for regular users.  It lacks up-to-date catalogues to accessthe collections.  It lacks sufficient, secure electrical outlets to permit theuse of personal computers by all users.  Such conditions are not only aninconvenience for scholars but also a strain for both staff and collectionsFar more important is the current situation of the collections themselves. As aresult of their sheer size, the collections far outstrip the available shelfspace, so that a large percentage lies, uncatalogued and unshelved, in cartonsin the basement.  Given the age of the structure and surrounding construction,that basement is given to periodic flooding with predictable and consistentlylamentable results for the documents.  Shelved documents are, in fact, no moresecure, because there is no automated fire-suppression system.  Given the ageof the electrical and heating systems in the house, the threat of anuncontrollable fire is a real and constant presence.  All of these conditionscontribute to an environment in the stacks that has encouraged a proliferationof so-called bookworms.  These pests enter archives and libraries throughpoorly fitting windows and doors and proliferate where dust, dirt, heat,darkness, and poor ventilation prevail.  The mature female insect lays her eggson the edges of books, or in the crevices between quires, and the hatched larvaeburrow into the books, riddling them with tiny tunnels. Thus, even as flood andfire threaten the collections of Augsburg's City Archive, the documents as ofthis writing are quite literally being eaten away.These are deficiencies, for which the archive's committed, professional staffcannot entirely compensate.  Though its number has increased in the last fewyears-to say nothing of the level of its professional training-and itsachievements in matters of conservation, organization and exhibition have wonwell-deserved praise, it cannot be expected to contend with the challenges thatconfront them.The situation has reached crisis.  Plans are now in hand to close the CityArchive for three years, beginning next summer, to permit the fumigation of thebuilding.  Not only will the collections be unavailable for use, but themeasures themselves will prove futile.  Experts have already reported thebuilding so infested and so unsuitable that the only hope for Augsburg's uniquehistorical record is to find it a new, safe home.A number of newspaper articles document the story of the City Archive and its neglect-no other word, unfortunately, can accurately be applied-by the city government.  You will see that thesedevelopments are not new.  You will see, also, that the city government hasrecognized the problems by undertaking exploratory studies to move the archiveto a new location, where its collections can be appropriately stored andstudied.  You will see, finally, that the city government of Augsburg has, itsrecognition of the problem notwithstanding, not rescued the City Archive,claiming budgetary restrictions on the one hand, while acquiring millions innew debt to underwrite the construction of a new football stadium, among other"cultural" projects, on the other hand.The city government of Augsburg refuses to act.  Fiscal considerations may bepart of the explanation, but a failure to appreciate the cultural and scholarlyimportance of the historical record also plays a role.  In brief, the politicalleadership neither knows what is in its archive, nor accepts responsibility forit.This is where each of us can help.  I have been asked by our colleagues,Professor i. R. Dr. Rolf Kießling, Lehrstuhl für Bayrische und SchwäbischeLandesgeschichte der Universität Augsburg, and Professor Dr. iur. utr.Christoph Becker, Lehrstuhl für Bürgerliches Recht, Römisches Recht undEuropäische Rechtsgeschichte der Universität Augsburg, to organize aletter-writing campaign among American colleagues, who may be more directlyfamiliar with Augsburg, to save the City Archive.  Let me therefore ask each ofyou who see the scholarly importance of the Augsburg City Archive and the humanimportance of cultural memory to write to the Bürgermeister of Augsburg, urginghim to preserve the archive by moving it without delay to its planned, new homein the renovated structure of the Augsburger Kammgarn-Spinnerei.  Lettersshould be sent to:Oberbürgermeister Dr. Kurt GriblMaximilianstrasse 4D-86150 AugsburgGERMANY.By writing, we have the opportunity to help prevent a catastrophe, rather thanmerely to read and grieve about it after the fact.Thank you for your help.  Please contact me, if you have any questions.Sincerely,Thomas Max SafleyProfessor Dr. Thomas Max SafleyDepartment of History208 College HallUniversity of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6379USAtel. 215.898.2186 / 8452tsafley@history.upenn.edu From EXLIBRIS list.