Costs & Law

Costs & Law

The Institute for the History of Frankfurt offers a range of services and would be pleased to help you in your searches. Use of our facilities is subject to the provisions of the Hessian Archives Act. Some of our services are subject to fees.

Hessian Archives Act

The Hessian Archives Act is a regional data privacy act. It stipulates that factual records are subject to a 30-year term of copyright upon being created. Where personal records are concerned, a 10-year term of copyright is applicable after the originator’s death or – if their date of death is unknown – 100 years after their birth. If a person’s vital information cannot be identified, the document is subject to a 60-year term of copyright after its creation. Some documents are subject to the provisions of the Federal German Archives Act and therefore to longer copyright terms.

If there are exceptional circumstances, it is possible to apply shorter terms of copyright. However, this requires an application to shorten the term of copyright. If your research project is academic and in the public interest, your application may receive a positive decision. However, this is only possible if all personal details are anonymised.

Even if a record is no longer under copyright, it is still possible that further individuals are mentioned in it (so called third-party data subjects). Please remember therefore that you must not specify, disclose or publish the names of individuals or any other details which may help to retrospectively identify them. Further details can be found in our information leaflet.

Service fees

Our service fees can be found in the Scale of Charges and Fees of the Institute for the History of Frankfurt, which specifies fees for on-site use, for searches and for the copying and publication of archived material.

Use of material

The use of material in the Reading Room is subject to fees if commercial interests are involved. In such cases we charge €25 for the provision of material.

Searches

Up to a limited number of hours academic searches are handled by the Institute for free. However, we only provide information about our stocks, while any analysis or research of archives is the enquirer’s own responsibility. Fees are charged for any searches that are non-academic in character (e.g. searches conducted by by probate researchers, genealogists, commercial traders).
A search costs €10 per 10-minute period or part thereof and must be paid in advance. It cannot be reimbursed if the result is negative. You are welcome to enquire by letter, fax or email. When you write to us, please make sure you state your name, address, phone number and – if available – email address.

Ordering photographic copies

Copies of textual material (files) can be ordered at €0.50 per side of A4 and €0.60 per side of A3.
In the case of images, the price depends the size of the image and the requested resolution. A full price list can be found here.

Use of our Book Eye scanner

Fees are also charged for use of our Book Eye scanner in the Reading Room. The price is €0.20 per side of A4 for each first copy and €0.10 for each additional printout.

Fees for publications and other use of images in media

If you wish to use archived illustrations in your publications, you will need to pay so-called usage fees. Regardless of the type of material, this applies to all resources, including documents, files, manuscripts, street and road maps, posters, pamphlets, photos and picture postcards. The usage fee depends on the intended use of the copy and the print run, and it can be waived if a publication is intended for academic purposes.
A full price list can be found here.