The Archives contain some 40,000 documents, including a collection on the Deutscher Werkbund that is unique the world over, and a collection on modern design history and everyday culture.
The collection of original documents and publications on the Deutscher Werkbund is aimed at reconstructing the organizational history of the movement in all its facets. It includes graphic works – designs, illustrations, posters and photographs – by Werkbund artists.
Artists’ estates and unpublished works, including those of Hermann Muthesius and Herbert Hirche, are an important source. The Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge is interested in acquiring and documenting other legacies related to the Werkbund.
The second part of the Archives contains documents of everyday culture, amateur photographs, posters, postcards, advertising materials, documents concerning the business and personal lives of significant figures, and special collections on topics such as the Situationists, the
student movement, the Malik-Verlag publishing house, and on artists such as Walter Benjamin and John Heartfield.
