Details on the Bern Museum and Reading Society
The Bern Reading Society was founded in 1791, due to the need of literature for the educated bourgeoisie. Its aim was to provide recent publications appealing to intellectual and liberal readers. Members were entitled to make acquisition requests and borrow the books. Initially the interests focused on travel, history, and literature. The reading circle also offered readers the opportunity to discuss books they had read. At the beginning the society was strictly limited to 32 members. However, due to high demand this restriction was soon loosened, although strict conditions of admission still applied. Prominent members of the Reading Societies included Carl Ludwig v. Haller, Friedrich Kuhn, and Philipp Albrecht Stapfer.
By 1897 books that were worn or no longer read were sold; only later they were periodically donated to the library. This is how around 30,000 titles were transferred the University Library Bern by 1980, half of them dating from the 19th century. More than half of the books are in German and 30% are in French.
When the Museum Society was founded in 1847, its aim was to enrich the city's cultural life with public lectures, excursions and festivals. Because the number of members rose grew quickly, the society had its own premises built in 1869. But the building on Bärenplatz proved to be too large 20 years later, when membership numbers had decreased. The demise of both societies between the two world wars finally resulted in the merger of the Reading and Museum Society in 1941. In 1979/80 the organization closed its doors as it did no longer meet modern requirements. The book collections became part of the University Library Bern. Apart from pure entertainment the collection contains a large number of first editions (such as Fritjof Nansen's In Nacht und Eis, Leipzig 1897/98) and rare fictional literature (such as Abenteuer des berühmten Freiherr von Münchhausen, illustrated by Martin Disteli, Solothurn 1841). Annual accounts, membership lists, book lists, minutes books, and statutes are part of the collection.