The second volume of the project supplements the digital building register with a crucial source-critical and topographical dimension: the building-specific data from the Dresden address books of 1839, 1840 and 1860, as well as the corresponding concordance of plot numbers based on this data. This volume addresses a key problem in historical urban research, namely the frequent changes to house and cadastral numbers, which make it considerably more difficult to unambiguously assign ownership details to specific buildings and plots. Through the systematic analysis of the address books, it is possible to better understand the numbering systems contained in Hollstein’s card index and to map them onto the urban landscape.
Methodologically, Volume 2 combines automated and manual procedures. The address books from 1839 and 1840 were captured in full text using handwriting and text recognition (HTR/OCR with Transkribus), subsequently processed using scripts, and analysed with the aid of street names and ownership details. The 1860 address book was partially transcribed manually because it is particularly rich in information and plays a key role in the concordance. It contains not only number references but also further details such as district affiliations, police and administrative districts, tax data, the number of storeys and residents, as well as old and new cadastral numbers. This provides insights into the administrative and social structure of the urban area.
The particular achievement of this volume lies in the creation of a reliable concordance between various historical numbering systems. Among other things, older land register numbers, numbers prior to 1839, numbers from 1840 to 1859, and the system from 1860 onwards were identified. Whilst Hollstein’s index already listed several types of numbers, the exact origins of which are not always traceable, it was only through comparison with the address books that systematic verification became possible. In many cases, plots of land could be identified by consistent owner names despite changes in their numbers; in other cases, street details or further contextual information proved helpful. This laid the foundation for establishing connections between houses from different historical periods.
Volume 2 is thus not only a supplement to the house register, but also a methodological key to its use. It is only through the address book data that the historical house-owner index becomes a data system that is more readily verifiable in its own right and spatially integrable. Furthermore, this volume broadens the perspective from the history of ownership to a condensed urban information space of the 19th century. This is of particular value for research into the urbanisation, social topography and administrative organisation of Dresden.
Finally, this volume is also important because it bridges the gap between Hollstein’s source-based reconstruction (Vol. 1, DOI: 10.22000/ug6rug3tss0jn10a ) and the georeferenced parcel map in the third volume (Vol. 3, DOI: 10.22000/278zmxuhvm26gm34) . It provides the mapping keys without which a reliable cartographic visualisation of historical ownership structures would be virtually impossible.