Page:Thirty-five years of Luther research.djvu/34



Thus with the year 1883 there began an industrious research in archives and libraries, confined not only to Germany, for old printed writings of Luther, and for such manuscripts that might shed light upon his life and work. Here also Kolde must first be mentioned. For, whereas, those who were fortunate enough to discover many relics of Luther by chance, as, for example, Buchwald, or those who were aided in an extraordinary measure by the State, or through the arrangement of libraries and archives meanwhile much improved, as, for example, Albrecht, Kolde undertook extended journeys at his own expense to collect material from the archives for a new biography of Luther. As a result of these journeys he introduced the public for the first time to many archives which were important in themselves, and in their relation to the research work on Luther. Then he published his discoveries in his "Analecta Lutherana," which appeared in 1883, and in which he not only pointed out new paths for further investigation, but also aroused widespread interest in it.10 However, in this part of our essay we shall treat of a different thing.By means of a comprehensive survey, we shall concern ourselves with those phases of Luther's life and activities, concerning which new manuscripts have been discovered in the last thirty-five years.

To be considered in the first place is such material which sheds light upon his religious and theological