History of administration: Mayor Kirchenpauer, who as Hamburg's representative was commissioned with the negotiations in Berlin leading to the establishment of the North German Confederation, was also appointed as the first authorised representative to the Bundesrat of the North German Confederation. After the creation of the German Reich it became customary to appoint deputies (substitutes); later 2 senators and the Hanseatic envoy in Berlin were always commissioned with the permanent representation of the authorized representative. For the period in question there were the following authorised representatives and substitutes: Years Authorised representative 1.Substitute 2.Substitute 3.Substitute 1868-1871 Kirchenpauer --- --- --- 1872-1873 Kirchenpauer Schroeder --- --- 1874-1880 Kirchenpauer Schroeder Krüger, Min.-Resident --- 1881-1887 Versmann Schroeder Krüger, Min.---Resident --- 1888-1896 Versmann Schroeder Burchard Krüger, Envoy 1897-1899 Versmann Schroeder Burchard Klügmann, Envoy 1900-1903 Burchard Schroeder Lappenberg Klügmann, Envoy 1904-1907 Burchard Lappenberg Klügmann, Envoy --- 1908-1909 Burchard Lappenberg Sthamer and Schäfer Klügmann, Minister 1910-1912 Burchard Sthamer Schäfer Klügmann, Minister 1913-1915 Sthamer Predöhl Schäfer Sieveking, Minister Waren initially the authorized senators still present at all negotiations of the Bundesrat and the Ministerresident Dr. Krüger only exceptionally once entrusted with the perception of the Hamburg interests, so the picture shifted more and more, until finally the presence of an authorized representative of the Senate was limited only to particularly important matters. In the same way, the emphasis of the federal negotiations shifted from the archive of the Plenipotentiary to that of the Hanseatic Legation in Berlin (cf. I 5 g). This contains more and more all the material that is produced, which in terms of quantity far exceeds the actual records of the legation. Since 1894, however, the archive of the Plenipotentiary has gradually been incorporated into the registry of the Senate Commission for Reich and Foreign Affairs. In 1901 the last special files of the authorized representative were created, the series of the reports partially still reach up to 1913. Archiving history: The authorized representative, who owned 2 living rooms and an archive room in the Hotel Royal in Berlin, had at his disposal a clerk for the chancellery and registry, who accompanied him from Hamburg to Berlin and back. The files, however, only partly took part in these journeys, the rest remained in the administration of the Embassy Registrar. While most of them have reached the State Archives or the registries of other authorities via the estates of the authorized senators, the latter forms the core of the archive listed below. An older part of the order dating back to the time of the mayor Kirchenpauer in the order of the Chancellor's lists Ernst already reached the State Archives in the 80's, where he was published in Cl.I Lit. No. 3 of the Senate Acts was drawn up as Vol. 3 and combined with some of the files taken from the estates of various proxies as well as the convolutes (in particular reports, instructions, etc.) later handed over to the State Archives by the archives of the proxies. A more recent part, predominantly from the time of the plenipotentiaries Versmann and Burchard, was first kept at the Senate Commission for Reich and Foreign Affairs, apart from the pieces already mentioned, which were handed over to the State Archives, and then delivered to the State Archives with their files. He remained there separately in his original order. In this case, which the chancellor list Hertel had newly created in 1880 without including or even observing older procedures, each question newly opened by a Bundesrat printed matter received a consecutive number in chronological order, regardless of whether a file already existed for the same procedure. Only paragraphs 1 - 5, which were intended for general matters such as reports, etc., covered all the material belonging here. In the reorganization, which took place according to factual aspects, the part contained in the Senate acts and the last part mentioned were united. In addition, a number of files belonging to this archive, which had previously been kept at the estate of the mayor Versmann, were incorporated into the archive. The history of these holdings makes it understandable that the present "Archive of the Hamburg Plenipotentiary to the Bundesrat" is in no way a closed archive. Rather, we are dealing with a fund compiled from fragments of the handfiles of the various proxies that arose on the Hamburg side during the negotiations of the Federal Council, which, together with the similar holdings of the Hanseatic Legation in Berlin, can only supplement the Senate files and, from 1894, the files of the Senate Commission for Reich and Foreign Affairs. The inventory shall be quoted as follows: State Archives Hamburg, 132-5/4 Hamburg Authorized Representative to the Bundesrat, Nos. ... Description of the existing situation: Mayor Kirchenpauer, who as the representative of Hamburg was commissioned with the negotiations in Berlin to establish the North German Confederation, was appointed as the first authorised representative to the Bundesrat of the North German Confederation. After the foundation of the German Reich, it became customary to appoint substitutes. 2 senators and the Hanseatic envoy in Berlin were always commissioned with the permanent representation of the commissioner. In practice, it became established that the Plenipotentiary was only present on very important occasions, while the envoy, who was always present in Berlin, visited the Bundesrat negotiations. Accordingly, the records increasingly shifted to the Gesandtschaftsarchiv. Since 1894, the archive of the Plenipotentiary was gradually transferred to the registry of the Senate Commission for Reich and Foreign Affairs. In 1901 the last special files of the authorized representative were created, the series of reports partly reach up to 1913. The present order contains among other things the concepts of the reports of the Plenipotentiary (1866-1911,1913), copies of the reports of the Hanseatic Envoy in Federal Council matters (1880-1907), instructions for the Plenipotentiary (1868-1901) and correspondence in general affairs of the Reich, of the Bundesrat and the Reichstag (1866-1907) as well as fact files in consular matters (1867-1899) and other factually structured matters, which originate predominantly from the hand files of the various proxies.
