The files of the present holdings NW 223 were handed over to the Main State Archives on 13 October 1976 in 10 packages and 8 files and were accepted under No. III 82/76. These are documents of the Zoological Research Institute and Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, which document the emergence of the institute as a foundation and its work as a state institution. Numerous purchase contracts for the properties on which the construction of the Museum Koenig and the Villa Hammerschmidt, today's "House of the Federal President", are located, provide information about the development of the former rural property in this area in the second half of the 19th century. The construction of the museum building, a neo-Renaissance building, is documented, as is the transfer of the furnishings to the Reich as a result of unsuccessful efforts to complete the construction with Prussia's own funds or with the help of the Prussian government. The correspondences convey a vivid picture of the patriarchal character of the "Reichsinstitut" under the direction of its founder, Prof. Dr. Alexander Koenig. The scientific diaries as well as the documents belonging to the "Alexander Koenig Foundation" on the basis of testamentary provisions are still kept in the Koenig Museum. For the history of the institution and the Koenig family cf. Martin Eisentraut, Alexander Koenig und sein Werk, Bonn 1973. For the history of the Zoological Research Institute and Museum A. Koenig after 1945 cf. also the holdings NW 60. The holdings were recorded from December 1976 to January 1977 by the State Archives Council, Dr. Jürgen Rainer Wolf. Mrs. Angela Mauritz wrote the find book. The records must be quoted: NW 223 No. ... The stock is freely visible.
