Introduction
- The Section “Correspondence” of the Paul Kahle Fonds is divided into two series: in the first series, letters are arranged by correspondent; in the second series, letters are arranged by subject. Finally, there are ten units of description which, for various reasons, do not belong to the two aforementioned series (empty envelopes, Kahle’s drafts with no addressee, letters signed only with first names and so on). To date the units of description of the Paul Kahle archive total 2,622. It may be noted that much of the Paul Kahle archive is made up of correspondence: this section, from the point of view of its size, might even constitute a separate fonds. In referring to size we refer both to the number of letters received and written and – no less interestingly – to the number of Kahle’s correspondents. To arrive at an idea of the quantity of letters, we must consider that the letters held by Turin University take up about 8 linear meters of shelving. They are stored (about 32,800 leaves in all) in 87 boxes. As for the number of correspondents, 2,587 persons and/or institutions with whom Kahle corresponded have been identified. This is a huge quantity. Indeed, truly so, if we consider the fact that Kahle corresponded with several persons and institutions over prolonged periods of time. We mainly find scholars. There is also no lack of institutions, such as libraries and universities, not to mention relatives. Among the most exceptional cases in terms of number of letters we find, to name but two examples, Otto Spies (German Orientalist, 1901-1981) and Matthew Black (Scottish minister and Biblical scholar, 1908-1994): units of description relating to these two scholars amount respectively to 396 and 859 leaves. Most of the letters date from the Thirties until 1963, except for a few older letters (the oldest letter is dated April 24 1896 – unit of description C2576 – and the most recent is dated April 23 1963 – C498). Concerning size, we must also remember that the Turin fonds does not represent the total amount of what survives to this day of Kahle’s archive. As has been already mentioned, two other parts of Kahle’s archive are housed in the Reinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität of Bonn and in the Institut für Zeitgeschichte in Munich. Unfortunately, the Bonn and Munich fonds are not inventoried and we are unable to assess the exact size of the correspondence sections; only for Bonn do we find notice of a number of general groups of letters, dated between 1910 and 1913 and between 1934 and 1938. Furthermore, even considering the Turin and Bonn archives together, there remain chronological gaps in the correspondence: this means that almost certainly there existed other letters, untraced to this day. Having noted this, and moving on from data regarding size of correspondence to a couple of observations about the nature of this correspondence, the most important feature to be noted is the almost constant presence of Kahle’s drafts, which are mostly typewritten, but also to be found in manuscript form. Even though – perhaps to a greater extent than letters received – some drafts have obviously been lost, thanks to Kahle’s systematic nature and punctiliousness, we have the rare privilege in this archive of being able to reconstruct a number of correspondences in their entirety. Secondly, it may be worth noting the presence of letters from and to other persons (other than the correspondent to whom the unit of description is entitled); Kahle had kept these letters together with those of his correspondent because they somehow referred to the said correspondent: these are letters of introduction, letters written to provide or obtain information regarding the correspondent, and so forth. Also for this reason, links arise between various units of description, that is to say between various files of correspondents. These links are traceable to the archive’s database, where a search on every single name recorded can be carried out, by means of a system that matches filter criteria and a basic search of keywords. Furthermore, we should note that there are also a few letters that Kahle “stored” together with study material. As this material is, for various reasons, inseparable from these letters, they are now held in the “Archive” section. Conversely, various very interesting study materials sent to Kahle by his correspondents were kept enclosed in letters and have been catalogued and filed in the correspondence section: the presence of this sort of attachment is indicated in the “Description” column of the database. This means that, alongside inner organization of correspondence and alongside links between letters, there also exist very important links between letters and study material, i.e. the other macro-section of the archive: it follows that, for investigation and understanding of Kahle’s notes and studies in most cases, one cannot forgo examination of letters that Kahle received from and wrote to other scholars who dealt with the same subject or with related subjects. A good example of such a connection is represented by the letters regarding the work on Palestinian dialectology. Concluding this brief overview, we note that the correspondence section holds small fonds of other creators: we find a few letters received and collected by Kahle’s wife, Marie, and by three of Kahle’s sons, Hans, Theodor and Wilhelm.