About us
Husserl-archives
The Husserl Archives is an internationally recognized research center for the study and practice of phenomenological philosophy at the Higher Institute of Philosophy of the KU Leuven.
The Husserl Archives was established in 1938 (as non-profit organization, Dutch: ‘vzw’) at the Higher Institute of Philosophy at KU Leuven with the purpose of preserving and making accessible the writings of the Austro-German philosopher Edmund Husserl, whose phenomenological thinking is widely acknowledged as one of the most significant philosophical endeavors of the 20th Century.
A former graduate student of the Institute for Philosophy at KU Leuven, the Franciscan Herman Leo Van Breda, had saved Husserl's manuscripts and other documents from destruction at Nazi hands, risking his own life in a clandestine operation that eventually rescued and preserved Husserl's work for further generations. More…
Since then, the Husserl Archives Leuven has been responsible for Edmund Husserl’s estate (Nachlass), which includes unpublished philosophical writings and other documents as well as his complete philosophical library, which can still be visited today in the so-called ‘Husserlkamer’ of the Husserl Archives.
The manuscripts comprise approximately 40.000 pages, most of which were written in Gabelsberger stenography, plus 10.000 pages of typewritten transcriptions made by Husserl's assistants during his lifetime. The library contains approximately 2.700 volumes plus approximately 2.000 separate prints of articles. Besides Husserl's manuscripts and books, the Archives includes most of Husserl's extensive correspondence, many documents about Husserl's life and university career, lecture and seminar notes taken by his students, and many other items. For access to the inventory click here.
So far, the Husserl Archives in Leuven, in collaboration with the Husserl Archives in Cologne and in Freiburg, has overseen the publication of nearly 60 volumes of Husserl's writings in the Husserliana series and, in collaboration with the Husserl Archives in Louvain-la-Neuve, well over 225 volumes of the Phaenomenologica series, the longest running phenomenological book series world-wide, originally founded in 1958 as a companion series to the Husserliana.