Introduction

Work at the MGH instead of a doctor's office

The MGH work contract with Philipp Jaffé, written by G.H. Pertz, 01.10.1854

„(...) Never was I as pleased with my situation as I am now,“ announced Philipp Jaffé, now 36 years old, writing to his stepmother in December 1855 (Schwartz, p. 193). After years of insecurity, he had finally found a tenured position at the MGH that fitted his abilities and at the same time secured his financial needs. Four years later, at the end of 1859, he was still emphasising the advantages of his job and defending his employer against his parents‘ criticism: „My work on this important task is absolutely pleasing to me; it is honourable and provides me with a field of work in which I can present the fruits of my efforts to the scholarly world proudly and under my own name. It is in the nature of such a large collective work that some tasks will be brought to a certain point by one scholar and completed by another: This is no exploitation of workers, but simply a case of working together.“ (Schwartz, p. 248).

In 1854, just as Jaffé was about turn his back on historical studies and Berlin and go to Posen to take up work as a medical doctor, he had received the offer of a tenured position at the MGH from Georg Heinrich Pertz, MGH president since 1823. This opened Jaffé at the age of 35 a perspective of staying in academic research and earning a living. In previous years, he had already worked for Pertz, but on the basis of limited contracts and on poor pay. The contract here on exhibit, handwritten by Pertz himself, offers him a yearly income of 500 Taler. By 1859 at the latest, his pay had risen to 600 Taler and from the beginning of 1860, it was raised again to 800 Taler.

Every year from 1857 until he quit working for the MGH in 1862, Jaffé was sent by Pertz on a yearly research trip through the archives. Although such trips were hard work, Jaffé viewed them as both a distinction of honour and a welcome change from his no less strenuous editorial work.

Transcription

Bedingungen, unteren denen Herr Dr. Jaffé sich mit der Centraldirection der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde zur Theilnahme an den Arbeiten für die Monumenta Germaniae vereinigt hat.

1. Herr Dr. Jaffé widmet seine wissenschaftliche Thätigkeit den Arbeiten für die Monumenta Germaniae, und empfängt dafür ein in vierteljährigen Raten zahlbares Gehalt von jährlich Fünfhundert Thaler Pr. Cour.

2. Herr Dr. Jaffé macht sich anheischig ohne ausdrückliche Genehmigung der Centraldirection von den ihm in diesem Verhältniß vorkommenden Materialien und Erzeugnissen keinem Dritten einige Mittheilung zu machen oder solche zu anderen als der Gesellschaft Zwecken zu verwenden; auch während der Dauer seines Verhältnisses zu der Gesellschaft keine andere wissenschaftl[iche] Arbeit ohne Genehmigung der Centraldirection zu unternehmen.

3. Herr Dr. Jaffé wird, gleich den übrigen Mitarbeitern, am letzten Montage jedes Vierteljahres über die von ihm während der letzten drei Monate ausgeführten Arbeiten einen kurzen schriftlichen Bericht abstatten, auch an jedem Freitage mündlich in den Sitzungen von den Fortschritten seiner Arbeiten Nachricht geben und die deshalb erforderlichen Besprechungen einleiten.

4. Sowohl dem Herrn Dr. Jaffé als der Centraldirection steht es frei das eingegangene Verhältniß aufzulösen, doch wird dabei jedem Theile eine halbjährige Kündigungsfrist vorbehalten.

Berlin am 1^sten October 1854.

G H Pertz Dr. Philipp Jaffé.