The effort began at a modest scale when chemist and archivist Dr. Erich Büttgenbach stored archival documents in his own office. Although he perceived little support, there was no shortage of demand: “If people do require the resources of an archive, they expect you to find the smallest procedure in the blink of an eye,” he said, an assessment that hasn’t lost any of its accuracy. When the historian Dr. Franz Wünsch took over the full-time management of the archives on October 1, 1955, he was also provided with premises to accommodate the materials for the first time.

Today, the two archive locations in Marl and Hanau are home to over 8,500 linear meters of material, reflecting some 170 years of corporate and chemical history. The Corporate Archives of Evonik now are even listed in the German “Valuable National Archives” directory.