The proposed project requires a transnational effort because the unpublished letters of Sauer and Seuffert are archived in (Vienna) and (Würzburg) and their edition requires profound contextual knowledge of the scholarly traditions of both countries. The outcome of our research project will be an annotated edition of selected letters as well as electronically accessible transcriptions of the entire correspondence between and , two of the most influential scholars of German Studies in their time. Our research goal in editing the correspondence of these scholars is however not merely philological, but it is of general interest in the history of the humanities.

1. In historical accounts of German Studies it has generally been assumed that the dominating school of thought in the German Reich, whose main representative was Wilhelm Scherer, shaped the development of the field, which emerged and expanded rapidly in the last third of the 19th century, and that German Studies in Austria just followed suit in adopting this school of thought. Our selective edition is a contribution to correcting this view. 2. The correspondence between Sauer and Seuffert provides an invaluable source of continuous information about their lives and careers, goals and plans of scholarly production, assessments of their own accomplishments and that of colleagues, and, last but not least, about matters of professorial appointments. 3. We would like to show that August Sauer was not only an eminent scholar and politician in scholarly and cultural affairs, but, at the same time, an academic leader capable of strategic thinking, for whom journals, bibliographies, handbooks, academic institutions, philological associations and conferences constituted elements of an encompassing system of communication that was in need of perfection. 4. On the one hand, the study of Sauer's and Seuffert's correspondence yields insights into the differing reactions to the "bifurcation" of the humanities into a "positivist" branch and one focusing on the "history of ideas" ("Geistesgeschichte"). On the other hand, the work of both scholars documents the rapid differentiation of German Studies, which, in turn, necessitated a specialization in research. Seuffert focused on editorial and compositional aspects of literary works whereas Sauer concentrated on editing and researching mostly Austrian literature.

Our selective edition will constitute a useful long-term reference work for research in the history of the humanities and, furthermore, will allow insights into the transitional period when an Austrian as well as a "great" German and a "little" German cultural identity emerged, the nature of which has remained at issue up to the present time.