Professors represent a key group with substantial influence as scientific, cultural, and political actors well beyond the boundaries of their institutions. While numerous universities and archives have already undertaken efforts to create comprehensive professor catalogs, some of which are available online, such as those in Hamburg, Kiel, Rostock, Dresden, and Halle, there is still no database that provides an interconnected overview of the professoriate across Germany, let alone Europe as a whole, spanning different eras and institutions. This article argues, drawing conclusions on first existing example datasets, why it would be beneficial to merge these individual collections into a common platform. It also highlights the advantages of building a large, collaborative dataset instead of relying on fragmented, institution-based data silos, and outlines the research potential such an endeavor would unlock.
The first important observation is that existing catalogs vary considerably in terms of depth, scope, and usability. To make these data further usable and linkable requires a database that allows information from different sources to be flexibly combined and connected. FactGrid stands out as a particularly suitable platform for this purpose: its Wikibase software offers unprecedented flexibility for academic research. Unlike more restrictive systems with rigid relevance criteria, FactGrid supports the inclusion of raw data, working hypotheses, and preliminary chronologies, an essential feature for a project that extends beyond the notability of individual figures. Its multilingual design also encourages international collaboration, which is indispensable for achieving a pan-European perspective.
[...]
