On 14th May 1926 the Institut für Zeitungsforschung der Stadt Dortmund (City of Dortmund Institute for Newspaper Research) was founded. The institute initially focused on Westphalia and the lower Rhine, and after the Second World War became the largest collection of newspapers in the German Federal Republic and one of the most popular places of research on printed media both in Germany and abroad. Daily newspapers are the centre of interest. The institute is unique and this series demonstrates the various dimensions of the institutes very diverse work plan.