Rudolf Strothmann Archive

The purpose of the "Rudolf Strothmann Archive" which comprises digital surrogates of his published work is to bring Rudolf Strothmann's (1877-1960) pioneering role in the scholarly exploration of Shiʿi Islam into focus and to render his writings, much of which are still relevant, more easily accessible. From 1909 onwards, Strothmann worked intensively on the Glaser manuscript collection held by the State Library Berlin, which from 1910 onwards resulted in a number of pathbreaking publications on the Zaydiyya. Thereafter, he increasingly delved into Twelver Shiʿism and his major publications in this area appeared during the third decade of the twentieth century. During the later decades of his life, Strothmann primarily focussed on various strands of Ismaʿilism. Rudolph Strothmann was the teacher of Wilferd Madelung, another major scholar of Shiʿi studies who in turn trained the next generation of scholars in this field. Among his students, mention should be made of Martin J. McDermott, Hossein Modarressi, Sabine Schmidtke, and Bernard Haykel, all of whom continued in one way or another to work on different aspects of Shiʿi Islam. A bibliography of his writings has been published as "Rudolf Strothmann (1877-1960): Publications. Compiled by Sabine Schmidtke," Shii Studies Review 4 (2019).