I am pleased to announce that we have added a new page to the Resources section of the Society of Bead Researchers website: Die Perle: German Trade Journal for the International Bead and Jewelry Industry (1924-1929) – https://beadresearch.org/resources/die_perle/.

Published in Naunhof bei Leipzig, Germany, the journal was aimed at the entire European beadmaking community. Each issue, with 8-12 pages, contains a number of brief articles on sundry aspects of the bead, jewelry, and button industries, historical and modern, as well as several departments that deal with 1) technical aspects of beadmaking, 2) the export of beads and jewelry, 3) technical questions, 4) sources for specific products, supplies, and equipment, 5) recent patents, 6) prices for various raw materials, and 7) recent technical publications. Each issue also contains numerous display advertisements which reveal what various enterprises were manufacturing and supplying. Some of them include illustrations of the advertiser’s factory, or the beadmaking equipment being offered for sale.

A drawback is that the journal is in German and currently not in a searchable format. It is hoped that we can find someone (any volunteers?) who has Adobe Acrobat software and can (at their convenience) convert the existing PDF files to Searchable PDF.

It is also hoped that we will be able to provide translations or at least substantial abstracts of the various articles starting later this year... provided everything goes as planned.

Karlis