Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer

His father (who died in 1822), was Kammerdirektor (i.e. chamber director, head official in the financial department) in Anhalt and did great service to agriculture.

[1] Returning from his 1841 journey through the United States Raumer was deeply impressed by the broad knowledge of average US citizens, whom he had encountered travelling on a Mississippi steam boat.

[3] By the end of 1841 Raumer and other enthusiasts first founded the Verein für wissenschaftliche Vorträge (i.e. Association for scientific public lectures).

[2] The Verein, using the Singing Academy concert hall as its venue for lectures, succeeded to collect Thaler 4,000 (then about £ Sterling 592,59[4]) forming the starting capital for Berlin's to-be-founded public libraries in 1846.

[5] In December 1848 King Frederick William IV of Prussia approved the foundation of public libraries, however, his decision remained unpublished due to the repercussions of the March Revolution of that year.

[7] In 1848 he was elected a member of the Frankfurt Parliament, where he associated himself with the right centre, supporting the proposal for a German empire under the supremacy of Prussia.

Other works include: In 1830, Raumer began the Historisches Taschenbuch published by F. A. Brockhaus, which was continued by Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl after 1871.

According to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, "Raumer's style is direct, lucid and vigorous, and in his day he was a popular historian, but judged by strictly scientific standards he does not rank among the first men of his time.