Work on the lexicon began in February 2005, the first articles on the module Weimar Republic were published in May 2006.

By the end of 2015, the HLB, which had been expanded with modules on the Late Middle Ages in 2007 and the post-1945 period in 2008, had grown to 966 articles.

[1] The aim of the HLB is to provide comprehensive coverage of all historical eras in Bavaria since the time of prehistory.

The lead historian is Ferdinand Kramer, Institute of Bavarian History at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

In addition, the articles are supplemented by short extracts and other information in the form of significant secondary literature, illustrations, primary sources and external links; the HLB thereby benefits from the growing electronic section of the Bavarian State Library and other institutions, by being directly linked to digitised sources and works.