The library was founded in 1915 in Berlin by coffee substitute entrepreneur Richard Frank as a private collection.

Its purpose was to document the First World War by collecting unconventional media like leaflets, posters and brochures.

After the war, the collection moved to Schloss Rosenstein in Stuttgart and was opened as Weltkriegsbücherei to the public in 1921.

[1] In September 1944, the library (in Rosenstein Castle) was almost completely destroyed in an Allied air raid on Stuttgart.

Since January 2020, the lectures have been recorded in cooperation with the Gerda Henkel Stiftung and made available on the online portal L.I.S.A..