Nachlass
![The Nachlass of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner is housed in the Rudolf Steiner Archiv in Dornach, Switzerland, a beautiful and well-organized facility.[1] This file drawer houses the philosopher's letters to individuals with surnames from N through Z.](/uploads/202501/28/Korrespondenz0438.jpg)
Nachlass (German pronunciation:[ˈnaːχlas], sometimes spelled Nachlaß) is a German word, used in academia to describe the collection of manuscripts, notes, correspondence, and so on left behind when a scholar dies. The word is a compound in German: nach means 'after', and the verb lassen means 'to leave'. The plural can be either Nachlasse or (with Umlaut) Nachlässe. The word is not commonly used in English; and when it is, it is often italicized or printed in capitalized form to indicate its foreign provenance.