At the Institut für Geschichtliche Landeskunde und Historische Hilfswissenschaften at the University of Tübingen, the written tradition, such as deeds, files, urbaria (registers of property) and 2 invoices, is being processed as part of a doctorate by Claudia Lemmes. The research focuses on the economic cycles of trade and commerce – particularly those of the grain trade – as well as the production of linen and fustian, a blend of linen and cotton

In the late Middle Ages and early modern period, the entire region of Upper Swabia, and therefore also the rural (or territorial) city of Waldsee, exported grain. Price tables and reports on quantities of the exported grain serve as research base on which to draw conclusions about productive harvest years and phases of economic growth. Sources created in the context of grain trade should provide an insight into prototypical market events in a rural town during medieval and early modern times and help identify important actors and networks.

Aside from grain trade, Upper Swabia also boasted an industrial landscape based on linen and fustian production as soon as the 14th century, in which both imperial cities and rural towns such as Waldsee were involved. When the import of cotton led to the production of fustian, the linen industry experienced a proper economic boom.