Oscar von Gebhardt

Oscar Leopold von Gebhardt (22 June 1844 – 9 May 1906) was a German Lutheran theologian, born in the Baltic German settlement of Wesenberg in the Russian Empire (now Rakvere, Estonia).

He studied theology at the Imperial University of Dorpat and at several other German universities, and afterwards worked in university libraries at Strasbourg, Leipzig, Halle and Göttingen. In 1891 he became director of the publication department at the Royal Library at Berlin, and in 1893 became chief librarian and professor of paleography at the University of Leipzig.

He specialized in the field of early Christian literature. He strongly believed in the independence of the librarian profession as an academic, but to be separate from the academic teaching profession.