Clearly a ‘founding member’ among German Studies scholars, Eva Kolinsky pursued an extraordinary array of topics, most of which drew on interdisciplinary research methods. This essay attempts to situate a limited number of her contributions in this ever evolving scholarly domain, emphasising the ‘past’, ‘present’ and ‘future’ dimensions of that work. It offers a brief introduction to subsequent essays comprising this commemorative volume, indicating the ways in which Kolinsky influenced and affirmed not only the writings of her contemporaries but also the work of ‘successor’ generations on both sides of the Atlantic.