diff --git a/src/core/js/ext_prop_display.js b/src/core/js/ext_prop_display.js
index b94403def289acbbba76a118ca4479dde07beb54..0b706b0580760806fdade3bf25c6de3a8784b863 100644
--- a/src/core/js/ext_prop_display.js
+++ b/src/core/js/ext_prop_display.js
@@ -21,8 +21,36 @@
 'use strict';
 
 /**
- * 
+ * @requires jQuery (library)
+ * @requires log (singleton from loglevel library)
+ * @requires load_config (function from webcaosdb.js)
  */
-var prop_display = new function () {}
+var prop_display = new function ($, logger, load_config) {
+
+    /**
+     * Return the property-display config file; `ext_prop_display.json` by
+     * default.
+     *
+     * @param {string} resource - file name of the config file
+     */
+    this.load_config = async function (resource) {
+
+        var conf = {};
+        try {
+            resource = resource || "ext_prop_display.json";
+            conf = await load_config(resource);
+            console.log(`Successfully loaded config: ${JSON.stringify(conf, undefined, 2)}`);
+        } catch (err) {
+            logger.error(err);
+        }
+
+        return conf;
+    }
+
+    this.init = async function() {
+        console.log("initializing ext_prop_display.js");
+        const conf = await this.load_config();
+    }
+}($, log.getLogger("ext_prop_display"), load_config);
 
 $(document).ready(() => caosdb_modules.register(prop_display));