L I B R A R I E S A N D A R C H I V E S 9: A U S T R I A

H . M. SCOTT IJniversitj> qf Birminglzam

THE ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES of Austria constitute a rich, well-organized and readily accessible storehouse of information for the historian.' Thea contain a vast body of material relating not merely to the history of the arey of the modern republic of Austria but to those large tracts of central and eastern Europe which, together with substantial areas in the west, were at one time or another ruled from Vienna. The strange destiny of the Habsburg realm, from its modest medieval beginnings to its final disintegration in 1918, is accurately reflected in the diverse and varied materials to be found in the archives of Austria. However, the turbulent political fortunes of the Danube basin since the break-up of the Habsburg Monarchy have been responsible for considerable losses and for much dislocation of archive material. The Treaty of St. Germain of 1919 and subsequent agreements with the various successor states up to 1932 forced the harassed government of rump Austria to hand over large quantities of documents bearing on the recent history of the former subject nationalities of Czechoslovak~a, Italy, Yugoslavia, Rumania and Poland; some of these were then restored to Vienna under the Nazi regime, only to be returned once more to Prague, Belgrade and else- where after World War IT, with serious losses in the process. I t is impossible to generalize with any real accuracy as to the nature of the records that remain in Vienna and those that have been dispersed over the years. Further depletions were caused by the Justizpalast fire of 1927 (which destroyed some two-thirds of the holdings of the Staatsarchiv des Innern zind der Justiz, the predecessor of the Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv) and by enemy action during the last war. Despite these losses, however, there remains in the archives and libraries of present-day Austria an enormous wealth of material of interest to the researcher.

Overall control of public repositories in Austria has, since 1945, been in the hands of the Osterrrichisches Staatsarchiv (A-1010 Vienna, Minoriten- platz I ) , to whom all general enquiries should be addressed. The most important single archive is the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, with its vast collection of official and semi-official documents and private papers bearing on the history of the Habsburg realms through many centuries, as well as much material on the Habsburg family itself and on the Holy Roman Empire: a brief introduction is provided by Arthur J. May in Guide to the

I am most grateful to Dr. Richard Blaas of the Harts-. Hof- rind Sfnarsarchiv, and Mr. J. D. Leslie of Peterhouse College, Cambridge, for their valuable help in compiling this article.

383

384 LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

Diplomatic Archives of Western Europe, ed. D. H . Thomas and L. M. Case (Philadelphia, 1959). The other major official repositories in Vienna are the Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv, which contains the bulk of the records of the internal administration over the centuries; the Finanz- und Hofkammer- archiv which houses the financial records; the Kriegsarchiv, which preserves documents (dating back to the mid-sixteenth century) brought together by the Ministry of War, and before it the aulic war council; and the Verkehrs- urchiv, which is devoted largely to sources for the history of Austrian rail- ways. The various provincial archives, which are listed below, were mostly established in the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They contain a wide variety of documents, among which material pertaining to the local government of the provinces and papers deposited by individual noble families predominate. In general, up-to-date printed inventories of these archives do not exist. There are also several important religious archives, such as the Archiv des Stiftes Schotten (Vienna I, Freyung 6) which contains the records of this Benedictine monastery dating back to the twelfth century ; and the Stijtsarchiv des Zisterzienserstiftes (Heiligenkreuz bei Baden) which has documents dating back to the thirteenth century.

A short list of the major archives and libraries in Austria is given below. A fuller list, together with useful basic information, can be found in The World of Learning (21st edn., London, 1971). The Jahrbuch der &terreichis- chen Wissenschuft, vol. iv (1957-8), contains (pp. 131-288) a detailed list of archives, together with brief descriptions of their contents, as well as a convenient guide (pp. 289-380) to Austrian libraries. A useful and up-to- date introduction to archives in Austria is provided by the series of articles in the Austrian History Yearbook, vol. vi-vii (1970-1), 3-74; also helpful are two articles in the journal Archivum xi (1963 for 1961), 79-87, and xv (1969 for 1965), 73-86.

The formalities involved in commencing work in an Austrian archive or library are mercifully few: all that is ordinarily needed is the production of a passport or other means of identification and the completion of the neces- sary form. While it is not essential to write in advance, this is certainly advisable. Documents in Austrian archives are ordinarily freely available up to the end of 1925, though with special permission, usually not difficult to obtain, materials for the years up to the Anschluss of 1938 can be consulted; it is intended that a ‘fifty-year rule’ will come into operation from 1976 on- wards. Apart from this, access to documents is almost unrestricted; only in the case of a few collections of papers which have been deposited by private individuals is special permission required, and this is usually readily granted.

There is no restriction on the use of ink or ball-point pen in Austrian archives, though facilities for the use of a typewriter are not generally available. Xerox copies and microfilms of documents can usually be obtained. Hours of opening vary considerably from one archive to another, though most are open by 9 a.m. All Austrian archives are closed on Saturday and Sunday, and on the usual Catholic and public holidays. The Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv is the only archive to suffer regularly from overcrowding,

H. M. SCOTT 385 especially during the summer, owing to the limited number of seats available for researchers.

ARCHIVES

The five sections into which the Osterreichisches Staatsarchiv is divided are: 1. Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, A-1010 Vienna, Minoritenplatz I. Printed

Guide ; Gesamtinventar des Wiener Haus-, Hof und Staatsarchivs, ed. L. Bittner, 5 vols. (Vienna, 1936-40); this is now rather out of date. For the reorganization at present in progress, see Solomon Wank, ‘Some Recent Developments concerning the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv’, Austrian History News Letter, No. 2 (1961), 14-23; and Robert Stropp, ‘Neuordnung und Neuaufstellung der Archivbehelfe des Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchivs’, Mitteilungen des Osterreichischen Staatsarchivs xvii-xviii (1964-5), 61 1-39. Robert Stropp, ‘Die Akten des k.u.k. Ministeriums des Aussern, 1848-1918’, ibid. xx (1967), 389-506, is an invaluable guide to foreign ministry documents for much of the nineteenth century.

2. Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv, A-1010 Vienna, Wallnerstrasse 6. This still lacks a modern inventory: a helpful brief introduction is provided by the article by Walter Goldinger in the Austrian History Yearbook vi-vii (1970-1).

(a) Finanzarchiv, A-1010 Vienna, Himmelpfortgasse 8. (b) Hofkanzmer- archiv, A-1010 Vienna, Johannesgasse 6 . Printed Guide : Inventar des Wiener Hofkammerarchivs, 2 vols. (Vienna, 1951-9.) These two reposi- tories are administered jointly, and inquiries should be directed to the Hofkammerarchiv.

4. Kriegsarchiv, A-1070 Vienna, Stiftgasse 2. Printed Guide : Inventar des Kriegsarchivs Wien (Vienna, 1953).

5. Verkehrsarchiv, A-1030 Vienna, Aspangstrasse 33. Printed Guide: Invcn- tar des Verkehrsarchivs Wim (Vienna, 1959).

3. Finanz- und Hojkammerarchiv-

The major provincial archives are: EurgenlZindisches Landesarchiv, Eisenstadt, Ruster Strasse 12-1 4. Kiirntner Landesarchiv, Klagenfurt 9, Landhaus. Niederiisterreichisches Landesarchiv, A-1010 Vienna, Herrengasse 1 1 13, Oberosterreichisches Landesarchiv, Linz, Promenade 33. Landesarchiv Salzburg, A-5021, Salzburg, Michael-Pacher-Strasse. Steiermarkisches Landesarchiv, Graz, Burgergasse 2A. Tiroler Landesarchiv, Innsbruck, Maria Theresienstrasse 43, Landhaus. Landesregierungsarchiv fur Tirol, Innsbruck, Herrengasse I. Vorarlberger Landesarchiv, Bregenz, Kirchstrasse, 28.

386 LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

L I B R A R I E S

Vienna: asterreichische Nationalbibliothek, founded in the sixteenth century, c. 2,000,000 vols.; the major Austrian library, copyright since 1808. Universitatsbibliothek, first established in the sixteenth century and restored in 1777, c. 1,560,000 vols. Stadtbibliothek, founded 1856, c. 320,000 vols. Bibliothek des Kriegsarchivs, founded 1776, c. 390,000 vols., the most important single collection of books on purely military subjects in Europe. Bibliothek des Instituts f l i . Osterreichische Geschichtsforschung, founded 1854, c. 35,000 vols.

Universitutsbibliorhek, founded 1586, c. 560,000 vols. Graz :

Innsbruck: Universitutsbibliothek, founded 1746, c. 700,000 vols.

Salzburg : Universitutsbibliothek, founded 1623, c. 250,000 vols.