Anton Mell

Eugenie and Anton Mell, photo by Eduard Bertel

Anton Mell (born June 7, 1865 in Graz ; † December 14, 1940 there ) was an Austrian historian.

Life

Anton Mell was a younger brother of the later blind specialist Alexander Mell . Another brother was named Carl and became a professor at the State Trade School in Salzburg. Anton Mell studied history, German literature and law at the University of Graz and received his doctorate in 1887 with a thesis on the historical and territorial development of Krain from the 10th to the 13th century . Then he started a traineeship at the Styrian State Archives . In 1893 he became second and in 1896 first archivist. In 1907 he qualified as a professor at the University of Graz for Austrian history. In 1905 he became director of the Styrian State Archives. In the same year he was already an associate professor, in 1915 he became a full professor and from 1929 he was an unpaid professor of constitutional and administrative history.

During the First World War he was a reserve officer. At the latest during this time he began to take pictures and showed some talent; Pictures and films are preserved in his estate.

From 1931 to 1935 he was a full professor of Austrian history. From 1906 he was also secretary of the Historical State Commission for Styria. When the centenary of the Joanneum was to be celebrated, he set up the permanent archive exhibition . He also inventoried the community archives. In 1923 he retired. In 1929 he became a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna, in 1935 he became Dr. jur. hc On the occasion of his 70th birthday, he was awarded the Commander's Cross with a white crutch cross on the neck ribbon.

Mell celebrated his 75th birthday "under the auspices of death" and "passed away after a serious illness". His widow Eugenie, b. von Freyschlag, partly to his student Burkhard Seuffert. However, he found that the materials were extremely incomplete. It was not until 1983 that Mell's niece Paula Mell offered the Styrian State Archives further parts of the estate, which were happily taken over.

Works

His main work is the outline of the constitutional and administrative history of Styria (1929/30).

Appreciation

The Anton-Mell-Weg in Graz is named after him.

literature

• Franz Otto Roth: From the letters of Richter von Binnenthal to the young Anton Mell, 1881. From the everyday life of a retired kk officer in Graz. In: Communications from the Styrian State Archives. Volume 39, Graz 1989, pp. 81-102 ( digitized version ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Estates in Austria - Personal Lexicon. Anton Mell. on www.data.onb.ac.at.
2. ↑ Roth 1989, p. 87.
3. ↑ Roth 1989, p. 85.
4. ↑ Staff news . In:  Salzburger Chronik , July 18, 1935, p. 12 (online at ANNO ).
5. ↑ Roth 1989, p. 83.
6. ^ F. Posch , Mell Anton, historian . In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950. Volume 6, Vienna 1975, p. 213 f. ( Digitized p. 213 , digitized p. 214 ).