Archives for contemporary history

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Archives for contemporary history

The archive for contemporary history directly below the main building of the ETH Zurich
The archive for contemporary history directly below the main building of the ETH Zurich
Archive type Special archive
Visitor address Hirschengraben 62, 8001 Zurich
founding 1966
Age of the archive material From the end of the 19th century
ISIL CH-000919-9
carrier ETH Zurich / private foundations
Website www.afz.ethz.ch

The Archives of Contemporary History as part of the Institute of History of the ETH Zurich , the archive of the history of Switzerland from the late 19th century to the present. It secures and indexes the estates of natural persons as well as institutional archives (written, audio and visual documents) from private ownership and makes these historical sources publicly accessible.

history

Until the 1970s, the contemporary history archives were either closed or had strict blocking periods, and historical research was practically only possible until the First World War. In 1966, young historians led by Klaus Urner and Rudolf Humm founded the Working Group for Contemporary History (AfZ) and, thanks to the help of the then ETH President Karl Schmid, were able to set up a documentation center. Jean-François Bergier was one of her sponsors .

In 1991 the AfZ was able to take up the holdings of the Swiss Trade and Industry Association (suburb) and thus received a special documentation area on the Swiss economy. Since 1980 the archive has also received dossiers from the business and foreign editors of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung .

In 2007 Gregor Spuhler , former project manager of the Independent Expert Commission Switzerland - Second World War , took over from Klaus Urner the management of the archive and the 24-person team at the time.

purpose

With the safeguarding and maintenance of Swiss cultural assets, the Archive for Contemporary History performs a task of national importance as part of the strategic orientation of ETH Zurich. As a so-called special archive, it supplements the formation of state traditions. With its services, it promotes teaching and research on contemporary Swiss history in an international context.

Archival material

The archive has three thematic focuses on contemporary Swiss history:

  • Contemporary political history (bequests, institutional archives)
  • Economy and contemporary history (economic and foreign economic policy)
  • Jewish contemporary history ( research facility against oblivion )

Examples

Research

The archive operates a public reading room in the center of the city of Zurich, where the sources can be consulted. Research with AfZ Online Archives (reading room version with archive database research with all metadata and digital reproductions activated in the reading room) and AfZ Audiovisuals (web client for researching audiovisual archive material in the AfZ) is possible there.

Research in finding aids and digitized sources is offered on the Internet, regardless of time and place:

  • Archives Online : Portal for researching archival material in various archives

Publications

Public events, detailed annual reports , a series of scientific publications , exhibitions and the company's own website provide information about activities, archive holdings and new research results.

See also

literature

  • Klaus Urner et al. (Ed.): The archive for contemporary history and its holdings. NZZ-Verlag, Zurich 1999, ISBN 3-85823-763-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Four decades a “House for Contemporary History” , Neue Zürcher Zeitung, August 31, 2007, accessed August 2, 2016.

Coordinates: 47 ° 22 '30.8 "  N , 8 ° 32' 45.5"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred and eighty-three thousand six hundred twenty-eight  /  247743