Historical Association of the Canton of Bern

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Coat of arms of the canton of Bern (1790)

The Historical Association of the Canton of Bern (HVBE), based in Bern , was founded in 1846. He is one of the oldest cantonal historical societies of Switzerland and has about 1,000 members. The association aims to promote knowledge of Bernese, Swiss and general history through publications, lectures, excursions and other activities and to deepen the understanding of historical processes.

history

Map of the canton of Bern around 1790. From: Berner - your story, ed. by Peter Meyer, Bern 1981, p. 138

In the summer of 1846 , Bernhard Rudolf Fetscherin (former member of the government and first president), Adolf Eugen Bandelier (former member of the government), Ludwig Lauterburg (teacher) and Carl Lutz ( advocate ) founded the Historical Association of the Canton of Bern to help friends of patriotic history and antiquity in the Canton of Bern to unite and to study and explore history. The establishment was a reaction to the election victory of the radicals in the canton of Bern, who also put a new constitution into force. Therefore the founders belonged to the conservative and liberal camp. In 1846 the association already had 74 members.

In the 19th century, numerous members researched the history of the Canton of Bern and its regions. The results were published in the archive series of the Historical Association of the Canton . In the course of time , the historians working at the University of Bern also took part in club life. The members meet regularly for lectures and discussions. The annual meeting takes place at different locations in the canton of Bern and is enriched with lectures and guided tours.

Bubenberg memorial, ca.1915

For the 100th anniversary of the association in 1946, the association commissioned Richard Feller , professor of Swiss history at the University of Bern, to write a political history of the state of Bern. His four-volume work "The History of Bern" ended in 1798. It was not until the 1980s that the HVBE commissioned Beat Junker , with financial support from the government council , to continue Feller's publication up to the present day. Christian Pfister's volume on economic, social and environmental history 1700–1914 was added as a supplement .

In the 19th century, the association also participated in the erection of monuments: in 1866 it supported the Neuenegg monument, in 1886 the Grauholz monument and in 1897 the Bubenberg monument in Bern.

President

  • Kurt Guggisberg , 1952–1956
  • Georges Grosjean , 1956-1960
  • Fritz Häusler, 1960–1968
  • Karl F. Wälchli, 1968–1972
  • Beat Junker , 1972–1978
  • Hans A. Michel, 1978–1985
  • Jürg Wegmüller, 1985–1991
  • Jürg Segesser, 1991–2007
  • Christian Lüthi , 2007–2019
  • Charlotte Gutscher and Barbara Studer Immenhauser, since 2019

Membership numbers

In 1896 - fifty years after it was founded - the association had 185 members, another fifty years later (1946) 230. The number of members reached its peak in 1997 with 1116 people. Since then it has fallen back to around 960.

Fonts

  • Archive of the Historical Association of the Canton of Bern , from 1848. online
  • Berner Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Heimatkunde , from 1939. online
  • History of the Canton of Bern since 1798 , 4 volumes. on-line

Library and archive

The association exchanged documents with other historical associations and built up a library with historical specialist literature. From 1897 to 2013 the city and university library resp. the University Library of Bern undertook this task and integrated the incoming publications into its holdings. The association archive is located in the State Archives of the Canton of Bern .

literature

  • Jakob Sterchi: Historical Association of the Canton of Bern. Memorandum for its 50th anniversary celebration in June 1896 , Bern 1896.
  • Karl F. Wälchli: History in Public. The role of the historical association in the canton of Bern 1846–1996. Thoughts on the 150th anniversary. In: BZGH, 58 (1996), pp. 301-314, doi : 10.5169 / seals-246816
  • Christian Lüthi; Jürg Segesser: Association of the Canton of Bern. Who are our members? In: BZGH, 2002, p. 159f. [1]

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. HVBE: Statutes (PDF)
  2. Foundation of the association, http://www.e-periodica.ch/digbib/view?pid=ahv-001:1848:1::7
  3. Wälchli 1996, p. 310.