Johannes Strickler

Johannes Strickler (born January 7, 1835 in Hirzel , † October 8, 1910 in Bern ) was a state archivist in the canton of Zurich and an author .

Life and work

The origins of the Strickler family can be traced back to the late 14th century, Johannes is the son of the reformed silk weaver Jakob and Anna, née Schärer. The financial circumstances did not actually allow a higher education, but with the support of the local pastor and later from the Masonic lodge in Zurich he was able to attend school in Wabern , south of Bern, for four years from 1849 . 1853–56 joined the teacher training college in Küsnacht , from 1861 he worked there as a lecturer for five years. Strickler then wrote and published various books on Swiss history.

At the age of 33 he married Friedrike Musgay from Urach in Württemberg. From 1870 to 1881 he was the state archivist of the Canton of Zurich . During this time and afterwards, Strickler worked on various historical works, such as the extensive collection of files on the history of the Swiss Reformation in the years 1521–1532, begun by Karl Joseph Krütli (1815–1867) and under the editing of the successor in the canton's state archive Zurich, Jakob Kaiser (1833–1918). In the years 1883–1903 he was the editor of the Helvetic files in the Federal Archives in Bern (10 vols., 1886–1906). In 1874 he received from the University of Zurich , the honorary doctorate , and Bern 1,903th

From today's perspective, his work as an archivist is questionable. As the successor to Johann Heinrich Hotz (1822-1883), who worked there for twelve years but was dismissed for critical omissions, he was the third holder of the position since the foundation of the State Archives in 1804. The archive system did not improve during this period either.

The first archive regulations were issued in 1877 in order to obtain both a documented finding of the holdings and a plan for the overall archiving including a future catalog of tasks. Strickler saw his main task in the implementation of the principle of pertinence , especially of the previously unarchived files. The destruction of connected bundles of files, the binding of which he loosened and in some cases even cut up , is to be criticized in particular . He also did not shy away from combining secular and ecclesiastical sources into Zwingli and thus assembling them into an artificial "collection of Zwingli's previously scattered manuscripts". The largest single collection at that time was the archive holdings of the hospital archive. His successor in the State Archives was Paul Schweizer (1852–1932) in 1881 .

Works (selection)

• Outline of Swiss History (2 volumes, 1867–68)
• Collection of acts from the time of the Helvetic Republic : 1798–1803 .
• Textbook of Swiss history for higher schools .
• History and texts of the federal constitutions of the Swiss Confederation from the Swiss upheaval to the present .
• Old Switzerland and the Swiss Revolution .
• Official collection of acts from the time of the Helvetic Republic (1798–1803) .
• Collection of acts on the history of the Swiss Reformation in the years 1521–1532 following the simultaneous federal farewells .
• Collection of acts on the history of the Swiss Reformation in 1521 .
• The Malmaison Constitution . In: Political Yearbook of the Swiss Confederation (born 1896), ed. C. Hilty

literature

• The youth of Johannes Strickler , ed. by A. Rufer, 1920
• K. Marti, W. Oechsli: In memory of Dr. Johannes Strickler. Born on January 27, 1835. Died on October 8, 1910. Speeches given in the chapel of the crematorium in Bern. Stämpfli & Cie, 1910.
• C. Sieber: The printed holdings in the State Archives of the Canton of Zurich , 2007, p. 7 f.

Web links

• Literature by and about Johannes Strickler in the catalog of the German National Library
• Martin Illi: Strickler, Johannes. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Individual evidence

1. ^ The first state archivists and their work , Canton of Zurich, Directorate of Justice and the Interior, State Archives