State Archives of the Canton of St. Gallen
The State Archives of the Canton of St. Gallen is the archive of the Canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland . Since the canton was founded in 1803 , it has safeguarded the tradition of the cantonal authorities, the cantonal administration and the state institutions. In addition, there are holdings from legal predecessors of today's canton. Organizationally, the State Archives belong to the Department of the Interior, located in the Office of Culture.
tasks
The law on file management and archiving (sGS 147.1) of April 19, 2011 defines the state archive as the “highest specialist body of the canton for file management and archiving”. It decides on the archival worthiness of the offered documents and guarantees permanent storage and access to the archival material. The archive guarantees the traceability of the actions of public bodies and contributes to legal security . In addition, it secures documents from private institutions, organizations, families and individuals, insofar as these are important for the history of the canton and its population and are handed over to it. It performs its task professionally independently. The ordinance on file management and archiving (sGS 147.11) of March 19, 2019 forms the further legal basis and details of the order.
history
The State Archives were established - like the canton itself - in 1803. The archivist's work initially focused on securing legal documents from the old federal period and the subsequent transition period from 1798 until the canton was founded. The change in the legal structure during this period had resulted in archive holdings being transferred to other cantons. Archives, such as those from the Rheintal or Sax bailiffs , were finally incorporated into the State Archives of the Canton of St. Gallen. However, some of the intended takeovers or handovers turned out to be difficult or even failed.
In the recent past, the State Archives were able to take over other valuable archives of public bodies from the time before the founding of the canton, for example the Rheineck City Archives and the Lichtensteig City Archives .
The fact that the area of today's canton was made up of twelve independent “states” before 1798 is reflected in today's archive landscape. Because the written records of these regions are only partly in the state archive. Important archives from the time before the canton was founded can be found in the monastery archives or in the city archives of the local civic community of St. Gallen (archive of the former imperial city and republic of St. Gallen), in various other canton archives or in local archives in the canton. An overview of all of St. Gallen's archives from before 1798 in other Swiss archives is still missing today. The safeguarding of the cantonal holdings since 1803, however, is clear, even if there are gaps in the tradition for certain periods of time. In the last few decades it has been possible to take over important holdings from private sources, and since 2003 the State Archives have developed a consistent method of transmission and assessment. In addition, the State Archives are particularly active in the field of long-term digital archiving . In this and other subject areas, it works with other archives nationally or internationally (e.g. archives in the Arge Alp).
| Term of office | Surname |
|---|---|
| 1803-1805 | Franz Josef Büeler |
| 1805-1811 | Konrad Meyer |
| 1812-1819 | vacant |
| 1820-1826 | Gallus Jakob Baumgartner |
| 1826-1833 | Josef Anton Henne |
| 1834-1847 | Peter Ehrenzeller |
| 1847-1848 | Karl Wegelin |
| 1848-1852 | Johann Theodor Gsell |
| 1852-1858 | Johann Joseph Weder |
| 1859-1872 | Otto Henne on the Rhyn |
| 1872-1885 | Joseph Anton Hardegger |
| 1886-1912 | Otto Henne on the Rhyn |
| 1913-1943 | Josef Anton Müller |
| 1943-1957 | Karl Schönenberger |
| 1958-1968 | Franz Perret |
| 1968-1993 | Walter Lendi |
| 1993-2001 | Silvio Bucher |
| since 2002 | Stefan Gemperli |
Stocks
The holdings are divided into government and non-government records. They are divided into the following main departments:
State archival records
- Old archive (up to 1798) (AA): documents, files and books of the federal bailiffs Rheintal, Sax-Forstegg, Werdenberg, Sargans, Gaster, Uznach and the city of Rapperswil. Individual files and books on the history of Toggenburg and the Princely Land.
- Helvetic Archive (1798–1803) (HA): files and books from the canton of Säntis and the St. Gallen parts of the canton of Linth.
- Archives of the Cantonal Council and the Government (AGR, ARR): Protocols and files on parliamentary and government resolutions.
- Cantonal Archives (1803–1931) (KA): files, books and official publications of the cantonal administration, archived according to subject classification (pertinence principle).
- New archive (from 1931) (A): Documents of the cantonal administration, archived in the order in which they were received and according to the delivering point (principle of provenance).
- Court archive (from 1803) (G, GA): decisions and files of the regional and cantonal courts.
- St.Gallen official publications (from 1803) (ZA): Publications from government agencies.
- Independent state institutions and companies with significant state participation (B, HSG): Archives of the building insurance company, the Bodensee-Toggenburg railway, the St.Gallisch-Appenzell power plants and the University of St.Gallen.
Non-governmental archival materials
- Corporation archives (C): archive depots of public or private corporations.
- Private archives (W): bequests and archive holdings from parties, organizations, companies, families and individuals.
- Archives collections of the State Archives (KP, Z, BM) : For example photographs, maps and plans, coins and medals.
In material terms, the stocks are mostly paper. But parchment, celluloid and glass plates are also represented. Questions about the long-term durability of electronic data and their carriers are becoming increasingly important.
In 2019, the holdings of the State Archives cover more than 10 kilometers. The archive grows by 100 to 200 linear meters every year.
Research
The online archive catalog offers numerous research options. Individual archives or holdings are available in digitized form (especially image documents) and can be viewed online. Recently, digital archive material has been taken over from public bodies.
In addition to the archival material, the State Archives also have a publicly accessible research library. The media are listed in the old SGBN catalog (St. Gallen Library Network) or in the new SGBN catalog and can be viewed in the reference library of the St. Gallen State Archives.
building
Originally built as an armory by Felix Wilhelm Kubly between 1838 and 1841 , the north wing of the government building was in a dilapidated condition at the beginning of the 1970s. In 1970, the government council commissioned the St. Gallen architect Ernest Brantschen (1922–1994) with a renovation project: the building was to serve as an archive and administration complex in the future. Comprehensive renovations and the addition of new parts of the building were necessary for this. The State Archives have been located in this north wing together with the Abbey Archives and the Cantonal Court since 1979 and are part of the Abbey District . Due to growing stocks and the impossibility of expanding the building, an outdoor storage area and additional offices / workshops are now housed in two other buildings.
See also
literature
- Gemperli, Stefan: State Archives and Stiftsarchiv St. Gallen 1979 . In: Gössi, Anton / Egloff, Gregor (eds.): Archive buildings in Switzerland and in the Principality of Liechtenstein 1899–2009 . Baden 2007, p. 50-55 .
- Gemperli, Stefan: Securing the story. Risks and opportunities of modern archives: from the recent past of the St.Gallen State Archives . In: Lukas Gschwend (Hrsg.): Crossing borders and new horizons . Zurich 2007, p. 405-423 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Collection of laws. Retrieved July 23, 2019 .
- ^ Collection of laws. Retrieved July 23, 2019 .
- ↑ State Archives | sg.ch. Retrieved August 4, 2020 .
- ↑ St.Gallen City Archives. Retrieved July 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Archives in ARGE ALP - Home. Retrieved July 23, 2019 .
- ^ Gschwend, Lukas: Meyer, Konrad. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ^ Mayer, Marcel: Ehrenzeller, Peter. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ↑ Erhart, Peter: Wegelin, Karl. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ^ Bishop, Franz Xaver: Henne am Rhyn, Otto. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ^ Mäder, Paul: Former state archivist and canton librarian Josef Anton Müller (1882-1963). In: Journal for Swiss Church History 57 (1963). P. 96 , accessed on August 7, 2019 .
- ^ Vasella, Oskar: State archivist Dr. Karl Schönenberger (1898-1957). In: Journal for Swiss Church History 51 (1957). Pp. 334–336 , accessed August 7, 2019 .
- ^ Hollenstein, Lorenz: Perret, Franz. In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz .
- ↑ scopeArchiv - information on the search. Retrieved July 24, 2019 .
- ↑ SGBN catalog. Retrieved July 24, 2019 .
- ↑ SGBN union catalog. Retrieved July 24, 2019 .