State Archives of the Canton of Zurich
| State Archives of the Canton of Zurich - StAZH -
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 The main building of the State Archives |
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| Archive type | State Archives |
| Coordinates | 47 ° 23 '49.9 " N , 8 ° 32' 49.2" E |
| place | Zurich |
| Visitor address | Winterthurerstrasse 170 8057 Zurich |
| founding | 1837 |
| ISIL | CH-000033-9 |
| carrier | Canton Zurich |
| Website | staatsarchiv.zh.ch |
The State Archives of the Canton of Zurich is the archive of the Swiss Canton of Zurich and its legal predecessors , in particular the city-state of Zurich . As the office of the cantonal administration, it reports to the Directorate of Justice and Home Affairs.
history
The holdings of the State Archives of the Canton of Zurich go back to the eighth century. They not only include the documents of the canton founded in 1803, but also those of its legal predecessors. The first state archivist in 1837 was the historian Gerold Meyer von Knonau , who succeeded the registrar Hans Jakob Ammann. The founding of the State Archives is equated with this date: It was not only given its current name in 1837, but at that time various holdings were also brought together spatially and the State Archives opened up to research. At that time it was located in the Fraumünster Abbey . In 1876 it was moved to the court wing of the chairman's office and in 1919 to the choir of the Predigerkirche. After there was a lack of space there for decades, a new building was moved into on the Irchel site in 1982, today's Building 1, which was followed by extensions in 2007 and 2019 (Building 2 and Building 3). The six floors, four of which are underground, guarantee safe storage, stable climatic conditions, contemporary protection against fire and water damage and maximum security for the archive.
Location and services
The administrative center, reading room, library and the holdings of the Zurich State Archives are on the site Irchel the University of Zurich in the city district Oberstrass in Zurich accommodated. Beat Gnädinger has been the state archivist since 2006.
In five different reading rooms , the archivists whose protection period has expired can be ordered at 80 visitor workstations and viewed free of charge on site (there is no loan). The reference library comprises around 20,000 volumes and 15,000 brochures; the catalog (authors and keywords) currently contains around 146,000 entries. The library is one of the best in Switzerland in the fields of history , politics and culture . So-called " gray literature " is also listed , i.e. H. Publications from cantonal offices, annual reports from important institutions, etc. Journal articles on Zurich history are listed individually in the catalog.
tasks
The term “ memory of the nations ” was coined by Novalis and summarizes the tasks of the State Archives: It passes on the past and the historically relevant events of today for future generations on the basis of written original sources. The core of its activity is the transmission, indexing, storage, maintenance and communication of the documents of the Canton of Zurich and its legal predecessors for the attention of the interested public, in particular historical research . The documents stored in the archive also serve legal and administrative purposes as well as an instrument for legal security and to control the activities of the administrative bodies.
A good 80 employees - including 25 trained historians and two restorers - ensure the selection of the archival-worthy stocks and are responsible for the professional conservation and indexing of archival material. Externally, the archivists appear as advisors to the users, be it in the reading room, answering written inquiries or preparing expert reports.
Other tasks include supporting family research , editing primary sources , creating archiving aids for authorities in cantons and municipalities, and maintaining various collections (plans, graphics, pamphlets, objects, etc.).
Archives holdings
The structure of the archive holdings (archive plan), which still exists today with significant extensions but without fundamental changes, comes from Prof. Paul Schweizer, state archivist from 1881 to 1897:
- Old main archive (departments A to C): files, volumes and documents from the old city-state of Zurich until 1798.
- Old secondary archives : holdings of the commercial directorate (department D), church archive (E), financial archive (F), archive of the canon monastery Grossmünster (G), hospital archive (H) and archive of Rheinau monastery (J).
- Newer archives : documents on the constitutional periods 1798 to 1831 for the periods Helvetic , mediation and restoration (departments K to L) as well as files on the canton of Zurich (departments M to Y) sorted by directorate.
- Provenance archive: Holdings of the authorities obliged to offer, sorted according to the creators of the files, since 1831 (Department Z or pertinence archive as well as provenance archives I and II).
- Non-state archives : estates of private individuals and families, guild and association archives, company archives (especially departments B IX, W and X).
- Collections (pamphlets, maps and plans, analog finding aids, graphic collection, objects).
The historical holdings of the State Archives go back to the year 853 - the founding deed of the Fraumünster is the oldest surviving document - and are of importance far beyond the canton. The continuity of the tradition, which is due to the lack of major catastrophes and wars, is remarkable: for example, the series of government protocols ( Small Council and Grand Council) dates back to the early 14th century with few gaps. In terms of quantity, the newer holdings of the Canton of Zurich (since 1831) form the main focus of the archive holdings of around 30 kilometers of files and documents, plus a few terabytes of electronic data material.
Every year, an average of 800 linear meters of files are transferred to the provenance archive. The increase consists mainly of deliveries from the cantonal authorities, specifically from the cantonal council , government council with central and district administration , notaries' offices, authorities and courts. In addition, the State Archive collects private material (personal papers, company archives and individual documents) on the history of the Canton of Zurich.
See also
- History of the Canton of Zurich
- History of the city of Zurich
- Antiquarian society in Zurich
- File inspection (Switzerland)
- Archive law (Switzerland)
literature
- Christian Sieber: The printed holdings in the State Archives of the Canton of Zurich. Zurich 2007. (full text)
- State Archives of the Canton of Zurich: Brief Zurich Constitutional History 1218–2000 . Published on behalf of the Directorate of Justice and the Interior on the day of the constitution of the Zurich Constitutional Council on September 13, 2000. Chronos, Zurich 2000, ISBN 3-905314-03-7 .
- Werner Schnyder, Ernst Winkler: The culturally and geographically significant sources of the Zurich State Archives. In: Communications from the Geographical-Ethnographic Society Zurich. Volume 42 (1943–1944) (full text)
- Otto Sigg : Maps and plans as a source of industrial and environmental history, using the example of the holdings of the Zurich State Archives. In: Cartographica Helvetica. Issue 6 (1992) pp. 29-31 full text
Web links
- State Archives of the Canton of Zurich
- Directorate of Justice and Home Affairs ( Memento of June 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- Search portal Archives Online
Individual evidence
- ^ NN: "Foundation" of the State Archives. Canton Zurich. Justice and Home Affairs Directorate, accessed January 7, 2014 .
- ^ State Archives: Contact ( Memento of February 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 22, 2008.
- ↑ a b c State Archives: Finding aids ( memento from April 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 10, 2009.
- ^ State Archives: Services ( Memento of April 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 22, 2008.
- ^ State Archives: Personnel by Function ( Memento of December 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 15, 2011.
- ^ State Archives: Family Research ( Memento of December 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 22, 2008.
- ^ State Archives: Archiving Aids for Authorities ( Memento of March 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 22, 2008.
- ^ State Archives: Sources and Publications ( Memento of April 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 22, 2008.