The Austrian State Archives
and its Importance
for
Interregional Research
CrArc-Meeting 17 - 19 October 2012 in Wien-Erdberg

Interregional Importance
Today‘s Austria is a small country,
But an „archival great-power“
It holds large quantities of archival sources,
especially in its capital: Vienna
Why?

Vienna as Aulic Residence
 Until 1806, Vienna has been residence of the Holy
Roman Empire and the Habsburg dynasty
 Until 1918, Vienna has been the capital of an
European great power:
the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy

Common Central Authorities
After 1918 the records created by the central
administration of the Austro-Hungarian
Monarchy remained in Vienna
also the records of the Holy Roman Emire of
the German Nation
Today these files are kept by the Austrian
State Archives

The Austrian State Archives
• The Austrian State Archives are a public
equivalent body of the Federal Chancellory of
Austria
• founded in 1945,
• uniting several public archives,
• housed in different locations in Vienna

Today‘s Locations
 Central Building (since 1988)
Nottendorfer Gasse 2 (Wien-Erdberg)
Underground Line U3, Bus Terminal
director general, administration, 3 of the 4 departments
 House-, Court- and State Archives (HHStA)
Minoritenplatz 1 (Downtown)
Underground Line U3
 Old Aulic Chamber Archive, Franz Grillparzer-Room
Johannesgasse 6 (Downtown)
Exhibition- and events centre (in preperation)

Central Building in Erdberg

Key Performance Indicators
4 departments
200 kilometres of records
800.000 volumes of publications
100 employees
5.000 users per year
10.000 written inquiries per year
Our oldest record:
a Carolingian parchment from 816 (HHStA)

Organigram of the OeStA

Archive of the Republic (AdR)
• „living archive“
• founded in 1983
• holds public records from 1918 to the present
• acquisition of records from the Federal
administration of Austria
• digital longterm archiving – archiving of
electronic files (digLA)

Historical Archives
Historical Archives – „dead archives“
1. General Administrative Archive / Finance, and Aulic
Chamber Archives (AVA/FHKA)
2. Family, Court and State Archives (HHStA)
3. War Archives (KA)

AVA/FHKA
General Administrative Archive / Finance, and
Aulic Chamber Archives (AVA/FHKA)
• Records of the Austrian central administration
until 1918:
for internal
affairs, justice, education, agriculture, trade, tr
affic, and finance

HHStA
Family, Court and State Archives (HHStA)
• location Minoritenplatz (downtown)
• hold records until 1918:
on the history of the Holy Roman Empire
on the history of house and court of the
Habsburg empire, and
concerning the diplomacy of Austria-Hungary

War Archives (KA)
50 kilometres of records
military records of the Habsburg
monarchy, until 1918
military parish registers, until 1938 (CrArc)
military collections:
maps, plans, pictures, personal papers
library of the OeStA

Repository – War Archives

Homepage of the OeStA
 Address: www.oesta.gv.at
Navigation:
 Tasks & Organisation
 Holdings
 User Information
 Publications
 Service
 Family research

Homepage (German)

Homepage (English)

User information – reading room Erdberg

Research
Archive information system:
www.archivinformationssystem.at/
Register of Archives
Administrative library
• Collection of links: Service  Collection of links
• Tips for researchers:
Tasks & Organisation  Kriegsarchiv  Tips for researchers
Tasks & Organisation  The Hungarian archival delegation

Archive Information System

Structured Search

Relevance for interregional research
 Because of the transnational relevance of our
records, the OeStA are of special relevance for
historical research:
• for the „successor states“
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
• for our neighbors
• for interregional topics and projects

Baden Agreement 1926
• These circumstances were taken into account
long before the foundation of the OeStA:
• by an agreement between the Republic of
Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary:
the so-called „Baden Agreement on Archives“
from 1926

The Hungarian archival delegation
• one dalegate at the HHStA
(Magyar Országos Levéltár)
• two delegates at the War Archives (KA)
(Hadtörténelmi Intézet és Muzeum)
relevant even for Slovakian historical research!

Other bilateral Agreements
• Further bilateral agreements exist between
the OeStA and several national archival
administrations, that is to say:
Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech
Republic, Mazedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slova
kia, Slovenia, and the Ukraine

Interregional Projects 2012
• The OeStA is a popular project partner
• Current: CrArc – Memory without Borders
restauration, digitalization, and registration of files of transnational
/interregional interest (several partners from Slovakia and Austria)
• Current: Forte Cultura – Fortified Heritage
multidisziplinary utilization of fortifications between Baltic and Adriatic
Sea (Partners from Poland, Austria, Czech
Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia and Ukraine)
• In preperation: Digitization of documents on World War One from
Southeastern Europe (Partner: public archives in South East and Central
Europe)

Thank you for attention!
©Dr. Christoph Tepperberg
KRIEGSARCHIV
christoph.tepperberg@oesta.gv.at