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The Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv: Its History, Holdings, and Use

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2009

Rudolf Neck
Rudolf Neck
Affiliation:
Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv
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Extract

When the old master of German historical research and historiography Leopold von Ranke congratulated the Austrian historian Alfred von Arneth on his appointment as director of the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv on August 11, 1868, he pointed out that it was “the most important archive for German history.”1 A hundred years ago access to archives in general and those of the Habsburg empire in particular was very limited. Everywhere, archival material was still subject to a strict preliminary censorship before scholars could examine it, and most holdings were not available for research purposes. Yet, in spite of all these restrictions, Ranke could with a good conscience shower the Vienna archive with words of praise. Today the abundance of the treasures of the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, which are so generously put at the disposal of the researcher, proves Ranke's judgment to have been accurate. In many ways the archive deserves words of even higher praise than Ranke's, because it will always be a first-rate research center not only for German history but also for that of a large part of Europe. In historical significance it is now surpassed only by the Vatican archive in Rome; otherwise, it measures up well with all other archives, including those of Western Europe.2

Type
The Austrian State Archives
Information
Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 6 , January 1970 , pp. 3 - 16
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 1970

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References

1 Bernhard, Hoeft and Hans, Herzfeld (eds.), Leopold von Ranke. Neue Briefe (Hamburg: Hoffmann & Campe, 1949), pp. 509–510Google Scholar,.

2 Redlich, Joseph, “Family-, Court-, and State Archives in Vienna,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 4th ser., Vol. IV (1920), pp. 49–61Google Scholar; Groβ, Lothar, “Das Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv in Wien,” Archivalische Zeitschrift, Vol. XXXV (1925), pp. 134–140Google Scholar.

3 May, Arthur J., “Austria,” in Thomas, Daniel H. and Case, Lynn M. (eds.), Guide to the Diplomatic Archives of Western Europe (Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, [1959]), pp. 3–20Google Scholar.

4 Bittner, Ludwig, “Das Wiener Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv in der Nachkriegszeit,” Archivalische Zeitschrift, Vol. XXXV (1925), pp. 141–203Google Scholar.

5 Ludwig, Bittner (ed.), Gesamtinventar des Wiener Haus-, Hof- und Staatarchivs (5 vols., Vienna: A. Holzhausens Nachf., 1936–1940)Google Scholar.

6 Groβ, Lothar, Die Geschichte der deutschen Reichshofkanzlei 1559 bis 1806 (Vienna: Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, 1933)Google Scholar.

7 Reinöhl, Fritz, Geschichte der k. u. k. Kabinettskanzlei (Vienna: Ferdinand Berger, 1963)Google Scholar.

8 Coreth, Anna, “Das Schicksal des k. u. k. Kabinettsarchivs seit 1945,” Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs, Vol. XI (1958), pp. 514–525Google Scholar.

9 Robert Stropp, “Die Akten des k. u. k. Ministeriums des Äussern 1848–1918,” ibid., Vol. XX (1967), pp. 389–506.

10 Krafft, Albrecht, Die arabischen, persischen und türkischen Handschriften der k. k. Orientalischen Akademie zu Wien (Vienna: Beck's Universitäts-Buchhandlung, 1842)Google Scholar.

11 In passing, it should be noted that traces of Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall's invaluable contributions to the field of Oriental studies can still be detected everywhere in the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv.

12 The section of the third volume of the Gesamtinventar that refers to them should no longer be consulted.

13 The catalog of this exhibit is entitled Österreichische und europäische Geschichte in Dokumenten des Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchivs (2nd ed., Vienna: Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, 1965).

14 Winter, Otto Friedrich, “Der Bestand ‘Archivbehelfe’ des Wiener Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchivs,” Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs, Vol. V (1952), pp. 316–345Google Scholar.

15 Robert Stropp, “Neuordnung und Neuaufstellung der Archivbehelfe des Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchivs,” ibid., Vol. XVII-XVIII (1964–65), pp. 611–639.