On October 26 Professor Dr. Joseph Redlich, on behalf of the University of Vienna, delivered an address to the Fellows of the Royal Historical Society on the present state of the Family-, Court-, and State-Archives (Haus-, Hof-, und Staats-archiv) at Vienna. Professor Redlich gave a short history of these famous Archives, with a general survey of the astounding wealth of historical documents and State Papers which they contain. He explained the great dangers with which the dismemberment of the old Empire of the Habsburg Dynasty and the formation of several new sovereign states out of the ancient Austrian territories threatened the very existence of these early sources of historical study. He was happy to be able to report that most of these dangers had been averted—at least for the time being—by mutual agreement of the representatives of several Governments concerned. The unanimously accepted thesis that in execution of the respective clauses of the Peace Treaty, the so-called principle of “provenience” should be rigorously observed, gives a guarantee that the Viennese Central Archives of the Dynasty, the State and the Empire will on the whole remain in their present state.