The Austrian State Archives
THE AUSTRIAN STATE ARCHIVES WERE FOUNDED IN 1945 AND ARE AMONG THE WORLDWIDE MOST IMPORTANT ARCHIVES.
They are a subordinate agency of the Federal Chancellery serving purposes like:
- Acting as central archives for the federal service of the Republic of Austria (supreme bodies and ministries), which have a legal responsibility to transfer their acts and documents to the State Archives
- Their historical departments are the keepers of the archival heritage of the Habsburg Empire (1526–1918) and its central authorities, as well as of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (until 1806). The oldest piece in the collection of acts and charters of the Babenberg’s and Habsburgs dates back to 816.
- Pursuant to the provisions of the “Denkmalschutzgesetz“ (Federal Act on the Conservation of Monuments, Federal Law Gazette no. 170/1999, sec. 24-25a) the powers to place archival records under protection and to issue export licenses have been delegated to the Austrian State Archives. In this area, the Austrian State Archives act as a conservation authority.
It houses today
- the General Directorate
- the restoration workshop
- the central library of the State Archives
- the Administrative Archive
- the Archive of the Republic
- the War Archive
- the Finance and Exchequer Archive.
In the Austrian State Archives 126 employees are in charge of records stored on about 177,700 linear meters of shelves. Due to the supra-regional nature of its holdings, the Austrian State Archives are a contact point for researchers from all over the world. Every year some 5,000 users come to the reading rooms of the State Archives.
For more information visit the website of the Austrian State Archives.