Dr. Péter Balázs: Guide to the archives of Hungary (Budapest, 1976)

A Soproni Evangélikus Gyülekezet Levéltára (Archives of the Sopron Evangelical Congregation)

A SOPRONI EVANGÉLIKUS GYÜLEKEZET LEVÉLTÁRA (ARCHIVES OF THE SOPRON EVANGELICAL CONGREGATION) 9400 SOPRON, Templom u. 10. Tel. 115-68. Handled by chief minister Ferenc RUSZNYÁK The collection of the archival material began at the establishment of the congregation in 1565. The populous and rich congregation, dating from the Reformation, was able to preserve the continuity of its ecclesiastical life up to our day. Strengthened in number and in financial means, the congregation managed to found and to maintain numerous philanthropic and social institutions. This process of the development of congregational life is mirrored by the carefully gathered and conserved archival material of the congregation. The great fire of Sopron in 1676 burnt down also the wooden Evangelical church, causing much damage to the archival material stored in the sacristy of the church in all probability. Since then the records of the congregation did not suffer any considerable loss. The material of the congregation was first arranged in 1806, when the records were placed in a chronological order. In 1820, in the course of another arrangement, the conventual notary elaborated a book called "Thesaurus actorum", in which he copied the more important records and noted the numerals of the book on the originals. According to the rules of the 1860 convent the actual convent notary was bound to serve as archivist. On the basis of this rule the convent notary of this time, Mátyás ULBER made a proposal, accepted by the presbitery, and arranged the archives of the congregation from 1863 to 1875 in this system. Mátyás Ulber divided the extant archival material into six groups according to subject and gave serial numbers to the records in chronological order. The arrangement touched the records from 1533 to 1872, to which a detailed "register" was added. This arrangement defined the order of the Archives up to our day. The Archives are maintained by the Sopron Evangelical Congregation. The archival material totals 59 running metres. The registers of the congregation begin with the seventeenth century: birth