Sonderband 2. International Council on Archives. Dritte Europäische Archivkonferenz, Wien 11. bis 15. Mai 1993. Tagungsprotokolle (1996)

2. Session /Séance. Regional (trans-border) Cooperation / Coopération régionale (transfrontaliere) - Cova, Ugo: The Case of the Adriatic-Alps Zone / Le cas de la zone Alpes-Adriatique (english 145 - français 153)

2. Session/Séance: Cova, The Case of the Adriatic-Alps Zone

A considerable scientific achievement - an initiative of the archivists of the ALPE Adria regions which required a series of meetings in Slovenia, Austria and Italy of working groups headed by Archives directors of Slovenia, Styria, Carinthia and Venezia Giulia - was the publication of the trilingual volume entitled Manuali e carte suite strutture amministrative nelle province di Carinzia, Carniola, Litorale e Stiria fino ai 1918 Guida storico-bibliograßca - Handbücher und Karten zur Verwaltungsstruktur in den Ländern Kärnten, Krain, Küstenland und Steiermark bis zum Jahre 1918. Ein historisch-bibliographischer Führer - Pirocniki in karte o organizacijski strukturi v dezelah Koroski, Kranjski, Primorju in Stajerski do leta 1918 Zgodovinsko-bibliografski vodnik (Handbooks and maps on the administrative structures in the provinces of Carinthia, Carniola, Adriatic Coast and Styria up to 1918. A historical-bibliographical guide). The volume was published in Graz in 1988 in the series of the Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv'1.

The publication aimed at identifying the existence in the archives of Klagenfurt, Graz, Ljubljana, Trieste and Gorizia of handbooks and maps describing the administrative, judicial, military and ecclesiastical structure in the territories of Carinthia, Styria, Carniola and the Adriatic Coast which used to belong to Innerösterreich. The meetings of archivists of these territories and the discovery of the complementary nature of the records kept in the archives of the cities concerned, a demonstration of the century-old institutional ties, led to a text on the institutional history of Innerösterreich from the 18th century to 1918 written with the cooperation of several archivists. The whole process of exchanging information, reconstructing events and institutional activities, collecting and coordinating data, and drawing up the text took over three years.

Thanks to this common experience, a real cooperation was established between archivists coming from Slovenia, Styria, Carinthia and Venezia Giulia, and the old isolation was overcome which had led to misunderstandings due to the lack of mutual knowledge. The work was done in the spirit of ALPE Adria, although not under its aegis, on account of its lack of interest in archives and on account of the autonomous initiative taken by archivists.

But the cooperation spirit of ALPE Adria, shown by archivists working in that area, may also be fruitful well beyond the wide borders of the working community. For example, in 1985 the Archives Centre for professional-technical questions was set up at the Pokrajinski Arhiv in Maribor (Slovenia). The promoter of the initiative was the director of the Pokrajinski Arhiv, the other founding members were an official of the Bavarian Archives and the Director of the State Archives of Trieste (Italy). The constructive debate on technical and professional issues led to the definition of the Centre’s organization, the activity of which was expected to be international since the beginning. It is not by chance that the initiative was taken by three ALPE Adria archivists, a Slovene, a German and an Italian, who had some experience in entertaining relations with archivists of different countries. *

12 The work is edited by Joze Z o n t a r ; see also the paper of Peter Csendes.

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