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

4. Session / Séance. Strategies for Links with Historical Research / Stratégies de Communication envers la Recherche historique - Nebiker, Regula: Towards a New History of Europe (pre-integration period). The Archival Point of View / Pour une nouvelle Histoire européenne (avant l’intégration) (english 373 - français 382)

4. Session/Séance: Nebiker, Towards a new History of Europe

These lists are an expression of archival traditions which vary from one country to another with regard to the organisation, preservation and access to archives. Small archives often have only summary lists. The insights, which a summary listing of the contents of several archives may offer are often inevitably superficial. These lists also only take into account the holdings of closed „historical“ archives.

Nevertheless, there are at least numerous endeavours in train, to expedite access to archives by users. Let us recall to mind the existence of extensive lists, national and international, of archives such as the International Directory of Archives'0 or the Minerva Handbuch" for German-speaking regions and again the Verzeichnis der Archive und Archivare in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweizu, published by the German Association of Archivists. In most European countries there exist lists of private archives. Let us mention as well the lists of private papers in Germany, e. g. the lists by Wolfgang Mommsen on German archives10 11 12 13 and those by Ludwig Denecke for German Libraries14 and the list of the successional archives of scholars and writers in the libraries of the former GDR15. In Switzerland, there has just appeared the latest edition of the list of manuscripts in libraries and archives in Switzerland16, which covers the successional archives of three thousand families and individuals preserved in Swiss institutions. New editions of lists of family and private archives have just appeared in Italy17 and in Austria.

Despite the very respectable number of lists and syntheses of European archives - the examples cited above only form a minute part of works of this kind - the access by searchers to the multitude of archival sources is made smoother through a detailed knowledge of the European archival scene and its historical development.

This supposes that archivists provide information about their work. There intermediary role is basic. It must not be limited to the publication of finding aids and anthologies of sources. It is precisely by pondering on the fact that a new historiography poses new questions and exploits new sources that it is important to give searchers some ideas of the work of the archivists that they may come to know what kinds of sources the can hope to find in which archives. The work of archivists in managing archive services must be made known and discussed.

10 Archivum, vol. XXXVIII. München-Paris-New York 1992.

11 Minerva Handbücher. Archive im deutschsprachigen Raum. Berlin-New York 21974.

12 Archive und Archivare in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. 14. Ausgabe 1985/86 . München 1986.

13 Mommsen, Wolfgang A. (ed.): Die Nachlässe in deutschen Archiven,. 2 Vols. Boppard 1971-1983 (Verzeichnis der schriftlichen Nachlässe in deutschen Archiven und Bibliotheken).

14 Denecke, Ludwig (ed.): Die Nachlässe in den Bibliotheken der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Verzeichnisse der schriftlichen Nachlässe 2, 1981).

15 Gelehrten- und Schriftstellernachlässe in den Bibliotheken der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. 3 Vols. Berlin 1959-1971.

16 Repertorium der handschriftlichen Nachlässe in den Bibliotheken und Archiven der Schweiz. Basel 21982.

17 Archivi di famiglie e di persone. Materiali per una guida, vol. 1 : Abruzzo-Liguria a cura di Giovanni Pesiri, Michaela Procaccia, Irma Paola Tascini, Laura Vallone, coordinamento di Gabriella de Longis Cristaldi. Roma 1991 (Pubblicazioni degli Archivi di Stato, Strumenti CXII).

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