Parlamentsarchiv

Author: A member of the Global Vienna seminar

General information

Address: Dr.-Karl-Renner-Ring 3 1017 Wien

Website: https://www.parlament.gv.at/en/experience/library-and-archives/

Brief history

Since Austria’s earliest permanent parliamentary body, the Reichsrat (Imperial Council), was founded in 1861, the Parliamentary Archives have preserved documents relating to administration and legislative bodies. Such documents include, for example, meeting minutes, legislative proposals and historical building plans. From the monarchy to the First Republic (1918-1938), and then from the Second Republic until the present day, the records from all Austrian national parliamentary bodies are collected in the Parliamentary Archives. The only discontinuity in this timeframe is the National Socialist period 1938-1945, when there was no independent Austrian parliamentary assembly.

Holdings

The legal framework for the activities of the Parliamentary Archives is defined in the Bundesarchivgesetz (Federal Archives Act). According to this law, the tasks of the Parliamentary Archives include the following:

„Erfassen, Übernehmen, Verwahren, Erhalten, Instandsetzen, Ordnen, Erschließen, Verwerten und Nutzbarmachen von Archivgut des Bundes für die Erforschung der Geschichte und Gegenwart, für sonstige Forschung und Wissenschaft, für die Gesetzgebung, Rechtsprechung, Verwaltung sowie für berechtigte Belange der Bürger.“

(“Collecting, acquiring, storing, preserving, repairing, organising, cataloguing, exploiting, and making available federal archival material for research into history and the present, for other research and science, for legislation, jurisprudence, administration, and for the legitimate interests of citizens.”)

– §2 Abs 5 Bundesarchivgesetz (RIS)

Structure and access

Many of the documents stored in the Parliamentary Archives are available in digital form. For example, central materials from the Nationalrat (National Council) and the Bundesrat (Federal Council) – such as stenographic records, various inquiries, and attachments – can only be viewed using ALEX, the Austrian National Library’s online platform for historical legal texts.

For the older part of the holdings, ranging from 1861 to 1920, searchable online catalogues are available, making it possible to browse specific collections more efficiently. A growing number of collections are also searchable using the Parliamentary Archive’s search portal. Archival materials from these collections can be requested directly through the portal or via email to the staff of the Parliamentary Archives.

Access to the parliament building and thus also to the parliamentary archives is only possible with valid photo ID. Security checks (consisting of personal and baggage checks) are carried out in the entrance area. Furthermore, the rules of use must be observed. Borrowing archival material is not permitted. Free scans and photographs of archival materials may be made on site. The official citation rules of the Parliamentary Archives are recommended for citing archival documents.

Connected collections

The Parliamentary Archives and the holdings therein relate closely to other administrative archives in Vienna and in Austria. This is particularly evident, for example, in the collections of administrative documents from the years 1938 to 1945, which are located at the Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv. These years are of particular interest to researchers, as they reflect the institutional ruptures and political transformations that shaped Austria during the transition from Austrofascism to National Socialism; however, as there was no parliament during this time, records from the Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv provide a useful complement to the Parlamentsarchiv’s holdings.

Another example of such a complement is the Österreichisches Staatsarchiv: one of its departments, the Archiv der Republik, contains holdings produced by the Austrian government and administration; in many cases, parliamentary records on a given topic from the Parliamentary Archives therefore correspond directly to records from the executive branch held by the Archive of the Republic. A similar dynamic exists between the pre-republican holdings of the Parliamentary Archive and the Haus- Hof- und Staatsarchiv, which collects the earliest files on the development of Parliamentary administration during the monarchy.

What makes this collection global?

The Parliamentary Archives are primarily linked to the history of Austria and the Habsburg Monarchy. A large part of the holdings reflects the history of Austrian administration and legislation. In many cases, these documents primarily concern domestic affairs. However, the holdings of the Parliamentary Archives do not only cover internal processes within the Habsburg Monarchy and Austria, but also international affairs. As a result, the archives also contain documents dealing with the foreign policy of the Habsburg Monarchy and later the Republic of Austria. In addition, the Parliamentary Archives also hold numerous documents relating to the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy. This period in particular incorporates numerous documents illustrating the exchange between the newly emerging nation states of the former Habsburg Monarchy. From a global historical perspective, the emergence of new nation states can also be reconstructed.

The global historical significance of the Habsburg Monarchy may be a matter of debate, but it nevertheless had an impact far beyond Europe and was globally interconnected. Evidence of these global interconnections can be reconstructed from the documents in the Parliamentary Archives. The holdings of the Parliamentary Archives also document foreign policy activities, worldwide contacts and diplomacy. Traces of the Habsburg Monarchy’s involvement in international conflicts in the context of military or diplomatic measures can also be found in the Parliamentary Archives.

Furthermore, the documents in the Parliamentary Archives provide insight into the extent to which Austria itself was (and is) globally networked. Furthermore, they reveal how global issues are perceived by Austrian actors. The Parliamentary Archives can thus be viewed not only as a purely national archive, but also as a source of insight into international processes and developments.

Keywords indicating international connections can be searched for on the Parliamentary Archives website, often yielding content which is itself digitised and/or searchable. However, global historical research questions are also applicable to collections that cannot be searched digitally, requiring personal consultation with the archivists. For example, in the period from 1945 onwards, i.e. the Republic of Austria, there are a wide variety of documents that document Austria’s foreign policy activities. These range from Europe to the European Union and further international issues.

However, it should be emphasised that the global historical potential of the Parliamentary Archives is limited by the fact that all research is connected to Austria or the Habsburg Monarchy. In particular, the parliamentary archives focus on Austrian legislation, which includes primarily a state-based framework and, in many cases, primarily national interests are visible. Additionally, the documents in the parliamentary archives were primarily created by elites, such as members of parliament or expert commissions. Subaltern groups and other global actors are often not directly documented, but only appear, for example, as the subject of debates. In addition, the parliamentary archives are structurally selective, meaning that primarily formal and official content is archived.

Featured primary source

Cover of request from the central government in Belgrade to the German-Austrian Constituent National Assembly, July 1, 1919.

The selected source comprises a letter dated July 9, 1919, from Johann Merklas, director of the Parliamentary Library, to the Constituent National Assembly of German-Austria, to the presidium of the German-Austrian Constituent National Assembly. Previously, on July 1, the central government in Belgrade had submitted a request to the German-Austrian Parliamentary Library to borrow several works on the constitutional law of the United States of America and England. In his letter, Merklas expresses his reservations concerning the loan of books to the central government, as the library statutes forbid loans outside of the library premises. In addition, however, Merklas justifies his refusal on a larger geopolitical and ideological scale: now, at the moment of independence for Austria and so many other former constituents of the old Austro-Hungarian empire, works on foreign constitutional law were in such high demand as examples for how to navigate newfound statehood that they could not possibly be loaned out. Finally, the file contains a draft reply from the Presidium to the State Chancellery, to then be sent to the central government in Belgrade, into which the text of Merklas’ letter was to be inserted.

This source was selected because it originates from a field that is not immediately recognizable as a source of global history. At first glance, the source appears unspectacular. However, it originates in a period shortly after the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy, which is particularly interesting to examine in relation to the holdings of the Parliamentary Archives. This is of specific interest since the Parliamentary Archives contain a wide range of documents concerning the emergence of new nation states, e.g., in the form of various correspondences. In addition, the source illustrates that global history can also be made visible “on a small scale,” as seen here in the exchange of knowledge and ideas encapsulated in books. Various further research topics can be derived from this “small” source. Situated at the intersection of the history of knowledge and parliamentary history, this source sheds light on the function of parliamentary libraries in the aftermath of the Habsburg Monarchy, highlighting the issues of transnational knowledge transfer and the political sensitivities accompanying the formation of new nation states. Such “minor sources” provide the opportunity to gain insight into a much larger context in terms of global history.

What makes this source particularly interesting in terms of global history is that it originally comes from the library system. The library system is not necessarily a field that one would immediately associate with global history. This source thus illustrates that the parliamentary archives can also be viewed as global historical archives in various ways, by focusing on aspects such as foreign relations, material and knowledge transfer, and their relations to and tensions with internal parliamentary administration.

The selected source also clearly shows that global historical connections took place in various areas of administration, for example in legal, diplomatic and parliamentary matters. The source can be understood in two ways in terms of global history. On the one hand, externally, namely in a request to the Austrian Parliamentary Library. On the other hand, internally, the request shows that the Serbian central government was interested in British and American constitutional law. The source thus connects micro- and macro-processes.

The source is therefore an example of the possibilities of transnational knowledge circulation and demonstrates a form of global knowledge networking. The Serbian central government’s attempt to orient itself towards the Anglo-American legal and constitutional system is evident. This illustrates the relevance of British and American law during the period when nation states were emerging.

Furthermore, the source illustrates Austria’s role in the post-imperial knowledge landscape. In 1919, shortly after the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Parliamentary Library in Vienna was still the point of contact regarding intellectual infrastructure.