Author: Elisabeth Schitzhofer
General information
Address: 1110 Vienna, Guglgasse 14, 5th Floor, Top 08, Gasometer D (access via Gasometer A)
Website: http://www.wien.gv.at/kultur/archiv/index.html
Contact: post@ma08.wien.gv.at
Brief history
The Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv (WStLA; Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna) aims to preserve the written heritage of the city of Vienna and thus could be seen as the repository of its memory. The archive’s holdings date back to the early 13th century, with the oldest document from 1208. Throughout the early modern period, repeated attempts were made to reorganise the city’s archive and registry, but it was not until 1745 that a dedicated recordist position was created within the local government. A decisive change occurred in 1863, when the archive was separated from the city’s registry office. This period also saw the archive’s responsibilities expand to the management of the City Library, as well as the predecessor of the present-day Wien Museum. Only in 1889 did the city council decide to separate the city’s museums and library from the core responsibilities of the archive. This meant that the archive became an independent institution directly subordinate to the city’s mayor.
Holdings
The collection of the WStLA is closely related to the history of the city and its municipal institutions. Evidence dating from the European Middle Ages shows that it was the exclusive duty of the archive to preserve only the most important documents. Nowadays its central task is the evaluation and preservation of archival material. In doing so, the archive aims to ensure transparency in local government and enable access to archival material in the case of legal disputes. Another important activity is the coordination of measures to guarantee proper, systematic storage of documents. To this end, the archive works closely with the municipal government to properly file and sort ever increasing quantities of material. This includes not only archival-worthy physical documents but also electronic documents for future-proofed digital archiving.
Developing alongside the urban administration itself, the archive has steadily evolved over time. Its function as archive of the city of Vienna means the institution is obliged to store the vast number of records produced by local government. The Vienna Archival Law of 2000 was the first law to specifically define what constitutes “archival material” for the City and Federal State of Vienna. The law also identifies institutions that are required to provide their records, as well as those authorised do so voluntarily. These voluntary contributions – which can be added to regularly or occasionally – are part of a field where the archive has a great deal of flexibility.
The archive’s collection spans over 60,000 meters, containing files, documents, books, maps, drafts, photographs and microfilms. In addition to famous items like Ludwig van Beethoven’s last will and Otto Wagner’s plans for the city, the archive also preserves important personal records of all Viennese citizens. It does not just document the memories of prominent people and political events; it provides access to history through the countless stories of individuals and everyday life.
Structure and access
Following the structure of the Austrian archive system, the WStLA organises its holdings based on the principle of provenance. This means that all acquired documents are kept in their original order and grouped by their institution of origin. The archive holds a wide range of materials related to Vienna’s dual role as a city and a federal state. As a city archive, its holdings include documents from various municipal departments, district offices, administrative authorities and city-run institutions and businesses. As the archive of a federal province, the archive preserves records from the state administration, courts, police, religious offices and trade bodies, among others. These state-related documents are kept unless they are already stored in the Austrian State Archive. In addition to official records, the archive also maintains various collections that document the city’s history, including biographical, topographical and cartographic collections, as well as collections of photographs and manuscripts.
In March 2001, the WStLA moved into new, more spacious premises in Gasometer D in Erdberg. The Vienna gasometers consist of four 19th century cylindrical gasholders. They were constructed from 1896 to 1899 in the 11th district of Vienna and were intended to store gas for municipal use.
The WStLA has a new home because of the gasometer urban renewal project. The new facility provides approximately 12,000 square metres of space, which includes ample storage for the coming decades, along with a lecture hall, an exhibition space, a reading room, and various user and office areas. This construction was significant because it not only moved the archive’s headquarters from City Hall to Erdberg, but it also consolidated all the archive storage from its previous locations scattered across the city, bringing the entire collection under a single roof. The new site is well connected with public transportation via the U3 metro line, and the mixed use of the gasometers, including apartments, offices, shops and event venues, ensures the archive’s integration into urban life.
The Wiener Archivinformationssystem (WAIS, Vienna Archive Information System) serves as the central information database for the WStLA. It allows users to search for and access digital data without needing to register, while an online account enables the reservation of physical documents to view in the reading room. The WAIS is structured into several main archival sections, including the Vienna City Archive, the State Archive and various collections. Its layered organisation allows for detailed searches; for instance, a user can navigate to the “Service Books” section and find entries on specific individuals and their professions. However, it is important to note that not all of the archive’s holdings are indexed in the system.
The digitisation of the archive’s holdings is being managed through WAIS. This is a continuous, long-term effort – one that will never be truly completed due to the sheer volume of material. The archive must carefully balance the cost of making a document accessible with its overall value and purpose. This process is directly connected to another important function of the archive: deciding which records to preserve in the first place. Only a small portion of the documents produced by government offices are selected for permanent storage. A specific set of evaluation criteria is used to determine which materials are archived and which are ultimately destroyed.
Connected collections
In 2002, the Wien Museum, then the city of Vienna’s municipal museum, was separated from the city administration and established as an independent academic institution under public law. Since 2003, it has operated under the name Wien Museum. In many ways, the Wien Museum is the museal counterpart to the WStLA, collecting and displaying objects related to the city’s history.
Of further relevance would be the Verein für Geschichte der Arbeiter:innenbewegung (“Association for the History of the Labour Movement”), which maintains and safeguards the intellectual heritage of the Viennese labour movement in its international context. Finally, the Verein für die Geschichte der Stadt Wien (“Association for the History of the City of Vienna”) is worth mentioning. It has existed since 1858 and is one of the oldest historical and academic associations in Austria. Its objectives include the academic study of all areas of Vienna’s urban history and comparative urban history research, as well as the dissemination of the findings through publications and lectures. It is also responsible for Wien Geschichte Wiki, a historical wiki about the city and its inhabitants which is an essential resource for research and public interest in Vienna’s history alike.
What makes this collection global?
The WStLA plays an important role in preserving the city’s heritage. As a result of Vienna’s unique status within Austria as both a city and a federal state, the archive has an expanded area of responsibility. The archive has a wide range of potential use cases, including scientific research, local history as well as genealogical research. References to records from the archive also play an important role in the modern-day legal and administrative systems of the city. However, there are also several sections of this archive which lend themselves particularly easily to questions from the field of global history. One of these areas of interest is the archive’s collection of census and conscription records, as well as so-called “Fremdentabellen” (“foreigner tables”).
Already under Maria Theresa, a codification of the “Heimatrecht” (“right of domicile”)was undertaken in the lands of the Habsburg Monarchy. Residence became a focal point of the imperial administration as it began to increase its involvement in municipal welfare, sickness and old-age care. Generally, (land) ownership or ten years of residence were necessary conditions to acquire the right of domicile in a municipality other than one’s place of birth. In addition, the registration of both natives (those entitled to domicile) and non-natives (those not entitled to domicile) in the conscription system represented an innovation: this was, in a sense, the first modern census of the Habsburg Monarchy, though its focus was on adult males at the census location in order to identify the population eligible for military service.
While the first conscriptions concentrated on the population entitled to domicile, later counts also included “foreigners” originating from beyond the borders of the monarchy. After 1820, the number of non-natives entitled to domicile included in the census grew, which may have been related to increased immigration to Vienna. The data on the Viennese population from the 1857 census are archived in 157 folders. Imperial subjects (including Hungarians) who were not entitled to residency were also recorded, as were foreigners in the civic sense. For the 1857 census, local municipalities maintained Fremdentabellenin addition to census forms.
The 1869 Census Act reformed the census system. In the second third of the 19th century, liberalisation of internal migration as well as the effects of early industrialisation led to rapid population growth in Vienna. The city was interested in a restrictive interpretation of the right of domicile in order to keep social spending costs low. As a result, immigrants were no longer entitled to obtain the Heimatrecht. According to the 1869 census, more than 55% of the Viennese population were not entitled to residency; this figure rose to over 65% by 1890. From the 1869 census onwards, the city of Vienna’s census forms have not survived – though those from many of Vienna’s suburbs have.
During the 1870 and 1880 censuses, a register of foreign residents, the “Kartei der Fremden” (“Index of Foreigners”), was also created. This index recorded all persons who did not have the right of domicile in Vienna. Its household data was derived from the census forms. The Kartei der Fremden is stored in 449 boxes and contains approximately 275,000–280,000 family forms, including a large number of individual households. The Kartei der Fremden provides information on the age, occupation, and origin of individual immigrants to Vienna towards the end of the 19th century. TheKartei der Fremden was discontinued after the 1890 census. One reason for this could be the city’s expansion in 1890/1892, which would have nearly doubled the number of non-residents and bloated the index. Another reason was that comparable indexes were lacking in the incorporated suburbs, as the Fremdentabellen were only mandatory there until 1857. For this period in particular, however, the foreigner’s tables make the Municipal Archive a valuable resource for the study of Vienna as a global city and an intercultural space. This is just one example of how municipal records and administrative information can provide insight into migration and mobility, both on the scale of individual records and whole indices with decades of large-scale data.
Exemplary primary source
This document is a decree by Duke Leopold VI from 1208, granting the Flemish people (Flandrenses) all the rights enjoyed by the citizens of Vienna. It is drafted on parchment and features a seal attached with a silk cord. Physical access to this document is restricted for conservation reasons and it is therefore only available as a digital copy.
The text on the document itself is short, leaving some room for interpretation. It nevertheless clearly shows that Leopold VI granted the Flemish extremely advantageous rights. He endeavoured to promote migration of skilled Flemish workers, initially cloth merchants and later cloth dyers, to Austria. The benefits of this arrangement are precisely defined in the document: access to the Viennese market, investment with the same rights (regarding freedoms and privileges) within the Duke’s territory and within the city of Vienna as other Viennese citizens and the establishment of a court of jurisdiction alongside the city court.
This document shows us that, in the Middle Ages, Leopold VI started to attract certain skilled craftsmen by granting them certain privileges. These were probably the first steps to promote the influx of migrant craftsmen in the city’s recorded history. Measures like these were part of a larger effort to promote the Viennese crafts from the 13th century onwards. This led to a remarkable development of the city as an economic centre. This example shows that archival documents on the history of the trades in Vienna can serve as fruitful sources for economic and migration history – not only within the city, but also far beyond its borders.
A city is often defined by interactions with the places whence its migrant labour came. This is as true for emigrants as it is by immigrants: the ones who stayed at home often received financial support by those who emigrated and thus formed a network between Vienna and their places of origin. However, as the example of the Kartei der Fremden above shows, these interconnections were not always free from exclusion and obstructions: despite their long-standing affiliation, newcomers were not granted citizenship and thus remained excluded from the welfare system and other public services. In sum, the different holdings of the Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna paint a complex, sometimes ambiguous picture of the city’s migration history – and much research is still to be done.
Further reading
Gneiß, Markus. Das Wiener Handwerksordnungsbuch (1364 bis 1555). Edition und Kommentar. Vienna: Böhlau, 2017, 17–35.
Größling, Helmut. “Das Wiener Stadtrecht und seine älteste Niederschrift.” Wiener Geschichtsblätter 26 (1971): 286–296.
Komlosy, Andrea. “Schwierigkeiten in Wien anzukommen. Soziale Sicherheit der Zuwandernden zwischen Heimat, Abschiebung und kommunaler Sozialpolitik.” In Sozialgeschichte Wiens 1740–2020. Transformationen des Raums, Inklusion und Exklusion, Außensichten und Mobilität, edited by Andreas Weigl and Peter Eigner, 177–260. Vienna: Studienverlag, 2022.
Weigl, Andreas. “Die ‘Kartei der Fremden’ als Quelle der Bevölkerungsgeschichte Wiens.” Studien zur Wiener Geschichte. Jahrbuch des Vereins für Geschichte der Stadt Wien 79 (2023): 295–311. Weigl, Andreas. “Wien um 1900: ein Sonderfall in der Wiener Migrationsgeschichte? Der ‘Schmelztiegel’ in der kollektiven Erinnerung.” In Migration und Innovation um 1900: Neue Perspektiven auf die Wiener Jahrhundertwende, edited by Elisabeth Röhrlich and Agnes Meisinger, 503–524. Vienna/Cologne/Weimar: Böhlau, 2016.