The ETH Zurich University Archives are responsible for safeguarding, indexing and mediating documents belonging to

ETH Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , a ...

(founded in 1855) and the ETH Board. They also curate the private papers of scientists and societies with ties to ETH Zurich. Its holdings aid research on national and international academic, university and technical history. Biographical dossiers and other documents round off the archival holdings. The ETH Zurich University Archives were founded based on the Swiss Federal Act on Archiving (BGA) of 1998:. Archival holdings from private personal papers, but also from ETH Zurich’s administration that had already been handed over in previous decades, were integrated in the University Archives.

Content-related focuses

Institutional holdings

The institutional holdings stretch back to the foundation of the Federal Polytechnic School (now

) in 1855. For instance, the Historical School Board Archive (1854–1992) contains the minutes and files of ETH Zurich’s long-standing Executive Committee. These holdings also include the document archives of the ETH Board, the School Board’s successor (since 1993). From the subordinate units (from the departments and institutes to individual chairs), administrative documents, minutes of meetings, documents on research projects or congress reports that are of archival value are archived. Besides print documents, the ETH Zurich University Archives also archive digital data, such as historical websites in ETH Zurich’s Webarchive.

Private archives

The private archives available round off the institutional archival material. The individual holdings comprise documents such as lecture manuscripts and transcripts, unpublished manuscripts, field books and diaries, sketchbooks, architectural drawings and extensive academic correspondences. The private archives include engineers (e.g. Carl Culmann, Robert Maillart,

Aurel Stodola Aurel Boleslav Stodola (11 May 1859 – 25 December 1942) was a Slovak engineer, physicist, and inventor. He was a pioneer in the area of technical thermodynamics and its applications and published his book ''Die Dampfturbine'' (the steam turbine ...

), scientists (e.g.

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...

documentation by Carl Seelig, Vladimir Prelog,

Leopold Ružička Leopold Ružička (; born Lavoslav Stjepan Ružička; 13 September 1887 – 26 September 1976) was a Croatian-Swiss scientist and joint winner of the 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his work on polymethylenes and higher terpenes" "including t ...

Rudolf Wolf Johann Rudolf Wolf (7 July 1816 – 6 December 1893) was a Swiss astronomer and mathematician best known for his research on sunspot Sunspots are phenomena on the Sun's photosphere that appear as temporary spots that are darker than the s ...

), mathematicians (e.g.

Paul Bernays Paul Isaac Bernays (17 October 1888 – 18 September 1977) was a Swiss mathematician who made significant contributions to mathematical logic, axiomatic set theory, and the philosophy of mathematics. He was an assistant and close collaborator of ...

, Heinz Hopf,

Hermann Weyl Hermann Klaus Hugo Weyl, (; 9 November 1885 – 8 December 1955) was a German mathematician, theoretical physicist and philosopher. Although much of his working life was spent in Zürich, Switzerland, and then Princeton, New Jersey, he is ass ...

Eduard Stiefel Eduard L. Stiefel (21 April 1909 – 25 November 1978) was a Swiss mathematician. Together with Cornelius Lanczos and Magnus Hestenes, he invented the conjugate gradient method, and gave what is now understood to be a partial construction of t ...

George Pólya George Pólya (; hu, Pólya György, ; December 13, 1887 – September 7, 1985) was a Hungarian mathematician. He was a professor of mathematics from 1914 to 1940 at ETH Zürich and from 1940 to 1953 at Stanford University. He made fundamenta ...

) and even psychologists (e.g. C. G. Jung Collection). The archives of individual academic societies and associations with ties to ETH Zurich round off this group of holdings.

Holding additions

Theme-based holdings (e.g. Archives on the History of Atomic Energy in Switzerland) and Collection Material on University and Academic History constitute an additional focus.

Searching / digital services

The archives offer the following online search options and access: *Online searches in the archive’s indexing information (ongoing expansion) *Access to digitized archival holdings (network platform, ongoing expansion) *Access to the minutes of meetings of the Schweizerischer Schulrat (ETH Board) in full text *Personal paper indexes: older search aids (PDFs) on selected personal papers *Archival materials by and on Albert Einstein in a biographical context

Building Exterior

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References

External links

ETH Zurich University Archives website

ETH Zurich’s Webarchive
{{authority control ETH Zurich Archives in Switzerland