The Swiss Literary Archives (SLA - ''Schweizerische Literaturarchiv'') in Bern collects

literary estate The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially completed wo ...

s in all four national languages of Switzerland (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, French, Italian and

Romansh language Romansh (; sometimes also spelled Romansch and Rumantsch; Sursilvan: ; Vallader, Surmiran, and Rumantsch Grischun: ; Putèr: ; Sutsilvan: , , ; Jauer: ) is a Gallo-Romance language spoken predominantly in the Swiss canton of the Gr ...

). It is part of the

Swiss National Library The Swiss National Library (german: Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek, french: Bibliothèque nationale suisse, it, Biblioteca nazionale svizzera, rm, Biblioteca naziunala svizra) is the national library of Switzerland. Part of the Federal Offic ...

operated by the

Federal Office of Culture The Federal Office of Culture (FOC) is an administrative unit of the Federal Department of Home Affairs, based in Bern, Switzerland. The agency has two extensive areas of responsibility: promoting Swiss culture and preserving the country’s ...

within the

Federal Department of Home Affairs The Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA, , french: Département fédéral de l'intérieur, links=no, , rm, ) is a department of the federal administration of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss ministry of the interior. As of 2012, it is ...

. The archives were founded in 1991 and are located in the building of the

. The foundation can be tracked back to the last will of the writer

Friedrich Dürrenmatt Friedrich Dürrenmatt (; 5 January 1921 – 14 December 1990) was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-ga ...

, who died in 1989. Dürrenmatt gave his literary remains to the state, but under the condition that the state establishes a national archive for literature. Typewriters in the Swiss Literary Archives

Typewriters in the Swiss Literary Archives

The Swiss Literary Archives today contain around 100 important literary estates and premortal-estates and about 120 partial estates and collections, including material from:

Notes and references

External links

Official website

Swiss Literary Archives in the archive database HelveticArchives
of the

Swiss Literary Archives
in the

Swiss National Sound Archives The Swiss National Sound Archives are the sound archives of Switzerland, based in Lugano. Its mission is to collect sound recordings related to the history and culture of Switzerland, to make them accessible and to make them available for use. In ...

History of literature Archives in Switzerland Switzerland Swiss Literary Archives Swiss Literary Archives

Literary Archives Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

Culture in Bern Literary archives 1991 establishments in Switzerland {{Switzerland-stub

Notes and references

See also

External links