CZECH-L Archives

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Subject: [CZ] Vienna Archives
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2001 12:46:16 EST

About the Austrian archives in Vienna:

First, take LOTS of money to Vienna. It disappears extremely fast in that
city!! Plan to spend $200 a day on bare essentials and up to $40-50 a day on
copies and services if you find a lot of documents at the archive. Have at
least one full day to spend in the archive of your choice.

Dr. Tepperberg, one of the directors of the archives, has written an article
about all of the archives in Vienna, what they contain and how they operate.
An English version of the article is expected to be out soon, at an Internet
site. I have a draft of the article in German and have some idea what is in
it.

I have never been to the war archive or state archive (both in the same
building) in Vienna because every time I was there I didn't have time.
However, others have told me that it is a very good idea to write or FAX the
archive well in advance and to state what you are going to be looking for.
In many cases they will find the documents for you. In other cases they will
only locate which box it is in and they will give you the box to go through
yourself. If you need a specific box you have to tell them at least two
days in advance so that it is there when you arrive.

Ask in advance (well in advance) if you can have a table to work at. Some of
the Vienna archives do not have tables. I suspect the State Archive and War
Archive do.

The same problems that apply in Brno apply in Vienna. There may be someone
who speaks English (NEVER count on that) but they are not there to translate,
only to help you get what you want.

The documents you deal with will be hand written. All of the surnames on
the documents I have seen on LDS films are clearly written and easy to read.
Not so with the additional information that goes with a surname. It is a
good idea to have hand-written examples of key words you are looking for
copied and on hand. You may be able to get those from the Austrian archive
data on films at the LDS.

Study the LDS catalog -- all categories of films that appear under AUSTRIA --
so that you get a very good idea of what is in Vienna. Be aware that things
like passport records and manorial and court records (from noble estates)
will only be for Austria proper, not for Bohemia.

It may be worth the effort to ask if they have copies of any of those records
from old Austrian provinces like Bohemia.

The Archivist in Vienna cannot help you very much if you can't give them the
basic information they need. Like a place and date of birth or a regiment
number when you want military records.

Remember, after 1918 the Austrian archive sent most of its archival material
dated from 1868-1917 to the successor states of the dual monarchy. There are
some things that will still have copies in Vienna -- like records of officers
in the Army, no matter what their nationality. Passport records for
Bohemians will be in the Bohemian archive, not Vienna, unless an individual
was living in Vienna when he made application.

The Austrian archives have a web site in English and German. Search on :
Kriegsarchiv Vienna or Staatsarchiv Vienna
The site has a lot of information about using the archives and referalls to
several professionals who will help you there.

The address of the archive with phone and FAX numbers should be at that site.
In the past I have gotten a much faster response from the war archive when I
FAXed a query. But you have to tell them that you are sending hard copy of
the query with International Payment Coupons enclosed. They have become so
busy recently that they do not respond at all if you don't send payment in
advance. They will send back any unused amount of money in International
Payment Coupons.

There is also an Austrian cultural site on the web: AEIOU
It has links to libraries and other interesting sites in Vienna. I don't
recall if it is in English and German.

Karen

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