ETH Zurich University Archives ETH Library

Overview

The ETH Zurich University Archives are responsible for the acquisition, preservation, and mediation of documents belonging to ETH Zurich (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, founded in 1855) and the ETH Board. Formally established in 1999 under the Swiss Federal Act on Archiving (BGA) of 1998, the Archives form part of the ETH Library and serve as a central resource for research on Swiss academic, technical, and scientific history at national and international levels.

History and Founding

Although ETH Zurich was founded in 1855 as the Federal Polytechnic School, formal archival activities at the institution predated the official establishment of the University Archives in 1999. Historical documents and personal papers had been donated to the ETH Library over preceding decades. The Federal Act on Archiving provided the legal and organizational framework to integrate these materials into a systematically managed University Archives. The institutional holdings trace back to the founding era, including, for example, the Historical School Board Archive (1854–1992).

Collections and Holdings

The Archives hold a rich mix of institutional records and private papers. Institutional holdings include administrative documents from ETH Zurich's departments, institutes, and chairs, spanning minutes of meetings, research project records, and congress reports. The private archives encompass personal papers of prominent scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and other scholars with ties to ETH Zurich, including documentation related to Albert Einstein assembled by Carl Seelig, papers of mathematicians Paul Bernays and Hermann Weyl, and the C.G. Jung Papers Collection. The Archives also hold subject-based collections such as the Archives of the History of Nuclear Energy in Switzerland and records of the Gotthard Railway. Digital records, including historical websites in ETH Zurich's Webarchive, are also archived.

Access and Usage

The reading room is open Monday through Friday, 10:00 to 17:00, with advance booking required via the Virtual Reading Room platform. Researchers can search processed archival materials through ETH Library's swisscovery portal. The Archives pursue an active digitization strategy, making selected personal papers and manuscripts available on the e-manuscripta platform under open data licensing where legally permissible.