Parliamentary Archives of Austria

Overview

The Parlamentsarchiv (Parliamentary Archives of Austria) is the archival institution of the Austrian Parliament, responsible for preserving the official records and historical documents of Austria's legislative bodies. It operates alongside the Parliamentary Library, which was founded in 1869 and is Austria's only library of the federal legislative branch.

Collections and Holdings

The Parliamentary Archives hold records of Austria's national legislative bodies from their historical predecessors through to the present. Among the principal items maintained are stenographic records of the Reichsrat (comprising both the House of Deputies and the House of Lords), records of the Provisional and Constituent National Assemblies, and documents of the National Council (Nationalrat) and Federal Council (Bundesrat) of both the First and Second Republics. The Parliamentary Library, closely associated with the Archives, has grown to more than 400,000 volumes encompassing domestic and foreign parliamentary writings, legal gazettes, collections of regulations, high-court decisions, and scholarly works in law, political science, economics, and European integration. The library also holds approximately 260 current newspapers and specialist periodicals, as well as numerous e-books, e-journals, and databases.

Historical Context

The Parliamentary Library's collection has been reviewed for provenance to identify books that may have been part of assets wrongfully acquired during the period 1933–1945, in cooperation with the National Fund and in line with criteria established by the Provenance Research Commission.

Access

Researchers and visitors are welcome to use the library reading room, where parliamentary documents and open access collections are available. An electronic catalogue is accessible online. The library also provides library cards, free of charge, to those wishing to borrow materials.