History of the ICHS : The archives of the ICHS

In the wake of the publication of the English translation of Karl Dietrich Erdmann’s book and on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the ICHS, the publication in the Bulletin of the archival guide for the two main repositories of ICHS archives seemed a good idea. The Archives nationales de France in Paris hold the bulk of the Secretary General’s archives, since 1950 principally. The whole collection is accessible without restrictions as of January 1, 2006. Researchers should also look into the Fonds of the Comité français des sciences historiques (70 AJ) for other documents.

The Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire de Lausanne, presently housed at the Université de Lausanne, hold the collection of papers of the Treasurers and other documents. Unfortunately the inventory is not available, but the classification guide provides an overview of its contents.

ICSH archives were used extensively by the late Professor K. D. Erdmann and his research assistant, Ms Agnes Blänsdorf when preparing the original 1987 edition. Ms Blänsdorf has also produced an updated bibliography of sources in the current English edition of the volume.

Finally, as a reminder, note that the Secretariat of ICHS has no archives but the current documents of ICHS.

Jean-Claude Robert