University Archive

The Archives hold a rather complete collection of all the documents of importance related to the university’s history, at least from the 18th century onwards.

Out of all these records in a first step the Archives contribute a digitized version of all the documents concerning the thesis and PhD of every single alumnus from 1872. Apart of the thesis itself which was handwritten until around 1900 all the different sorts of documents will be provided such as surveys of the professors, the protocol of the doctoral vivas including the examination performance, the curriculum vitae of the candidate, a duplicate of the certificate of the promotion. – In the end this collection will provide a singular insight into methods, aims and theories of research in all fields of science, humanities and social sciences from 1872 onwards.

Additionally the Archives will make available the catalogue of all students enrolled from 1585 until around 1800 and furthermore the students of medicine until 1863 as serious basis for studies on migration and intellectual influences all across Europe. Many other documents illustrate European-wide networks of research such as the letters of Svante Arrhenius (Nobel Prize organization, chemist), Alexander Rollett (physiologist) and Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall. The edition of the university’s charter and insignias has been finished recently and the digitization of other documents up to the 20th c. is on the way including a collection of early use of photographs in science, humanities and scholarship.

The university archive