Police Forces

14-05-2024


2024 marks the 200th anniversary of the Spanish “Policia Nacional”, and 25th years of Europol – #policeforces celebrates the establishment of police forces, which have the duty of enforcing the law on a day-to-day basis. A look at how police forces operate throughout history can tell us a lot of the type of governance, and relationship between governments and citizens, in a determined area. This means, basically, that police forces are like archivists!



The first predecessor of the Spanish “Policia Nacional” developed in 1824, with the creation, under the reign of Ferdinand VII, of the General Police of the Kingdom, by Royal Decree of the 13th January. However, several attemps had taken place in the 18th and early 19th century. For example, in 1813, the court tried to set up a police force, constituted by the informers working for the Supreme Central Board; this report explains why this operation failed.


The official regulation of the Madrid police forces (Reglamento de policía de Madrid) was published on the 20th February 1824, created by the Duchy of Osuna (Ducado de Osuna)


Over the following years, its functions and prerogatives were further defined. This is the document that regulates whether employees in the police branch, before proceeding to the arrest of someone, must inform the relevant Intendancy and judges of the towns.

And this regulates when and how police officers can use short and bladed weapons (even the outlawed ones) in the performance of their duties:


By the mid-19th century, the police force was well established, even if its organisation was modified, and its members were civil servants. This is the retirement file for Police Commissioner Antonio Rodriguez, in 1855:

Meanwhile, the revolutions of 1848 were being kicked-off in Europe, causing periodical strong unrest throughout the 19th century. The police played a fundamental role in the Springtimes of the Peoples, repressing them or carrying them forward, depending on the situation. In these documents from the 25 February 1848 and 22nd March 1848 the police prefecture was giving to revolutionary Constantin Pecqueur, an economist and socialist politician, the role of Commissioner, during the unrest that brought to the collapse of the monarchy in July 1848.



A few decades later, in 1886, one of the most prominent members of the Third International, César De Paepe, was called to present at the prefecture of Saint-Gilles, in Belgium, only a few years before he died of consumption

Interestingly, both the papers of Constantin Pecqueur and those of César De Paepe, together with those of thousands of other European socialist, anarchists, and progressive thinkers of the past two centuries, are now held at the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, one of our content providers, and one of the largest archives of labor and social history in the world.


Connected to the political upheaval of the time, freer satirical newspapers started to circulate. Here is a copy of “La Police illustrée” from March 1883, a satirical and political newspaper from the times held at the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, as part of the papers owned by communard and anarchist Louis Michel.

One last document from the Commune, from the personal collection of novelist Lucien Descaves, held at the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis: a letter from E. Méjeau, probably a police officer in the police department of the Necker department in Paris.


The 20h century was the century that saw some of the most horrible times in human history, but also the conquest of many civil rights, which police forces went from sanctioning to uphold. These documents from 1917 show the extent to which British suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst was surveilled by the police. The first is a report in which a detective informs on the latest moves by her and her comrades; the second is a letter to the National Labour Press informing them that the police has the right to enter the premises and seize all copies of the “Workers' Dreadnought”, Pankhurst’s socialist and internationalist newspaper. You can find the complete reports here


Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Documents regarding Sylvia Pankhurst's surveillance, 1917


Here a few pics from Lithuania in the interwar period: A border policeman Pranas Venckus playing cards with a friend. Laižuva, Mažeikiai district, Lithuania, 1922 (PIC 08_03); a military police academy sergeant in the shooting range (PIC 08_04); a police officer next to two people arrested for alcohol smuggling (PIC 08_05).

Lithuanian Central State Archives, A border policeman Pranas Venckus playing cards with a friend. Laižuva, Mažeikiai district, Lithuania, 1922. P-30547.

PIC 08_04: Lithuanian Central State Archives, A military police academy sergeant in the shooting range. Author I. Girčys. [1918-1940] P-04568

PIC 08_05: Lithuanian Central State Archives, A police officer next to the arested smuggling of alcohol. [1918-1940]. P-12190.

The first traffic police ever was established in London, England, in 1722, in response to an increase in traffic during the 18th century: the mayor appointed three men to stay on the London Bridge and ensure traffic was kept to the left side of the road, to keep a smooth circulation. However, most traffic guards started to be established, first locally and later nationally, around the 1920s, when cars started to become “a thing” on city roads. Here are a few pics from the LIthuanian Central State Archives (Pic 09_01 to Pic 09_3)

Pic 09_01: LIthuanian Central State Archives, A police officer regulating traffic on the crossroad of Donelaitis and Maironis street next to Lithuanian ministry of Finance. Kaunas, Lithuania, 1930s.

Pic 09_02: LIthuanian Central State Archives, A police officer regulating traffic on the crossroad of Donelaitis and Maironis street next to Lithuanian ministry of Finance. Kaunas, Lithuania. [1920-1940]

Pic 09_03: LIthuanian Central State Archives,A police officer regulating traffic next to the Central Committee (CK) building of the Lithuanian Communist Party (LKP) on Gediminas Avenue, Vilnius, Lithuania. 1947-1949.


The Plan of the Police head quarters in Vennera station, showing proposed additional accommodation for the Malta Transport Department. What is interesting about this plan is that it was created in the midst of the siege of Malta, in 1942, during World War II, one of the darkest episodes of the war, with the island being bombed constantly by the Axis in order to starve Malta into submission. Apparently though, life went on for architects and planners even in this dire conditions.

L-Arkivji Nazzjonali ta' Malta, Plan of the Police head quarters in Vennera station, available here



During the 20th century, the Civil War and Franco's regime brought about a major change in police organisation. During the war (1936-1939), both sides retained their police forces.

Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica, Albert-Louis Deschamps, Puerto con personajes (two policesmen at the port of Santander), available here


After World War II, the German police was entirely disbanded and re-established because of its heavy implications with Nazism. In 1951, the Bundesgrenzschutz (from 2005 Bundespolizei) was established, with the more restricted goals of border controls in West Germany. This is a photo from 1951 in the southern city of Karlsruhe, which was turned into a US military based. The original caption reads "A police officer leading away a perpetrator. On the sleeve of the uniform is the bilingual badge "Police-Polizei."

Stadtarkiv Karlsruhe, A police officer leading away a perpetrator. On the sleeve of the uniform is the bilingual badge "Police-Polizei., 1951, available here

And here is the International Police on duty in Freiburg


In 1961, Karlsruhe was shocked by a major car accident involving a patrol car of the American Highway Patrol at the Langensteinbach highway rest area, with two seriously injured. Perhaps just coincidence, but the following year there was an 'Action Against the Accident' event, organised by American soldiers.


Stadtarkiv Karlsruhe, Car accident in 1961, available here

Stadtarkiv Karlsruhe, Action Against the Accident' event, 1962, available here

We remain with post-war American police involvement in Europe with these pics from the Central State Archives of Lithuania:

A police officers on duty next to the Embassy of Soviet Union in New York in 1960 (pic by G. Penikas)

A police officer on duty next to the United Nations headquarters building in New York on the 4th of November, 1962 (pic by G. Penikas)

A police officer maintains order during BATUN (Baltic Appeal to the United Nations) protest aginst the Molotov-Ribentrop pact next to the United Nations headquarters building in New York on the 20th September 1969 (pic by G. Penikas).

Police officers supervise demonstrators of the Lithuanian diaspora in the US, at the protest against Lithuanian sailor‘s Simas Kudirka extradition to Soviet Union (December 1970, pic by G. Penikas). Simas Kudirka’s story became notorious at the time and his deportation back to the Soviet Union brought to the establishment of strict guidelines for refugees from the Soviet Union in the US. Kurdirka was convicted to 10 years of imprisonment but was released from jail after four years and managed to move with his family to the US, only returning to Lithuania after the country’s independence.


In a more democratic world, protesters and police forces often have a love-hate relationship: protests are regulated by the law, both guaranteeing the right to free speech and to dissent, but also tampering protesters in some times controversial actions. Here a few historical documents, from Israeli leftist associations those archives are held at the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis:

A police permit for demonstration in Israel, from 1970, available here

The major Israeli students’ leftist organisation SIAH attacking the police in a pampleth, 1971, available here

A condemnation against the attacks by the police against the Black Panther, from 1972 (always from the Israeli Left Archives), available here

The police interrogates the Romanian Left, available here

The police attacks protesters, available here

The police bows to the requests of Left Wing Israeli and Palestinian Women marching together, available here


Going back to Spain and to democracy, once the Franco regime fell and democracy was restored in the country, the National Police was again reorganized to "defend the constitutional order, protect the free exercise of rights and liberties and guarantee citizen security". Its members also obtained the right to organize themselves into trade unions as of 1984.

Archivo Històrico Nacional, Archivo de Luis Camacho, Sindicato Profesional de Policía. Unión Sindical de Policías, available here


Proof that police forces can party, too! A few pics about police forces at festivals, from the Lithuanian Central State Archives:

A police officer with photographer during the Sea fest next to Danė river. Klaipėda, Lithuania. 1960s. Author A. Karpavičius.


V. Semenikas and V. Cicinas, inspectors of the Vilnius city national auto inspection unit, on Gorki (now Dižioji) Street. Vilnius, Lithuania. The 14th of august, 1973. Author T. Žebraukas.


Inspector, senior police leutenant, A. Bitinas on duty. Ukmergės district, Lithuania. 1986. Author G. Svitojus.

A police officer on duty during international student song festival „Gaudeamus““ in Vingis park. Vilnius, Lithuania. Juneof 1989. Author P. Lileikis.


0/0

Archivo Histórico Nacional de España, Report on the project to create a General Police Force, which was done on the basis of the informants working for the Supreme Central Board, and the reasons for its failure, 1813, avalaible here

Archivo Histórico de la Nobleza, España, Official regulation of the Madrid police forces, 1824, avalaible here

Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Valladolid, España, Regulation about communications between police forces, Intendacy and judges, 1827 avalaible here

Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Valladolid, España, Regulation for police officers about the use of short and bladed weapons (even the outlawed ones) in the performance of their duties, 1826 avalaible here

Archivo Historìco Nacional, España, Retirement file for Police Commissioner Antonio Rodriguez, 1855 avalaible here

Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, The police prefecture gave to revolutionary Constantin Pecqueur the role of Commissioner, 25 february 1848, avalaible here

Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, The police prefecture gave to revolutionary Constantin Pecqueur the role of Commissioner, 22th march 1848, avalaible here

Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, César De Paepe, was called to present at the prefecture of Saint-Gilles, 1866, avalaible here

Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Satirical and political newspaper “La Police illustrée”, march 1883, available here

Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Letter from E. Méjeau, coming from police department of the Necker, Paris, available here

Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Documents regarding Sylvia Pankhurst's surveillance, 1917

Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Documents regarding Sylvia Pankhurst's surveillance, 1917

Lithuanian Central State Archives, A border policeman Pranas Venckus playing cards with a friend. Laižuva, Mažeikiai district, Lithuania, 1922. P-30547.

Lithuanian Central State Archives, A military police academy sergeant in the shooting range. Author I. Girčys. [1918-1940] P-04568

Lithuanian Central State Archives, A police officer next to the arested smuggling of alcohol. [1918-1940]. P-12190.

Lithuanian Central State Archives, A police officer regulating traffic on the crossroad of Donelaitis and Maironis street next to Lithuanian ministry of Finance. Kaunas, Lithuania, 1930s.

Lithuanian Central State Archives, A police officer regulating traffic on the crossroad of Donelaitis and Maironis street next to Lithuanian ministry of Finance. Kaunas, Lithuania, 1920-1940

Lithuanian Central State Archives, A police officer regulating traffic next to the Central Committee (CK) building of the Lithuanian Communist Party (LKP) on Gediminas Avenue, Vilnius, Lithuania. 1947-1949.

L-Arkivji Nazzjonali ta' Malta, Plan of the Police head quarters in Vennera station, available here

.

Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica, Albert-LouisDeschamps, Puerto con personajes (two policesmen at the port of Santander), available here

Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, International Police on duty in Freiburg, 1951, available here


Stadtarkiv Karlsruhe, A police officer leading away a perpetrator. On the sleeve of the uniform is the bilingual badge "Police-Polizei., 1951, available here

Stadtarkiv Karlsruhe, Car accident in 1961, available here

Stadtarkiv Karlsruhe, Action Against the Accident' event,1962, available here

Archivo Històrico Nacional, Archivo de Luis Camacho, Sindicato Profesional de Policía. Unión Sindical de Policías, available here

Research by Anna Batzeli, Darius Bujokas, Santiago Muriel. Text by APE, Santiago Muriel, Federica Tammarazio

Rate this content

Was this content helpful? Let Archives Portal Europe and the archival institution know what you think.

Add feedback

Contact this institution

Feedback is sent directly to the institution holding this material and should preferably be submitted in English or in the language of the institution, if possible. The institution will aim at getting back to you as soon as possible to help you with your request, though you might need to allow between two and four weeks for this depending on the current workload at the institution.

Not all required fields have been filled in.

Full name*

Your full name is required

Email address*

Your email address is required

Your message*

A message is required

More highlights

Archives Portal Europe help guide

Please select amongst the relevant tips we can help with. If you still have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us, and we will be in touch as soon as possible.

Starting your search here will include all content available in Archives Portal Europe. Simply enter your keyword(s) and hit the search button. Wrap fixed expressions in quotation marks, e.g. “French Revolution”. Check the box to “Search each term separately” in case you are looking for documents containing at least one word, but not necessarily all keywords; this will also allow you to search for the same term in multiple languages at the same time (e.g. “French Revolution” “Révolution Française”). You can also use wildcards - find more about Research Tools here. If you would like to use more specific settings, try our Advanced search

The additional advanced search options give you the possibility to focus your search in:

  • archival documents (Search in archives),
  • names of person and organisations that created, worked with and maintained these documents (Search in names),
  • Institutions currently holding the documents (Search in institutions).

When searching with multiple terms at the same time, wrap fixed expressions in quotation marks (e.g. "French Revolution"), or check the box "Search each term separately" in case you are looking for either one term of the other. This will also allow you to search for the same term in multiple languages (e.g. "French Revolution" "Révolution française"). You can also choose one of the suggestions matching your search term once you start typing.

This will only show results that include documents that have been digitised and are available online

Use this option to search only one or more keywords, rather than all of them

Select where your search terms should appear specifically inside the archival description:

  • Title: search terms will appear in the title, or name, of the description
  • Content Summary: search terms will appear in the main description of the document or of the collection
  • Reference code: it is the identifier of the archival material as provided by the institution. Use this option if you know the exact reference code of the material you are looking for

You can filter results by selecting where your search terms appears specifically inside the archival description:

  • The name can be the full name of a person, family or organisation as well as only parts of it, e.g. only the last name.
  • The identifier is used internally by the institution or refers to (inter)national vocabularies such as the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF).
  • The place can be the place of birth (or foundation), the place of death (or closing), the place of work or any other place of importance.
  • The occupation is the profession or job of a person.
  • The mandate is a law, directive or charter that establishes and defines an organisation's powers, functions, responsibilities or sphere of activities.
  • The function is an activity, role, or purpose performed or manifested by a person, family or organisation.

You can filter results by selecting where your search terms appears specifically inside the description of the archive:

  • Name: search term appears in the name of the institution. It can be the full name of an archival institution or only parts of it.
  • Place: search term appears in the address or area of the institution. It can be the city or town, where the archival institution is located or any other place of importance (e.g. previous locations)

  • A finding aid is a structured description of archival materials per collection or fonds, up to item level.
  • A holdings guide is an overview of the collections and fonds of one archival institution.
  • A source guide is a topic-oriented overview of collections and fonds of one or several institutions.
    You can filter by one or more entity types:
  • A person (e.g. John Locke, or Jean Jaques Rousseau);
  • A family (e.g. Bonaparte, or Helgason);
  • A corporate body, i.e. the name of an institution, organisation, or company (e.g. Ministerie van Justitie, or Electro Mecánica Antonio Armentano)

Please note that this filter will only include institutions, for which a type has been provided as part of their descriptions:

  • A business archive holds the records of (often) commercial organisations.
  • A church or religious archive holds the records of church parishes or religious organisations, e.g. birth or death registers.
  • A county or local authority archive holds the records of the county's administrative bodies.
  • A media archive holds audiovisual or sound records, e.g. a film archive or the archive of a broadcasting company.
  • A municipal archive holds the records of a town or city administration.
  • A national archive holds the records of a country's administrative bodies, i.e. from ministries and other public bodies, sometimes also private papers of former ministers, chancellors, or presidents.
  • A private person or family archive holds the records forming the legacy of a prominent person or family.
  • A regional archive holds the records of a region's administrative bodies.
  • A specialised governmental archive holds records of public bodies, often operating on a national level, that are not part of the national archives' holdings.
  • A specialised non-governmental archive or archive of another cultural heritage institution hold collections from various cultural heritage institutions, eg. museum archives, libraries archives, etc
  • A university archive or archive of another research organisation holds the records pertaining to the administration of the according educational or research body.
  • Political parties, popular/labour movements and other non-governmental organisations, associations, agencies and foundations hold the archival collections of these institutions, outside of governmental records and outside of business archives (e.g., NGOs)

Enter a start and/or end date in the format DD-MM-YYYY, i.e. 01-01-1900 for 1 January 1900. This will allow you to focus your search on a specific period of time. You can use the calendar function or type directly in the text field. The checkbox "Exact date search" concentrates the search on one specific date.

Check "View in context" to view the results in the hierarchical structure of archives.

  • Choose "List view" to view the results in a simple list, ordered according to relevance or date
  • Choose "Context view" to view the results in the hierarchical structure of the holding archives.

For more details see Research Tools

Please sign in to save your searches.

A holdings guide is an overview of the collections and fonds of one archival institution.

A finding aid is a structured description of archival materials per collection or fonds up to item level.

You can filter results by selecting one or more countries of interest. You can also combine this filter with other filters. Your filter selection will appear above. Click "Clear filters" to see all results matching your initial search request again.

You can filter results by one or more holding archival institutions. You can also combine this filter with other filters. Your filter selection will appear above. Click "Clear filters" to see all results matching your initial search request again.

You can select to view results from a specific Finding Aid, i.e., a structured description of archival materials per collection or fonds up to item level. You can also combine this filter with other filters. Your filter selection will appear above. Click "Clear filters" to see all results matching your initial search request again.

You can filter by type of descriptive document:

  • "Holdings Guide": an overview of the collections and fonds of one archival institution.
  • "Source guide": a topic-oriented overview of collections and fonds of one or several institutions. a description of the archival collections available. Similar to Holdings guides
  • "Finding aid" provides more detailed descriptions of the archival materials of specific collections or fonds

You can also combine this filter with other filters. Your filter selection will appear above. Click "Clear filters" to see all results matching your initial search request again.

You can filter results by selecting "Fonds description" for a general overview or "Other descriptions" for item level. You can also combine this filter with other filters. Your filter selection will appear above. Click "Clear filters" to see all results matching your initial search request again.

You can filter results by selecting only those containing digital objects, i.e. the link to the digitised version of the archival material you are looking for. You can also combine this filter with other filters. Your filter selection will appear above. Click "Clear filters" to see all results matching your initial search request again.

You can filter results by type of digital object you are interested in:

  • Text: most documental material, such as administrative records, letters, manuscripts etc.
  • Image: includes photographs, posters, maps.
  • Sound: sound recording with no images
  • Video: moving images with or without sound
  • Unspecified: indicates that the holding institution has not specified the type of digital object
  • 3D: 3-d digital objects

You can also combine this filter with other filters. Your filter selection will appear above. Click "Clear filters" to see all results matching your initial search request again.

You can filter results based on the date of creation of the archival material (which may differ from the time period you are interested in - e.g., philosophers from the Enlightenment period reflecting on classic thinkers)

  • Full dates includes normalised date information available for date-based searches. It is recommended to combine this selection with the filters "Start timespan" and "End timespan" for more details.
  • Only descriptive dates provides the date information in human-readable format.
  • No date either includes documents where the creation date is unknown, or where date information is not in a machine-readable format

Please note that not all documents contain a machine-readable date. More information here

You can filter results based on the date of creation of the archival material (which may differ from the time period you are interested in - e.g., philosophers from the Enlightenment period reflecting on classic thinkers). This filter will only include materials with "Full dates", i.e. those that include date information available for date-based searches. You can either search for a specific date of interest or focus step by step on the time span of a century, decade, year or month. When searching for a specific date, enter the date in the format DD-MM-YYYY, i.e. 01/01/1900 for 1 January 1900, via the calendar function or by typing directly in the text field.
This filter concentrates on the earliest dates mentioned in the materials.

You can filter results based on the date of creation of the archival material (which may differ from the time period you are interested in - e.g., philosophers from the Enlightenment period reflecting on classic thinkers). This filter will only include materials with "Full dates", i.e. those that include date information available for date-based searches. You can either search for a specific date of interest or focus step by step on the time span of a century, decade, year or month. When searching for a specific date, enter the date in the format DD-MM-YYYY, i.e. 01/01/1900 for 1 January 1900, via the calendar function or by typing directly in the text field.
This filter concentrates on the latest dates mentioned in the materials.

You can filter results based on the language in which the material is written. Please note that this filter will only include materials where specific language information has been provided by the institution and is therefore in a machine-readable format. You can also combine this filter with other filters. Your selection will then be displayed above the search results (see "Search filters"). Clicking "Clear filters" will remove your selection and you will see all results matching your initial search request again.



You can filter results by selecting one or more topics of interest. Please note that this filter will only include materials where the topic has been assigned and is therefore in a machine-readable format. Read how to assign a topic to documents on the Topics page. You can also combine this filter with other filters. Your selection will then be displayed above the search results (see "Search filters"). Clicking "Clear filters" will remove your selection and you will see all results matching your initial search request again.



You can filter results by selecting where your search terms appears specifically inside the archival description:

  • The name can be the full name of a person, family or organisation as well as only parts of it, e.g. only the last name.
  • The identifier is used internally by the institution or refers to (inter)national vocabularies such as the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF).
  • The place can be the place of birth (or foundation), the place of death (or closing), the place of work or any other place of importance.
  • The occupation is the profession or job of a person
  • The mandate is a law, directive or charter that establishes and defines an organisation's powers, functions, responsibilities or sphere of activities.
  • The function is an activity, role, or purpose performed or manifested by a person, family or organisation

You can also combine this filter with other filters. Your selection will then be displayed above the search results (see "Search filters"). Clicking "Clear filters" will remove your selection and you will see all results matching your initial search request again.

You can filter results by type of entities:

  • Person (e.g., John Locke or Jean Jaques Rousseau)
  • Family (e.g., the family Bonaparte)
  • Corporate body (an institution, organisation, or company, e.g. the "Ministerie van Justitie")
You can also combine this filter with other filters. Your selection will then be displayed above the search results (see "Search filters"). Clicking "Clear filters" will remove your selection and you will see all results matching your initial search request again.

You can filter results based on the language in which the material is written. Please note that this filter will only include materials where specific language information has been provided by the institution and is therefore in a machine-readable format. You can also combine this filter with other filters. Your selection will then be displayed above the search results (see "Search filters"). Clicking "Clear filters" will remove your selection and you will see all results matching your initial search request again.

You can filter results based on the type of holding institution. Please note that this filter will only include institutions, for which a type has been provided as part of their descriptions.

  • A business archive holds the records of (often) commercial organisations.
  • A church or religious archive holds the records of church parishes or religious organisations, e.g. birth or death registers.
  • A county or local authority archive holds the records of the county's administrative bodies.
  • A media archive holds audiovisual or sound records, e.g. a film archive or the archive of a broadcasting company.
  • A municipal archive holds the records of a town or city administration.
  • A national archive holds the records of a country's administrative bodies, i.e. from ministries and other public bodies, sometimes also private papers of former ministers, chancellors, or presidents.
  • A private person or family archive holds the records forming the legacy of a prominent person or family.
  • A regional archive holds the records of a region's administrative bodies.
  • A specialised governmental archive holds records of public bodies, often operating on a national level, that are not part of the national archives' holdings.
  • A specialised non-governmental archive or archive of another cultural heritage institution hold collections from various cultural heritage institutions, eg. museum archives, libraries archives, etc
  • A university archive or archive of another research organisation holds the records pertaining to the administration of the according educational or research body.
  • Political parties, popular/labour movements and other non-governmental organisations, associations, agencies and foundations hold the archival collections of these institutions, outside of governmental records and outside of business archives (e.g., NGOs)

Write your message in your own language and use this drop-down menu to have your message translated into English or in the language of the institution for a swifter response. By checking this box and selecting a language you will send your original message along with the translated version

What kind of suggestion would you like to make?

  • Assign to topic: assign this record to one of our Topics. Topics are created following the Unesco Thesaurus
  • Suggest translation: If you have translated this archival description or the documents themselves, please send it to us as a .doc or .pdf file
  • Connect to another resource: If this object relates to another resource in Archives Portal Europe, or anywhere else on the web (e.g., an article on Wikipedia), you can suggest it to be linked to this resource
  • Other: If you have any other relevant material, such as a transcription of the document, please upload it and let us know here

This is a test area to fill out all the copyright details for Attribution Creative Commons Licence

This object is not or no longer protected by copyright and has been labelled with the Public Domain Mark. It can be used by anyone without any restrictions.

This object is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication. All possible existing rights in the content are waived, and the object can be used by anyone without any restrictions.

This object is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons - Attribution (BY) licence. You can copy, redistribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the licensed object, even commercially, as long as you attribute the rights holder as described in the licence.

This is a test area to fill out all the copyright details for Attribution Creative Commons Share Alike Licence

This is a test area to fill out all the copyright details for NoDerivs

This is a test area to fill out all the copyright details for NonCommercial

This object is in the public domain, but has been digitised as the outcome of a public-private partnership, where the terms of the contractual agreement limit commercial use for a certain period of time. You can copy, redistribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the object for non-commercial use only.

This object has been identified as an Orphan Work in the country of first publication and in line with the requirements of the national law implementing Directive 2012/28/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on certain permitted uses of orphan works.

You are free to use this object in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. Please note that you are responsible for your own use, including the need to obtain other permissions e.g. with regard to publicity, privacy or moral rights.

This object is in the public domain, but is subject to known legal restrictions other than copyright which prevent its free re-use. Please contact the providing institution for more information.

This object is currently in copyright. Please contact the providing institution for more information and in order to acquire additional permissions for re-use.

The copyright status of this object has not been evaluated yet. Please contact the providing institution for more information.

You are free to use this object in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. Please note that you are responsible for your own use, including the need to obtain other permissions e.g. with regard to publicity, privacy, or moral rights.

This object is currently in copyright and the rights holder(s) have allowed re-use for educational purposes only. You are free to use this object in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. Please note that you are responsible for your own use, including the need to obtain other permissions e.g. with regard to publicity, privacy or moral rights.

Please contact the providing institution for more information and in order to acquire additional permissions for any other uses.

This object is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons - Attribution, ShareAlike (BY-SA) licence. You can copy, redistribute, remix, tweak and build upon the licensed object, even for commercial purposes, as long as you attribute the rights holder as described in the licence, and you license your adaptations of the object under the same terms.

This object is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons - Attribution, ShareAlike (BY-SA) licence. You can copy, redistribute, remix, tweak and build upon the licensed object, even for commercial purposes, as long as you attribute the rights holder as described in the licence, and you license your adaptations of the object under the same terms.

This object is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons - Attribution, No Derivates (BY-ND) licence. You can copy and redistribute the object, even commercially, as long as no alteration is made to the object and you attribute the rights holder as described in the licence.

If you remix, transform or build upon the object, you may not distribute the modified material.

This object is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons - Attribution, Non-Commercial (BY-NC) licence. You can copy, redistribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the licensed object for non-commercial use only and as long as you attribute the rights holder as described in the licence.

This object is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons - Attribution, Non-Commercial, ShareAlike (BY-NC-SA) licence. You can copy, redistribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the licensed object for non-commercial use only, as long as you attribute the rights holder as described in the licence, and as long as you license your adaptations of the object under the same terms.

This object is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons - Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivates (BY-NC-ND) licence. You can copy and redistribute the object for non-commercial use only, as long as no alteration is made to the object and as long as you attribute the rights holder as described in the licence.

If you remix, transform or build upon the object, you may not distribute the modified material.

This object is in the public domain, but has been digitised as the outcome of a public-private partnership, where the terms of the contractual agreement limit commercial use for a certain period of time. You can copy, redistribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the object for non-commercial use only.

This object has been identified as an Orphan Work in the country of first publication and in line with the requirements of the national law implementing Directive 2012/28/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on certain permitted uses of orphan works.

You are free to use this object in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. Please note that you are responsible for your own use, including the need to obtain other permissions e.g. with regard to publicity, privacy or moral rights.

This object is in the public domain, but is subject to known legal restrictions other than copyright which prevent its free re-use. Please contact the providing institution for more information.

This object is currently in copyright. Please contact the providing institution for more information and in order to acquire additional permissions for re-use.

The copyright status of this object has not been evaluated yet. Please contact the providing institution for more information.

You are free to use this object in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. Please note that you are responsible for your own use, including the need to obtain other permissions e.g. with regard to publicity, privacy, or moral rights.

This object is currently in copyright and the rights holder(s) have allowed re-use for educational purposes only. You are free to use this object in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. Please note that you are responsible for your own use, including the need to obtain other permissions e.g. with regard to publicity, privacy or moral rights.

Please contact the providing institution for more information and in order to acquire additional permissions for any other uses.

Make a suggestion Make a suggestion