Metadata: Old Archive
Collection
- Country:
- Switzerland
- Holding institution (official language):
- Staatsarchiv Appenzell Außerrhoden
- Postal address:
- Schützenstrasse 1a, CH-9100 Herisau
- Phone number:
- +41 71 353 63 50
- Email:
- staatsarchiv@ar.ch
- Reference number:
- Aa.
- Title:
- Old Archive
- Title (official language):
- Altes Archiv
- Creator/accumulator:
- Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden
- Date(s):
- 1315/1904
- Language:
- German
- Extent:
- 68.2 shelf metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The Old Archive holds mainly official documents from the old Swiss Confederation and the Helvetic Republic, which was replaced in 1803 by Napoleon Bonaparte’s Act of Mediation, which established the modern Swiss Confederation.
The collection contains a large number of documents from the period between 1315 and 1904. From a Jewish point of view the sections Aa.18 and Aa.19 are particularly interesting. These sections contain the cantonal correspondence from the 17th and 18th century with various foreign administrative authorities. The majority of these are letters from Habsburg Vorarlberg, but also from Hesse, St. Gallen and Solothurn, which at the beginning of the 18th century was not yet a fully-fledged Swiss canton.
In most cases, the documents in this collection are documents of a legal nature or documents relating to commercial disputes. The collection contains several letters to the Oberamt or the administration office in Bregenz, written between 1775 and 1800. For example, Abraham Levi neglected to come to Trogen in 1775 to appear before the authorities. In 1780 Levi and Weil were in dispute with the Schirmer brothers of Appenzell. In 1793, the Jew Levi of Hohenems had a dispute with a local in Herisau and one year later Abraham and Solomon Levi had to testify in another case. There was also a lively correspondence with Habsburg Feldkirch. Among other things, there are documents concerning the legal dispute between David Levi of Sulz and two inhabitants of Trogen dating from the 1730s. These Vorarlberg Jews were in close contact with the County of Hohenems, which was also in close contact with Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Here too most of the disputes were about legal issues such as, for example, the bankruptcy of Judas Moos in 1795. However, the canton was also in contact with the free imperial city of Frankfurt am Main. Michel Bing of Frankfurt had debts with a Herisau merchant. The cantonal administration was also in contact with the city of Mannheim in the Electoral Palatinate. In 1769/1770, the Herisau merchant Schirmer demanded from the two Mannheim Jews Joseph Marx and Moises Susman to pay outstanding debts. In Solothurn the French legation searched for the Jew Moise Caën in 1725 and in Marbach, canton St. Gallen, Salomon Schmuli was ordered to pay his debts in 1783.
(Aa.18-0182; Aa.18-0189; Aa.18-0193; Aa.18-0206; Aa.18-0212; Aa.18-0213; Aa.18-0318; Aa.18-0319; Aa.18-0369; Aa.18-0370; Aa.18-0371; Aa.18-0372; Aa.18-0406; Aa.18-0469; Aa.18-0531a; Aa.18-0542; Aa.18-0545; Aa.18-0563; Aa.18-0798; Aa.18-0800; Aa.18-0801; Aa.18-0815; Aa.19-150)
- Archival history:
- The Old Archive has been in the State Archive since the foundation of the Archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The State Archive of Appenzell Ausserrhoden holds documents of the cantonal bodies and their legal predecessors and was established in 1811. By agreement, it serves as an archive for inter-cantonal institutions. The State Archive is committed to the preservation of private archival assets and the archival assets of the religious communities under public law. It also ensures the long-term preservation, processing and communication of the archival material.
- Subject terms:
- Financial matters
- Financial matters--Debt
- Legal matters
- Finding aids:
- An online finding aid is available, although the information is often rudimentary.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Hohenems
- Author of the description:
- Severin Holzknecht; Jewish Museum of Hohenems; 2020
