Working in the archive is akin to detective work, a childhood dream of mine. It's about researching, preserving, discovering – and in the process, constantly marveling and learning.
The archive of the Jewish Museum of the City of Vienna is something truly special, indeed, I would even call it a treasure trove. What would we know about the silver holdings of Jewish ritual objects without the archival materials that document their often dramatic history?
Furthermore, the Jewish Museum Vienna is the successor institution to the First Jewish Museum in the world, which was founded in 1893 as a private association. The inventory book of this First Jewish Museum never ceases to delight me with its detailed entries on objects, their descriptions – and their donors. For instance, up to inventory numbers 49 and 50, there are no ritual objects at all, but rather books, coins – and the copper engravings that I, as an art historian, personally cherish so much. There is still much to discover there, to analyze the symbolism and meanings behind this intention of a first Jewish museum.
© JWM
© JWM
We also have the privilege of looking after individual family estates, and the conversations and countless correspondences we are allowed to have daily in the archive are invaluable. Moving, intimate, very personal stories and fates that people share with us. Wherever possible, we try to help. We also continue to learn from our visitors and users; some of them know far more than I do about individual holdings, photos, documents, etc.
© David Peters
Jewish club life also plays an important role, as do correspondences, display panels, beautiful paper cuttings, and Jewish marriage contracts, for example, from Italy. These and much more are there for us to discover and research. It requires patience, sensitivity, and curiosity – but it always pays off!
We strive to document sensitively and also make holdings accessible online. Thus, scanning has become an important part of our work, including our collaboration on the joint project Sammlung Online: Jüdisches Museum Wien Sammlung.
Our archive is diverse; there is something for everyone to discover. Sometimes it's like a scavenger hunt. It's also wonderful when we can collaborate with our colleagues in the house, who possess numerous areas of expertise among them. This allows important projects to emerge; like cobwebs, a research question can develop into an internal Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art).
© JWM
The detective work never ends – and that is important and delights us every day here!
