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=Archives of the Canton of Vaud=

The Archives of the Canton of Vaud (French: Archives cantonales vaudoises) is the cantonal archives of the Canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. They are registered as a cultural property of national significance in Switzerland.

Founding of the Archives
The Archives of the Canton of Vaud were created as a result of the independence of the Canton of Vaud on January 24, 1798. This was the year where the last representatives of the Canton of Berne left Vaud, after 262 years of presence in the territory. The archives were the first memory institution of the government of the Canton of Vaud, with others following progressively when it gained sovereignty in 1803. After bringing the archives from Berne back to Lausanne, in the fall of 1798, the new authorities made clear that they not only wanted the archives as a necessary component of the government’s functions, but also to keep all archival records connected to the territory of the Canton of Vaud. The French Revolution resulted in the archives of the Ancien Régime losing their administrative and juridical purpose. The new government was not aware of the historical value of the archives of the former authorities. After the liquidation of feudal properties (houses and goods) in 1804, the archives of the Ancien Régime were deemed “unpurposeful and cumbersome”, and “pure rubbish”. Some of the municipalities of Vaud reclaimed their archives and took good care of them. Others burned them. Before the period of 1798-1803, archivists were concerned with which documents were administratively useful. Keeping records for their historic value was not a concept. Later, the notion emerged that those archival records were legal documents as well as historical sources. Thus, 1798 marked the beginning of a slow process towards recognizing that archival records were historical documents. During the 19th and the 20th century the archives became more and more comprehensive. Archival records which had been disregarded in the previous centuries were re-introduced in the inventories and more value was given to them thanks to the growing importance of historical research.

By decree of December 1837, the Grand Council of Vaud assigned the task of arranging and caring for the archives kept at the Lausanne Cathedral to the archivist of the state chancellery, at the time Pierre Antoine Baron. The function of archivist was thus created. It was conceived as an administrative role, and was also governed by the liberal and democratic spirit of the time. As such, the state archivist authorized requests for scientific research, as well as took into account the goals of the Historical Society of French-speaking Switzerland (Société d'histoire de la Suisse romande).

Beginning in 1896, the archivists of the Canton started to visit municipal and city archives. They often created an inventory of the archival fonds and collections that these archives had. The publication in 2003 of the book Panorama des Archives communales vaudoises 1401-2003, and the creation of the database Inventaire général des archives communales vaudoises avant 1961 , show a unique situation in Switzerland: All the cities and municipalities of the Canton of Vaud have an inventory of their archives, from their origins to 1960.

The texts mention the acquisition of private archives with a formal agreement by the Archives of the Canton of Vaud as early as 1907. It is probable that the first documents of private origin were already collected by Alfred Millioud, archivist at the Archives of the Canton of Vaud between 1895 and 1913. The first traces of the debate on archival principles in Switzerland seem to be found in the archives of the Canton of Vaud. Ernest Grégoire, an archivist-paleographer who studied at the École des Chartes in Paris first advocated the principle of provenance, which was put into effect in the 1858 under mandate of the authorities of Vaud. There were at this time several methods for classifying archives, including classification by subject, known as the principle of pertinence. After many years of hesitation, the Archives of the Canton of Vaud adopted their first general file plan in 1915. This permanently separated the old medieval and Bernese series. It also established the principle of pertinence for the pre-1798 archives, which reflects the inventories of the nineteenth century. This means that the principle of provenance, introduced as an idea in 1858, was rejected in practice in later projects. This occurred under the influence of file plans received by archivists of the Archives of the Canton of Vaud and of other Swiss Archives. Following this, however, sections of the general file plan did incorporate the principle of provenance. The general file plan has been regularly upgraded and has undergone major overhauls between 1996 and 2007. Among the reasons for this were constraints of unifying the terminology, incorporating the principles of level-based description, and the needs of the contextual presentation of the archives. The archives had been housed since 1798 in the belfry of the cathedral of Lausanne, before later being settled in an old furniture depot at the Rue du Maupas in Lausanne. The reading room - which now is the head office of the Lausanne city archives - opened in 1955. Since 1985, the Archives of the Canton of Vaud have been located on the site of the UNIL (University of Lausanne) in the Mouline neighbourhood in Chavannes-près-Renens). They reside in a building specially built for this purpose by the architects Guy and Marc-Henri Collomb (Atelier Cube).4

Since January 1st, 2014, the archives have been under the authority of the state chancellery, with which they have always maintained close relations.5 The archives is also the headquarters of the Vaud Association of Archivists (Association Vaudoise des archivistes), the Society of History and Archeology of the Canton of Vaud (Société vaudoise d'histoire et d'archéologie) and the Genealogy Circle (Cercle vaudois de généalogie).6 The Archives of the Canton of Vaud are listed as Swiss cultural property of national significance.7

List of state archivists in charge
The first state archivist with the title Archiviste cantonal was Pierre-Antoine Baron (1837-1864). His successors were:8 Aymon de Crousaz (1864-1909) ; Alfred Millioud (1909-1913) ; Bernard Cérenville (1914-1915) ; Maxime Reymond (1915-1942)9 ; Louis Junod (1943-1963) ; Olivier Dessemontet (1963-1979)10 ; Jean-Pierre Chapuisat (1979-1995).

The current state archivist is Gilbert Coutaz (since October 1st, 1995)

Missions and activities
According to the state law of June 14th, 2011 (the first ever voted in the Canton of Vaud) the Archives of the Canton of Vaud are:

The central site of the archives of the executive, legislative and judicial authorities of the Canton of Vaud A place of memory A space for reflection and research A structure available for preservation and communication.11 The Archives of the Canton of Vaud were created as administrative and historical archives in 1798. More than two hundred years after this they remain the central repository for the archival records of the Canton of Vaud. In view of the requirements for cultural heritage protection and the new types of sources and information carriers, the archives are expanding their scope to new record creators and new forms of partnership. The principle of original order and respect des fonds dictates that non-textual records such as photographs and audiovisual records are also incorporated in the archival fonds and collections to complete the textual records. Other information carriers and objects may need agreements with other memory institutions, in particular, the archeology and history museum (Musée cantonal d’archéologie et histoire).

The cities and municipalities are responsible for the management and the preservation of their own archives. The Archives of the Canton of Vaud offer advice to cities and municipalities in their archival policies, by publishing a regularly updated management guide.12 The Archives of the Canton of Vaud have the authority to inspect them if necessary. Professional archivists meet in most of the district capitals and in the most important cities and municipalities of the canton. A Vaud Association of Archivists was founded on October 1st 1996.

Archival fonds and collections
The state archives hold 35,489 running metres of material, organized in 3,638 fonds and collections, of which more than 1,200 are private fonds and collections.13 They hold 31,567 individual titles.14 They keep the archives of the various bodies of authority that have been there since the year 1000 AD:

The period of the kings of Burgundy, of the House of Savoy, and of the Diocese of Lausanne (970 - 1536). 15 They also hold the archives of the Bernese government from 1536 to 1798 and the archives of the Canton du Léman during the Helvetic Republic.

Finally, the official archives of the executive, legislative and judiciary bodies of authority since the creation of the Canton de Vaud in 1803.16

The archival fonds and collections of private origin are very diverse: family archives, humanitarian archives, company archives, sports organizations archives, fashion archives, press and media archives.17The Archives of the Canton of Vaud also preserve more than 530 photographic collections with more than a million physical items.18

Research tools

 * Official Web site19
 * DAVEL database20
 * PANORAMA database21
 * The guide of historical sources of the Pays de Vaud during the Bernese government22
 * The Guide of the Archives of the Canton of Vaud, 1990 (2nd edition 1993) - out-of-date for its most parts
 * The consultation guide for the land register and cadastre23
 * Activity reports, since 199624
 * Topical reports, since 199625