Economic history | Business information
Subject librarian
Highlights
News | Events
No entries available.
Location
UB Wirtschaft - SWA
Peter Merian-Weg 6
4002 Basel
Switzerland
In terms of its economy, Switzerland tells a remarkable success story which could not have been foreseen 150 years ago.
Mario König
Guided tours and training courses on sources available in the Swiss Economic Archives (SWA)
Conctact us for:
- a guided tour of the Swiss Economic Archives
- an introduction to sources in the Swiss Economic Archives on the topic of your research or course
- an introduction to searching archive finding aids.
Course – handling of sources from business archives
In collaboration with the Department of History, this course is offered every other year: Next course: autumn semester 2025.
Consultations
Conctact us to schedule a consultation appointment:
- Searching for sources on economic and business history
- Use of archive finding aid
- Help with search strategies.
General training courses
Economic archives
- Swiss Economic Archives
- arCHeco - Register of economic fonds preserved in archives of Switzerland and Liechtenstein
- Archives of Contemporary History
- Swiss Social Archives
- Archives of rural history
- "Company archives" project of the Historical Association of the Canton of Solothurn
- Centre jurassien d'archives et de recherches économiques
- Glarner Wirtschaftsarchiv
- SBBhistoric
- Historical archive and library of Swiss Post, Telegraphy and Telephony (PTT), Swiss Post and Swisscom
- Swiss Tourism Heritage - Hotelarchiv Schweiz
- Museum BL Textile industry collections
- State archives canton Basel-Landschaft
- State archives canton Basel-Stadt
- ArchivesOnline - Search portal for finding archival material in Switzerland
- Wirtschaftsarchivportal - online directory of business archives in Germany and Austria
- Hagley Museum & Library
- Baker Library, Harvard Business School
- Memobase - audiovisual documents from Switzerland
- European Rural History Film Association - Online Portal
Research
- Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz
- Forscenter - Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences
- SowiDataNet|datorium - research data repository for social sciences and economics
- Infoclio - Swiss portal for the historical sciences
- University of Zurich, Forschungsstelle für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte
- ETH Zürich, History of Technology
- Université de Lausanne, Section d'histoire
- Université de Genève, Département d'Histoire, Économie et Société
- SGWSG Swiss association for economic and social history
- Vintes Verband für Industriekultur und Technikgeschichte Schweiz
- GUG Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte (Business History Society)
- IEHA International Economic History Association / WEHC World Economic History Congress
- EBHA European Business History Association
- BHC The Business History Conference
Countries and international organisations
- opendata.swiss - Swiss Open Government Data
- World Inequality Database
- Amtsdruckschriften Online - Swiss government documents
- HSSO Historical statistics of Switzerland online
- Federal Statistical Office
- swistoval - The Swiss Historical Monetary Value Converter
- Strassendaten - Viastoria (data on ways and streets)
- Bahndaten - Viastoria (data on railways)
- CIA World Factbook
- OECD Länderberichte
- IMF DSBB - Sammlung von Länderstatistiken
- Eurostat
- OECD.Stat
- Swiss National Bank - data portal
- FIND-ER: Library and e-Resources - Europäische Kommission
- EU Publications
- Open Data EU
- US Government Open Data
- FRED Economic Data Federal Reserve of St. Louis
Social history, biographies
Main area
- Economy, economic statistics
- Economic policy
- Country information (in particular Switzerland and its relationship with foreign countries)
- Business information, industry information
- Biography (people with links to the economy: managers, economic politicians)
- Economic history / business history (Switzerland and international), social history
- Swiss history (in particular local history)
- Economic archives
- Business administration see Business and Economics
Literature and source types
- Special focus: document collections on topics, companies/organisations and people
- Lexicons, encyclopaedias, address books, directories and bibliographies
- Monographs and academic journals
- Government documents, legal materials
- Statistical yearbooks, statistics
- Report literature, especially annual reports, country reports
- Commemorative publications on companies and associations, PR material, advertisements
- Business press
- Newspapers and journals by companies, associations and others
- Economic organisations
- Newspaper clippings
- Publications by international organisations
- Reference works, monographs and journals on economic archives
- Archive guides, archive directories
- Within the university’s network: electronic journals and newspapers, online databases, (company profiles, country information, statistics, etc.)
- Archives of companies, economic organisations and social institutions
- Private papers from entrepreneurs, politicians, economists
Time period
- Documentation of current matters
- Historical documentation from around 1850 onwards
- Archival documents from around 1750 onwards; oldest document from 1544; emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries
Regions
- Emphasis on Switzerland: Confederation, cantons, regions, municipalities
- European Union (EU)
- All countries of the world: mainly comprehensive compilations (country reports, statistical yearbooks, etc.), and the countries’ relationships to Switzerland
- Archival documents: all of Switzerland, focus on the Basel region
Languages
- Swiss national languages (territorial principle)
- Publications from the Confederation and from bilingual cantons, mostly in German
- Publications from the EU, in German or English
- Publications from international organisations, usually in English
- Archival documents in German or French