Foreign provenances from the old archive

Holdings history/provenance reconstruction

In this group, the town of Wasserburg’s former collecting activities on its own history become apparent, which is now continued in the "Private archives/Collection holdings" (cf. Bestand VI Sammlungen).

The collections, which were incorporated into the town’s old archive, are partly closely related to the archives in the historiography, chronicles, family history, antiquities hit list.

The challenge with this holding is that it was stored in the town’s old archive mixed with municipal documents. Since evidence for the acquisition or information regarding the original transfer of these foreign, non-municipal provenances to the town is generally not available, provenance contexts had to be inferred directly from the document (e.g. from sender-recipient relationships) – a task that has not been completed yet.

Most of the acquisitions probably date from the 19th/20th century, these include purchases by the historical society or private contributions to the town, which are also unmistakably transparent in some cases. Likewise, the non-official archivists (Joseph Frankenberger, Joseph Heiserer, Kaspar Brunhuber, Christoph Schnepf, Josef Kirmayer, Willi Ernst and Dr. Martin Geiger) can be assumed or proved to be collectors. A private transfer was last assigned to the town’s old archive in 1976 (the pharmacist Anton Palmano’s estate, StadtA WS, I3-287).

Content

A large part of the files and documents collection comes from guilds (e.g. milliners StadtA WS, I3-56), which, in contrast to the municipal document on supervision of the guilds, grew out of their self-governance and were acquired after 1913 by the Historisches Verein Wasserburg (Wasserburg Historical Society). A collection of documents, including for example pontifical briefs (StadtA WS, I3-384), originates from private collections such as that of Mayor Christoph Schnepf from the 19th century. A detailed file from Wasserburg’s rent office about the secularisation of Attel monastery and a testimony about requisitions of French soldiers in Wasserburg in the year 1800 are probably of state origin. A file with reports from the regional court and treasury controller also originates from the state financial administration.

Various documents come from the property of private families, the most extensive of which being the Gerbl family’s collection (including StadtA WS, I3-268).

The travel and coat of arms books from the Wiemayr and Surauer families (StadtA WS, I3-9, I3-10 and I3-12) are to be mentioned as particularly beautiful and important sources for heraldry.

Time periods

The oldest archival documents of private origin date back to around 1430 (private letters written by the Fröschl merchants, StadtA WS, I3-5). Approximately 80% of the collection dates from the early modern period. In contrast to the official archive records of the Old Archives (which generally cover the period up to around 1808), these collections extend well into the 19th century, with a few items also extending into the first half of the 20th century.

>> This collection is part of the collection "Holding I. Old archive’s “Kommunalarchiv” and “Stiftungsarchiv” (archives of the council or magistrate administration with church and foundation administration 14th-19th century)" of the Stadtarchiv Wasserburg am Inn (Wasserburg am Inn Municipal Archive).