Fonds AubertArchives privées, Lausanne

Fondation privée / depuis 1974

Four point two
kilometres of paper
somebody kept.

Business ledgers, family correspondence, a photographer’s negatives, and the minutes of a cooperative that argued for seventy years.

Long rows of grey archive boxes on steel shelving receding into the distance
Repository 2, aisle 14. 16 °C, 45 % RH, no daylight.
4.2 km
Linear extent
47
Fonds held
1861
Earliest record
8
Reading places

Selected fonds

Six of forty-seven. The full finding aid is in the reading room and, for anything catalogued, online as a plain list.

  1. FA 001Aubert et Fils, négoce1861 to 1974312 mCatalogued
  2. FA 014Papeteries de la Broye1903 to 1991486 mCatalogued
  3. FA 022Fonds Marthe Vionnet1919 to 198846 mCatalogued
  4. FA 031Chemins de fer du Jorat1889 to 1963204 mIn progress
  5. FA 040Coopérative du Léman1932 to 2004618 mIn progress
  6. FA 047Atelier Perrin, photographie1948 to 199791 mUncatalogued

What the foundation does

  1. A

    Deposit

    We accept records of lasting value from businesses, associations and families in the canton. Appraisal is free and honest: most of what people offer us should be recycled, and we say so.

  2. B

    Conservation

    Rehousing, surface cleaning, paper repair and a bindery for anything a reader would otherwise tear. Nothing is treated that does not need it.

  3. C

    Cataloguing

    To ISAD(G), at fonds, series and file level. Item level only where a researcher has already asked twice.

  4. D

    Access

    A reading room of eight places, four days a week. Anything catalogued can be ordered the same morning.

A paper conservation bench with tools and a sheet under repair
Conservation. Two days a week, one pair of hands.
A heavy steel strongroom door standing ajar in a plain corridor
Repository 1. Closed at 16.00, checked twice.

Reading room

Eight places, Tuesday to Friday, 09.00 to 17.00. Pencils are provided because pens are not permitted, and we would rather give you one than have the conversation.

  • Order by 11.00 for the same afternoon
  • Five boxes on the desk at a time
  • Photography without flash, for private study
  • Foam supports and weights on every desk
  • No appointment needed for catalogued material
An empty reading room desk with a single open document, foam supports and weights
Desk 3. North light, which is the only kind we trust.

Depositing records

Foundation
Chemin des Croix-Rouges 14
1007 Lausanne
Appraisal
Free, on site, usually within a month of asking
Terms
Deposit or gift. Closure periods up to fifty years, agreed in writing.

Three enemies of paper

What the repository is actually built to keep out. None of them is dramatic and all of them are slow.

01

Water

Not floods. Humidity above sixty per cent, held for a season, which is enough for mould to start and impossible to reverse afterwards.

02

Light

Cumulative and irreversible. There is no daylight anywhere in the repository and the reading room lamps are metered.

03

Ourselves

Handling causes more damage than any environmental factor. Foam, weights, pencils, and a limit of five boxes on a desk.

Reading room equipment

On every desk, provided, because asking people to bring their own guarantees they will not.

  1. Foam supports2Adjustable wedgeFor bound volumes
  2. Snake weights4Cotton coveredNever on ink
  3. PencilsSuppliedHB, unsharpened tipsPens are not permitted
  4. Book cushion1BeanbagOn request
  5. Copy standSharedOverhead, no flashFor private study
  6. GlovesOn requestNitrileFor photographs only

Depositing and access

What will you not accept?
Anything already in a public archive, anything with no connection to the canton, and most of what people bring us, which we say kindly and in person.
Can I close my records for a period?
Yes, up to fifty years, agreed in writing at deposit. We have never broken a closure and would not be able to explain ourselves if we did.
How long until my deposit is usable?
Catalogued in eighteen months to four years depending on extent. Uncatalogued material is accessible in principle and unfindable in practice.
Do you digitise on request?
Up to two hundred images a year, free, for research. Beyond that we quote, and we would rather you came and sat at a desk.