The holdings of the Picture Archive

Portrait collection

• Main areas of focus:
  Habsburgica: Porträts von Mitgliedern des Hauses Habsburg, besonders reichhaltig zu Kaiser Franz Joseph und Kaiserin Elisabeth
  Topographic views: the main focus is the area of the Danube Monarchy, with abundant material on Vienna
  
• Special Collections:
  Porträtsammlung von Kaiser Franz I.
  Lavater’s art collection:  : about 22,000 sheets, Helvetica (on Switzerland), art sheets, portraits, pages on physiognomy
  Collection of over 600 portrait miniatures:  of members of the royal family
  Original drafts for the "Kronprinzenwerk"(Crown Prince’s Oevre): Illustrations from the work "Die österreichisch-ungarische Monarchie in Wort und Bild" (The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in Text and Pictures) on art, the economy, and popular culture
  "Huldigungs- (=Glückwunsch-) Adressen an das Herrscherhaus" (Speeches of Homage (Congratulations) to the Ruling House):  predominantly from the period of Emperor Franz Joseph, partly outstanding examples of craftsmanship reflecting historicism and the Jugendstil (style of youth)

Picture Archive

• Main areas of focus:
  Habsburgica: Emperor Franz Joseph, Empress Elisabeth, and other members of the imperial family
  Topographic and architectural photography: main focus is Austria, with abundant and detailed material on Vienna, large collection of picture postcards
   Contemporary history: e.g., the photo archives of "Wiener Kurier" (the newspaper ‘Vienna Courier’) held by the United States Service (USIS) 1946-1955
  Portrait photography: politicians, artists, business people, sportspeople, scientists, people prominent in theatre and film
   Theatre photography: Salzburg Festivals, presentations of Viennese theatres, etc.
  
• Special Collections:
  Martin jun. and Kurt Gerlach: Photography of architecture with emphasis on Austria and particularly Vienna from the period 1920-1970
  Harry Weber: News photography of the period 1950 – 1975 with main focus on Austrian political happenings, such as the state treaty, consequences of the uprising in Hungary; theatre photography, particularly Salzburg Festivals, state opera; photographs of contemporary Jewry in Vienna
  Lucca Chmel: Architectural photography of post-war modern styles to about 1970, e.g., Clemens Holzmeister’s product design, e.g., Thonet
  August Stauda: Architectural photography of the turn of the century, with main focus on Vienna
  Franz Linschinger: News photography, such as the opening up of the border by Hungary in 1989 and portrait photography of Upper Austrian artists
  Kurt Aigner: News photography of Upper Austria from 1954 to about 1987; the collection contains about 20 years of the photographic archives of the newspaper "Oberösterreichischen Nachrichten" (Upper Austrian News)
  Hubert Fiedler: a series of landscapes and utilitarian buildings of the 1990’s and portrait photography
  Christian Wachter: portrait photography of Austrian personalities in culture and society around 1990; documentation
  

Fidei commis Library

The Fidei commis Library – the imperial family library – includes some 116,000 volumes. It includes among other things the books of Empress Ludovica, who was advised on purchases by no less than Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; the books of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico; and those of Crown Prince Rudolf.