The holdings of the Stuttgart City Archive include files, official records, photographs, maps, films, paintings and graphics of official and non-official origin. These documents are made available to historical research and the public. With lectures, conferences, seminars and workshops, the city archive also provides information and inspiration on current topics in history and society.
The city archive blog Archiv0711 (opens in a new tab) offers interesting insights into the work and projects of the city archive. Among other things, it presents current news, the latest publications and interesting (city) stories from the state capital. You can also find the city archive on Instagram (@archiv0711) (opens in a new tab).
News
events
If you would like to be regularly informed about the program of events, you can contact the city archive directly. An overview of current events at the city archive can be found in the calendar of events (opens in a new tab) and the quarterly program.
Online research
Official and non-official archive material (estates) as well as several collections (e.g. documents, maps and plans) can be researched using the online catalog of archive material (opens in a new tab) and ordered online in the reading room.
The library of the City Archive (opens in a new tab) contains literature on Stuttgart's city history, the state history of Baden-Württemberg and archives. As a reference library, it can be used on site in the reading room.
The digital city lexicon (opens in a new tab) provides interesting facts about important events, people and places in Stuttgart's city history as well as their graphic location.
Research in the reading room
Research and direct use on site
The following archive material is not searchable online. Information is available in the reading room.
- Photo collection
- Historical images
- Films
- Posters
- Autographs
Available for immediate use in the reading room:
- Stuttgart newspapers on microfilm
- Family registers from 1558 to 1875
- Newspaper clippings collection
- Index of Stuttgart personalities
- Printed church registers from 1693 to 1848
- Printed Stuttgart address books since 1794. The volumes from 1800 to 1943 are also available online in the Württemberg State Library Stuttgart (opens in a new tab).
Space available
The reading room has a total of 33 reading places. Each workstation is equipped with a power supply for laptops. Lockable individual workstations are available for longer-term research projects.
Technical equipment
The reading room is equipped with reader printers for microfilm and microfiche. These can be used to produce printouts and digital copies. A book scanner can be used for independent scanning of files. A separate USB stick can be used to make digital copies. Free scanning and self-photographing of archive materials is possible in compliance with legal and conservation requirements. Copies and photo prints can be ordered in the reading room.
Civil status records
The Stuttgart City Archive takes over the civil status registers of the Stuttgart registry office and the seventeen registry offices of the suburbs after the expiry of the continuation periods. These are
- 30 years for death registers
- 80 years for marriage/partnership registers
- 110 years for birth registers
Online service
Information from the civil status documents archived in the city archives.
Information on online application
They can be viewed at the Stuttgart City Archive. Some civil status documents can now be researched independently online from your PC. We have summarized all the information about this in a blog post. There you will also find information and links in case you need a register entry that is not yet digitally searchable online or comes from another Stuttgart registry office district.
Trade Register
The municipal archives receive the data of deregistered businesses in the sixth year after deregistration. For technical reasons, the city archive currently only has business deregistrations up to 2014.
For data from 2014 onwards, please contact the Office for Public Order of the state capital Stuttgart. If you would like an excerpt from the trade register index, please fill out the form below and enclose the required attachments. Please note that for data protection reasons, it is not possible to conduct your own search in the Trade Register Index.
Publications
The "Publications of the Archive of the City of Stuttgart" series provides a platform for academic publications on the history of the city of Stuttgart. It now comprises over one hundred volumes on a wide variety of topics relating to Stuttgart's city history. The following volumes were recently published:
- Io Josephine Geib, Tödliche Razzia. Antisemitism, police violence and the shooting of an Auschwitz survivor in Stuttgart in 1946 (Publications of the Archive of the City of Stuttgart, Volume 117), Stuttgart 2024.
ISBN: 978-3-95505-497-7 - Katharina Beiergrößlein and Bettina Kunz, Rechnende Bürgermeister. Geld, Macht und Erinnerung im vormodernen Stuttgart (Publications of the Archive of the City of Stuttgart, Volume 116), Stuttgart 2024.
ISBN 978-3-95505-454-0 - Charlotte Isler, Stuttgart: Flucht und Wiederkehr (Publications of the Archive of the City of Stuttgart, Volume 115), Stuttgart 2023.
ISBN 978-3-95505-413-7 - Dietrich W. Schmidt, Bloch & Guggenheimer. Ein jüdisches Architekturbüro in Stuttgart, (Publications of the Archive of the City of Stuttgart; vol. 114), Stuttgart 2020.
ISBN 978-3-95505-249-2 - Killesberg. Reich garden show - garden monument - memorial site. Edited by Roland Müller (Publications of the Archive of the City of Stuttgart; vol. 113), Stuttgart et al. 2020. ISBN 978-3-95505-185-3
- Die Reise der Frau Lotter nach America in den Jahren 1786 bis 1787. Edited, annotated and with an afterword by Katharina Beiergrößlein and Jürgen Lotterer (Veröffentlichungen des Archivs der Stadt Stuttgart; vol. 112), Stuttgart et al. 2019. ISBN 978-3-95505-132-7
- Anja Waller, Das Jüdische Lehrhaus in Stuttgart 1926-1938. Bildung - Identität - Widerstand (Publications of the Archive of the City of Stuttgart; Volume 111), Stuttgart et al. 2017. ISBN 978-3-95505-006-1
- Gretchen Kahn. Diaries from July 1905 to October 1915, Jewish life in Stuttgart. Transcribed and annotated by Rainer Redies. Translation and explanation of Hebrew text passages and terms was provided by Kay Joe Petzold (Veröffentlichungen des Archivs der Stadt Stuttgart, Sonderband), Stuttgart et al. 2017. ISBN 978-3-95505-005-4
Newer volumes (from volume 100) are only available from booksellers. The commission publisher is verlag regionalkultur Ubstadt-Weiher.
Older volumes (Volumes 1 to 99) and other older publications of the City Archive are no longer available from bookshops. They can only be ordered directly from the Stuttgart City Archive or purchased on site. An overview can be found here:
Archive - very simple
Stuttgart-based illustrator Sarah Chand has translated seven terms from "archive German" into short comics for the Stuttgart City Archive, which explain the terms in a simple and entertaining way so that everyone can understand them - whether they are interested in the city's history or just want to know what happens in archives.
The comics explain the following terms: Archive use, appraisal, cataloging, holdings, repository, finding aids and excavation.
- Archive - very simple - Archive usePDF-File 1,76 MB
- Archive - very simple - RatePDF-File 2,36 MB
- Archive - very simple - DistortionPDF-File 2,73 MB
- Archive - very simple - InventoryPDF-File 3,00 MB
- Archive - very simple - MagazinePDF-File 2,59 MB
- Archive - very simple - Finding aidsPDF-File 3,20 MB
- Archive - very simple - ExcavationPDF-File 2,87 MB
Educational work and guided tours
The Stuttgart City Archive is an extracurricular place of learning and has a diverse mediation and educational program. Interested visitors of all ages are invited to get to know the Stuttgart City Archive on guided tours and to participate in archival education projects. Those who wish to conduct research in the city archive will also gain an exciting insight into the "memory of the city of Stuttgart". All archival education services offered by the Stuttgart City Archives are free of charge.
Contact: Michael Herzog
Suitable group workrooms are available for visits by school classes. Educational programs and sourcebooks and workbooks for school classes include:
You are a teacher and ...
- would like to book one of our fixed programs? For example, our two workshops on propaganda (opens in a new tab) or the history of a stumbling block?
- are you looking to anchor a special topic in the city's history for your seminar course?
- would like to be introduced to literature and archive research with your class and get to know our museum?
- would like to carry out source research with an English or French exchange class?
- want to do an archive rally with your primary school class?
- are interested in our workbooks and source books for the classroom?
- are interested in our training events, some of which we offer in cooperation with other institutions such as the Lernort Geschichte, the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung or the Landesmedienzentrum Baden-Württemberg?
Are you a pupil and ...
- are looking for information for your project exam, your interdisciplinary competency test (FÜK) or the equivalent assessment of student performance (GFS)?
- are looking for a topic from the city's history with which you can take part in a history competition?
- Are you looking for illustrations for a presentation?
Are you a member of an association and ...
- would like to get to know the Stuttgart City Archive and its work as part of a guided tour? On the way through the entire building, visitors learn details about the former history of the building and get to know the different areas of work of a municipal archive. The tour also takes visitors to areas of the city archive that are otherwise not open to the public: In the magazine, the various collections of the house (historical maps and plans, files, paintings) are presented, including selected items from the archive's extensive holdings.
Are you an individual interested in a guided tour and ...
- would like to get to know the Stuttgart City Archive? On the first Wednesday of every month at 5.30 p.m., the City Archive offers a free guided tour for individual visitors, during which the building, its function and the user area are presented and you can also take a look at the stacks.
Legal basis and scale of fees
According to the Archive Regulations and the State Archives Act, records are generally blocked for 30 years after the end of their term and may be subject to further blocking periods, for example for reasons of personal protection. The shortening of blocking periods constitutes an exceptional case which is only possible under certain conditions. It can take up to two weeks to review a reduction in the blocking period. It is therefore advisable to submit an application for (opens in a new tab) a reduction of the retention period in good time. Whether access to the archive material is legally permissible is determined by a written decision. Information on restrictions on use can be found in the brief descriptions of the individual holdings (opens in a new tab). Information on the archive regulations and fee regulations of the city of Stuttgart as well as the state archive law can be found here:
