City Archive

If you would like to be informed regularly about the event program, you can contact the  City Archive directly. An overview of current events of the City Archive can be found in the  calendar of events of the City of Stuttgart (search term: City Archive). A selection of events of the City Archive can be found below under "Current Events".

With the  online catalog of archive material (opens in a new tab), official and non-official archive material (estates) as well as several collection holdings (for example, documents, maps and plans) can be researched and ordered online in the reading room.

The  library of the City Archives (opens in a new tab) contains literature on Stuttgart's city history, the history of the state of Baden-Württemberg and archives. As a reference library, it allows on-site use in the reading room.

The  commemorative calendar (opens in a new tab)lists important anniversaries in Stuttgart's city history.

The  digital city encyclopedia (opens in a new tab) provides interesting facts about significant events, people and places in Stuttgart's city history as well as their graphical location.

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 are

• Stuttgart newspapers on microfilm
• Family registers from 1558 to 1875
• Newspaper clipping collection
• Index of Stuttgart personalities
• Printed church registers from the years 1693 to 1848
• Printed Stuttgart address books since 1794. The volumes 1800 to 1943 are also available online at the  Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart (opens in a new tab).

Space available

The reading room has a total of 33 reading places. Each workstation is equipped with 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. Printouts as well as digital copies can be made on these printers. A book scanner can be used for independent scanning of files. A separate USB stick can be used for making digital copies. Free scanning and self-photography of archival records is possible, subject to legal and conservation requirements. Copies and photographic prints can be ordered in the reading room.

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 continuation periods have expired. These are

• 30 years for death registers
• 80 years for marriage/partnership registers
• 110 years for birth registers

They can be viewed at the Stuttgart City Archive. Some civil status records can now be searched online from your PC. We have summarized all the information about this in a  blog post (opens in a new tab). 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.

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.

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:

• 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 (Veröffentlichungen des Archivs der Stadt Stuttgart; Band 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 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:

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.

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  Stolperstein (opens in a new tab)?
• are 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 building?
• would like to conduct source research with an English or French exchange class?
• would like to do an archive rally with your primary school class?
• are interested in our workbooks and sourcebooks for the classroom?
• are interested in our continuing education events, some of which we offer in cooperation with other institutions such as Lernort Geschichte, the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung or the Landesmedienzentrum Baden-Württemberg?

You are a student and ...

• are looking for information for your project exam, your interdisciplinary competence exam (FÜK) or the equivalent assessment of student performance (GFS)?
• are looking for a topic from the city's history with which you can participate in a history competition?
• are looking for illustrations for a presentation?

you are a member of an association and ...

• would like to get to know the Stuttgart City Archive and its work on 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 working areas of a municipal archive. In addition, the tour also leads into areas of the city archive that are otherwise not open to the public: The various collections of the house (historical maps and plans, files, paintings) are presented in the stacks, including selected items from the archive's extensive holdings.

As an individual, you are interested in a guided tour and ...

• would like to get to know the Stuttgart City Archive? On the first Wednesday of each 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 a look into the stacks can be taken.

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: