Literature Archive Salzburg (LAS)

University of Salzburg

Salzburg | Website

Short Description

The Literature Archive Salzburg is a research center of the University, Province and City of Salzburg. Its main responsibility is to collect the literary estates and premature legacies of authors with Salzburg reference in order to make them accessible to scientific research.

The collection includes, among other things, complete and partial estates, individual manuscripts, typescripts, letters, libraries, photographs, sound and image carriers, as well as other objects from the possession of authors. A substantial part of the collection was provided by the cooperation partner Adolf Haslinger Literature Foundation. In addition, the literary archive collects testimonies of literary life in the city of Salzburg and offers a library with specialist literature on the collection kept in the archive.
The archive holds collections from the end of the 19th century to the present day. These include an extensive partial estate of Stefan Zweig, the most important collection of his literary notebooks, as well as all the author’s journals and important pieces of correspondence. Among the surviving Zweig manuscripts are unpublished works and fragments, including two novels. A further focal point are collections from the second half of the 20th century, including the legacy of Karl-Markus Gauss, among numerous manuscripts by Peter Handke and the archives of the Residenz Verlag, a publishing company long established in Salzburg and of particular importance for Austrian literature after 1945.

In addition to its core tasks, the Literature Archive also performs its function as a literary agent through exhibitions, scientific conferences, workshops and other events. A particularly close collaboration exists with the “Rauriser Literaturtage” (a literary festival in the Province of Salzburg).

Basically, the Literature Archive Salzburg is an institution of literary research, dealing with historical and contemporary aspects of literary events in Salzburg. It is therefore also a scientific adviser for local literary archives or literary memorials.

The Literature Archive Salzburg is closely linked to the Department of German Studies at the University of Salzburg, the University Library and the Stefan Zweig Centre, and is internationally networked within the scope of Koop-Litera (competence network for literary estates).

Contact Person

Dr. Manfred Mittermayer

Research Services

The Literature Archive preserves and describes the estates and premature legacies of literary writers (with Salzburg reference): manuscripts, typescripts, letters, libraries, pictures, photographs, sound and image media, personal possessions of authors, and secondary literature to Salzburg authors. The archive as an institution of literary research deals with historical as well as contemporary aspects of literary events in Salzburg. In addition, the Literature Archive is devoted to the study of literary science and the realization of editions.

Methods & Expertise for Research Infrastructure

The Literature Archive Salzburg is a research center of the University, Province and City of Salzburg. It collects and reveals the pre-eminence of authors with Salzburg reference and makes them accessible to scientific research. In addition to the literary estates, the Literature Archive collects individual manuscripts, typescripts, letters, libraries, pictures and photos, etc. and thus documents literary life in Salzburg.