Abbey Archive

"“The monks’ work in the monasteries led to the development of business operations which gave financial autonomy and thus independence towards the will of influential benefactors. It also frees us from sanctimonious efforts which lack a realistic down-to-earth approach.” Abbot em. Dr. Burkhard Ellegast OSB

The old organization of Melk abbey’s archive was established by Philibert Hueber (… 1725) who set up an archive in Melk and in Vienna respectively. This double system was necessary, because abbots at that time frequented both residences equally and had to be able to make decisions based on all relevant records. Thus the division was caused by the administration and was certainly an advantage at the time, but it prevented an organic growth of the archive because related documents could often not be stored together due to the lack of space. The results were extensive finding aids which registered all items, but which were themselves so confusing, that the research work was already concentrated on the finding aid itself. When the monastery had to take over the archives of its manors as of 1848 after the agrarian reforms, it was accomplished by establishing a third archive which got the misleading name of economic archive. In 1935 the Viennese archive was transferred to Melk. So one had to consult three archives in one place for nearly every subject. The current reorganization structures the archive according to administrative provenance, with a new comprehensible and reasonable sequence: the administration of the abbey at the top, then all the departments, to which parishes, manors and other entities are attached in alphabetical order. A new plan collection was established because of format reasons.
With the exception of deeds and a few special items, Melk abbey archive was brought to the diocesan archive of St. Pölten between 1978 and 1980, where the reorganization took place. The inventories consist of 939 archival books (60 running meters), 1728 standard file boxes, 203 large-size file boxes and 544 numbered plans in 8 portfolios.
In 1999 the reorganized archive was newly arranged in modern archive rooms under the direction of archivist Prior Pater Mag. Wilfried Kowarik OSB who managed the abbey archive until 20^th January 2018. (obituary written by the library team)
Since June 2018 Pater Ludwig Wenzl has managed Melk abbey archive.