International Archives Week Challenge ELECTRICITY 2023 International Archives Week Challenge 2023 ELECTRICITY Archives energy For the fourth year in a row, at the initiative of the the archive service is centered around June 9 every Historical Archives of Celje (Slovenia) and the Town year, which all archives have been celebrating as Archives of Ieper (Belgium), archives from different the founding day of the mentioned international countries of the European Union are joining forces organization since 2008, and the International within the framework of the International Archives Archives Week has been celebrated for the past Week Challenge project. With a simple but effective five years. We hope that this special brochure will project, one archive from each country of the further strengthen international cooperation between European Union responds to the invitation within a archives, and as a result draw attention to the vital very short time frame, presenting the story around the and invaluable role that archives play in society. document it keeps. Every year we choose a different Many thanks to all participants for a very efficient theme. However, we always want the topic to be cooperation! The energy we create through very challenging, actual and attractive. In the light cooperation is a reflection of great solidarity, but of the current situation, when the problem of energy above all friendship and alliance within our archival supply often comes to the fore today, we distinguished profession. ourselves this time by choosing electricity as the topic. Each of the archives decided what to present. The selected and presented pieces of archive material represent an extraordinary wealth and diversity, but also the relatedness and uniqueness of the material. The admirable documents, both in terms of appearance and content, reveal mainly topics related to the supply and use of electricity, they highlight local peculiarities and global similarities, they also introduce us to some personalities and the importance that electricity had in the process of civilizational changes for man and society. The reason for the cooperation to issue a special electronic and printed publication is the celebration Abbreviations of the International Archives Week, which is promoted A/ ARCHIVE by the International Council of Archives as the central R/ REFERENCE organization that connects archives all over the world. T/ TITLE The marking and highlighting of the importance of D/ DESCRIPTON International Archives Week Challenge 2023 01 AUSTRIA 02 BELGIUM 03 BULGARIA 04 CROATIA 05 CZECH REPUBLIC 06 DENMARK 07 ESTONIA 08 FRANCE 09 GREECE 10 HUNGARY 11 ITALY 12 LATVIA 13 MALTA 14 THE NETHERLANDS 15 POLAND 16 SLOVENIA 17 SWEDEN A/ Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv / end of the 19th century, heavy-current Styrian Provincial Archives, Graz electrical engineering underwent www.landesarchiv.steiermark.at enormous development, particularly R/ AT-StLA-AKS-Weiz-Verschiedenes-151-02 more powerful plants and transmission T/ „ELIN – Aktiengesellschaft für technologies. During this process, elektrische Industrie“, interior view these electrical companies acted as of assembly hall II in Weiz, 1928. not only manufacturers and builders D/ People with pioneering spirit and of power plants, but simultaneously 01 entrepreneurial vision who set out as financiers and entrepreneurs. This to build power plants, transmission usually involved large financial burdens networks and also production facilities for said companies. From 1909 to 1911, for electrical machines marked the Franz Pichler built a hydroelectric power early days of electrification in Styria. plant on the Raab. This plant primarily One such early pioneer in Styria was supplied the factory in Weiz, achieving engineer and inventor Franz Pichler an output of 1 MW. The supply of a (1866–1919). Pichler studied at the regional high voltage grid was thus Technical University of Graz and started secured inside the initial development TRIA a company in Weiz, which later became phase, whose further development part of „ELIN – Aktiengesellschaft in northeast Styria may be similarly für elektrische Industrie“. Towards the linked to this energetic individual. USA 02 BELGIUM A/ Stadsarchief Ieper / Town Archives of Ypres www.archief.ieper.be R/ SAI, C10_1547 T/ Anonymous poem written down on stationery of electrician Emile Heekhout, approx. 1925-1930. D/ Anonymous spicy poem in French with a few words in the West Flemish dialect. The poem was written down on writing paper belonging to the Brussels electrician Henri Emile Heekhout (1878-1961) who settled on the Meenseweg in Ypres around 1905. Heekhout used Philips original letterhead (model 86 F) on which his own details were subsequently printed. The type of lamp shown came on the market around 1925. A/ Цeнтралeн държавeн архив / Central State Archives, of a concession for the supply of the Bulgarian Sofia capital with electric current and the construction www.archives.government.bg of an electric tram, which in 1898 was taken over R/ CSA, fonds 1393K, inventory list 1, unit 723, sheet 1 by “Electric Trams in Sofia – a Belgian Anonymous T/ The engine room of the steam power plant at the Company” and the “Great Marseille Enterprises” “Maria Luisa” tram depot in Sofia, 1912. Company – for the electric lighting of Sofia. In D/ On July 1, 1879, on the occasion of the ascension 1900, the first tram depot “Maria Luisa” was of Knyaz Alexander I to the Bulgarian throne, built, also serving as a workshop for the repair 03 the first light bulb was lit in Sofia in the Princely and maintenance of trams. In 1902, the Belgian Palace, with the help of an electrical installation concessionaire responsible for the trams built delivered from Vienna. In the period 1890 – 1896, a steam power plant at the tram depot, where studies were carried out for the construction of the first steam turbine in Bulgaria was put into electric lighting and an electric tram in Sofia. In operation in 1912. The Maria Luisa Steam Power 1897, a tender was announced for the granting Plant existed until 1928. GARIA BUL 04 CROATIA A/ Državni arhiv u Rijeci / State Archives in Rijeka https://www.riarhiv.hr/ R/ HR-DARI-57, Technical offices of the city of Rijeka, box n. 121, item n. 124/6/1884. T/ Plan of the engine room building in the port of Rijeka, where the first electric power plant in Rijeka was located, 1884 D/ Electricity was first mentioned in Rijeka in 1838 when, for the needs of the City hospital of St. Spirit, was acquired an electric machine (macchina elettrica) for the purpose of medical treatment. In 1881, the first experiments with electricity began in the port of Rijeka. Engineer Károly Zipernowsky from the Ganz factory in Budapest, the inventor of the transformer, illuminated Zichy pier (today De Franceschi pier) and warehouses with four lamps. The following year, the Whitehead torpedo factory also received electric lighting. In 1883, the Maritime administration acquired a locomotive with an electric generator. It was placed on one wagon and could be moved along the railway tracks. In the same year, the Patriot casino (today Radio Rijeka) was illuminated. The new Municipal theatre, built in 1885, also got electric lighting. Due to the expansion of the port of Rijeka, the construction of new warehouses and other port facilities, cargo cranes and for various activities in the port, there was a need to build the first electric power station in Rijeka. The Maritime administration accepted the offer of the International electric association from Vienna for the construction of the power station. It was installed in the engine room building in the port of Rijeka, on Rudolph pier (today Orlando pier) and started operating in 1890. It had a 22 KW generator and a 40 horsepower steam engine. 05 A/ Státní oblastní archiv v Plzni, Státní okresní a set of photographic glass plates that document archiv Cheb / State Regional Archive in Plzeň, the spa treatment in Františkovy Lázně around State District Archive in Cheb 1910. The spa Františkovy Lázně was founded www.soaplzen.cz/soka-ch in 1793, thanks to a doctor from Cheb Bernhard R/ Archive fund Sturm Heribert, Dr. (EL NAD 5), Adler and with the support of the emperor Francis negative photo sign. 82/4, fsd 880. II., in a locality about 6 kilometres from Cheb T/ A man with a head cooling device undergoing rich on mineral springs and peat deposits. The CZECH REPUBLIC electrotherapy in the spa Františkovy Lázně. Sturmś negatives document the spa procedures Around 1910. from a period of rapid technical and economical D/ The negatives collection of Heribert Sturm, the development of the local spa industry at the director of the Cheb archive in 1934–1946, contains beginning of the 20th century. 06 DENMARK A/ Københavns Stadsarkiv / Copenhagen City Archives www.kbharkiv.dk R/ VI S 1895 /3 T/ Elektrisk station. Kandelaber på Kongens Nytorv. 1895 D/ In May 1892 on occasion of the golden wedding anniversary of King Christian IX and Queen Louise Copenhagen’s first electric streetlamp was lit on the central square of Kongens Nytorv. The city’s first electric station was placed in the street of Gothersgade near Kongens Nytorv and provided electricity for the neighborhood around Kongens Nytorv. The architectural drawing from the city’s chief architect’s office depicts the design of the streetlamps on Kongens Nytorv. Notice the scale ratio between the gentleman looking up and the light bulb. A common conception among Copenhageners was initially that the light was so bright that it frightened people. A Danish engineering newspaper wrote the day after the first lights were lit in 1892: “For many pedestrians, the experience was such a complete shock that it made them cry.” Electric streetlighting was a new experience, challenging the nerves and senses of people. ESTONIA 07 A/ Tallinna Linnaarhiiv / Tallinn City Archives www.tallinn.ee/et/arhiivindus R/ TLA. 116.1.176; TLA.1565.1.279 T/ AEG or “Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft” moves to the house in Tallinn in which Thomas Seebeck, the discoverer of thermoelectricity, was born, 1926 D/ On March 1, 1921, the Estonian department of AEG started operating in Estonia. Since 1926, AEG Estonia’s office and electrical goods shop were located in Tallinn at the address Raekoja plats 4 / Dunkri 2 (Town hall place 4 - entry through Dunkerstreet 2). The Estonian department of AEG operated in the country until the resettlement of the Baltic Germans in Estonia to Germany at the end of 1939. In this house the Baltic German physicist Thomas Johann Seebeck (1770-1831) was born on March 29, 1770. He owned the house from 1819 to 1827. Seebeck has gone down in history of science primarily as the discoverer of the most primary thermoelectric phenomena, the so called Seebeck effect. 08 FRANCE A/ Archives de la Communauté d’agglomération du rue Carnot in 1905. It’s this last address you can Pays de Saint-Omer / Archives of the Saint-Omer see on the photograph, where he not only sales agglomeration electricity supplies, but also articles of armoury and www.bibliotheque-agglo-stomer.fr photography. In the display window you can see a R/ Fonds Picquet, 42Fi 361. set of lights among other things. On the window T/ Albert Picquet (1873-1948) is electrical of the front door, one can see an advertisement manufacturer around 1898-1899, owner of an for Mazda, a French company of lighting systems. electrical factory in Lumbres, a city on the banks of After Picquet’s death in 1948, the store is handled the Aa river, and of an electrical shop in Saint-by his wife until her death in 1953. Omer, 29 Victor-Hugo place, which moved 15 GREECE 09 A/ Γενικά Αρχεία του Κράτους / General State D/ The photograph portrays a detailed plan (in scale 1:5) of Archives of Greece. Central Service, Athens a lighting unit with a bracket of galvanized type A1, which www.gak.gr intended to be applied in the town of Elefsina. The plan R/ Archive of Athens’ public notary George accompanies the contract between the Athens-Piraeus Dimitrios Theodoropoulos, no. of contract Electric Company S.A. and vicinity of Elefsina, drawn up 6.912/1938 by Athens’ public notary George Dimitrios Theodoropoulos T/ Detailed plan of lighting unit with bracket, (no. of contract 6.912/1938) and kept in the Central 16 June 1937 Service of the General State Archives of Greece. 10 HUNGARY A/ Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Bács-Kiskun Vármegyei Levéltára / The Hungarian National Archives Bács-Kiskun County Archives, Kecskemét www.mnl.gov.hu/bkml R/ HU-MNL-BKML-XV.15.a. 556.3. T/ Plan of the power plant, Kecskemét, 1893 D/ In Kecskemét, in December 1892 the board of directors of the József Steam Mill initiated the lightning of the city’s streets and public places, which had been lit by kerosene lamps thus far, with electricity. The city management quickly accepted the idea of using this new source of energy: under the direction of the chief urban engineer it assessed the experiences of cities which had already used electricity and it contacted the electric companies in Budapest and Vienna for the installation of a new power plant. Finally, the company named “Ganz és társa Rt.”, that made the most favourable bid for the construction and was one of the largest mechanical and electrical enterprises of the era, built the power plant in the southern part of the city by February 1897. Since March 1897 the power plant had been constantly providing evening electricity for the local population and enterprises. Due to increasing energy demands, the city expanded and modernized the power plant several times and from 1911 installed daytime electricity too. A/ Archivio di Stato di Gorizia / State Archive of greatly increased and the distribution systems are Gorizia not able to support the loads. It is necessary to www.archiviodistatogorizia.cultura.gov.it disconnect the network of some roads to lighten R/ Prefettura di Gorizia – Archivio di Gabinetto (1945-the power supply system. “It is known that this 1986), box 118, file 275 (year 1947) measure is extremely serious for the users who are T/ Letter sent by the President of the Municipal affected by it, but in the current conditions it is not Companies to the President of the Gorizia Area possible to renounce it”. However, the President (Allied Military Government 1945-1947) about of the Municipal Companies of Gorizia reassures: 11 “limitations on electricity supply”, 1947 “the companies have studied and begun a project D/ The population, at that time deprived of gas due for the arrangement and reinforcement of the to the postwar restrictions, uses electric burners distribution network”, building new transformer Y and therefore the consumption of electricity, stations to strengthen the plants and the electricity especially in the hours from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., has power grid. ALIT 12 LATVIA A/ Latvijas Nacionālais arhīvs – Latvijas Valsts first hydroelectric power plant built on Latvia’s Kinofotofonodokumentu arhīvs / The National largest river Daugava. Construction of the plant Archives of Latvia – Latvian State Archive of was initiated in 1936 in an attempt to create a Audiovisual Documents, Riga fundament to a unified national electrical power www.redzidzirdilatviju.lv system, two years after veteran politician Kārlis R/ LNA_KFFDA_F1_11_161_A114 Ulmanis took the power in a largely peaceful T/ Foundation stone laying ceremony of Ķegums coup d’état. Ķegums Power Plant was switched Hydroelectric Power Plant, 22 May 1937 on and integrated in the electrical grid on 15 D/ Photographers trying to catch an image of the October 1939 and remained the last grand authoritarian leader of Latvia Kārlis Ulmanis undertaking of Ulmanis’ regime. The plant was and members of his government inspecting almost fully destroyed in WW2 but later restored the building site of Ķegums Power Plant after and expanded during the Soviet occupation. the grand foundation stone laying ceremony Ķegums Power Plant remains a vital part of the on 22 May 1937. Ķegums Power Plant was the electrical power system of Latvia to this day. 13TA MAL A/ L-Arkivji Nazzjonali ta’ Malta / National Archives of Malta, Rabat www.nationalarchives.gov.mt R/ Prime Minister’s Collection (Photos) T/ Inauguration of new power station. 5 December 1953 D/ Maltese Prime Minister Giorgo Borg Olivier inaugurating the new power station at Marsa that replaced the one at Lascaris Wharf on 5 December 1953. This power station, wholly underground, was built with assistance from the Marshall Aid Scheme for the recovery of war-torn Europe. The installed capacity was 15 MW. A/ Regionaal Historisch Centrum Eindhoven / The expansion brought about structural changes. Regional Historic Center Eindhoven The small workshop was no longer sufficient www.rhc-eindhoven.nl/ and grew into a factory complex with the iconic 14 R/ Collectie bouwvergunningen Eindhoven, seven-sided white tower, known as “De Lichttoren” 1896-1935, nummer archiefinventaris (The Light Tower). The towering factory with 10090, inventarisnummer 5222 its enormous window surface was a remarkable T/ Fabriekscomplex de Lichttoren anno 1920 / Factory addition to Eindhoven, giving the city a more de Lichttoren anno 1920. urban appearance. The complex symbolizes D/ In 1892, Philips & Co. founded the first electric light the development of the large-scale industrial bulb factory in Eindhoven. Soon, it became one landscape of Eindhoven. From a cultural-historical of the largest and most important manufacturers perspective, the complex represents the expression of light bulbs. Thanks to its high-quality technical of Philips’ economic development and the product and efficient commercial organization, development that the city has undergone. Philips conquered markets all over the world. THE NETHERLANDS 15 POLAND A/ Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych / The Central advertising materials of the Viennese branch of Archives of Historical Records, Warsaw the AEG-Union Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (UEG) www.agad.gov.pl company. UEG was a German subsidiary of the R/ Cartographic collection 456-45 / Zbiór. American Thomson-Houston Electric Company Kartograficzny 456-45 (founded 1882). On February 27, 1904 it was T/ 1905, Oprawy oświetleniowe / Beleuchtungskörper absorbed by the AEG, German producer of / Lighting fixtures electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the D/ Here are examples of electric lamps for interior Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte lighting. In this folder of Cartographic collection Elektricität in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. The new there are only a few technical drawings of company name in the caption indicates that electric motors and DC generators from the this material was created after that date. years 1902 - 1905, presumably from some A/ Zgodovinski arhiv Celje / Historical Archives Celje www.zac.si R/ SI_ZAC/0024/002/008/00043 Mestna občina Celje / Municipality of Celje 16 T/ Calendar for public lighting in Celje, 1925. D/ The municipal power plant of Celje, which was responsible for the distribution of electricity in Celje, sent a letter to the Celje magistrate, announcing that it had checked the correct data for sunrise and sunset in Celje with the Vienna observatory. On March 17, 1925, the city power plant sent a corrected calendar for public displacement to the city magistrate and corrected the previous version. The “Lighting Plan for Streets and Squares” from 1924 followed the sun path in Graz. The specific time of adjusting the switching on and off of the lighting was changed every 10 days, thus adapting to the season. The file was closed by the City Magistrate and signed by Mayor Juro Hrašovec on 21 July 1925. VENIAOSL 17 SWEDEN A/ Riksarkivet i Uppsala, Uppsala / The National Archives in Uppsala https://riksarkivet.se/uppsala R/ Wallox-Säby säteris arkiv, series F 14, volume 1. T/ 29th September 1883: Letter from August Lenhardtson to Lars Gustaf von Paykull. D/ In 1883, electric experiments were carried out at Älvkarleby by the mighty Dalälven river. By using the water wheel of a sawmill, electricity was produced and conveyed to the cities of Uppsala and Gävle by the telegraph wires. In this letter the engineer August Lenhardtson describes how the experiments on the preceding night were very successful and then outlines the plan for the night to come, when the wires between Älvkarleby, Uppsala, and Gävle will be used. He worries that the light bulbs — the small circles on the sketch — might just become red-hot, but we know from the newspapers that they in fact shone brightly and produced cheers and applause. Appropriately, one of Sweden’s first big hydroelectric plants was built where the sawmill once stood three decades later. Design: MAcomp d.o.o. Cover: Tomaž Milač, no title, 2022 (acrylic on canvas) Impressum: URL: ELECTRICITY https://zac.si/2023/06/05/electricity/ International Archives Week Challenge 2023 Edited by: Kataložni zapis o publikaciji (CIP) Borut Batagelj / Zgodovinski arhiv Celje / Slovenia pripravili v Narodni in univerzitetni Rik Opsommer / Stadsarchief Ieper / Belgium knjižnici v Ljubljani COBISS.SI-ID 153218563 Contributors: ISBN 978-961-6448-59-8 (PDF, Zgodovinski arhiv) o Franz Mittermüller / Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv / Austria o Rik Opsommer / Stadsarchief Ieper / Belgium Celje / Ieper o Milena Milcheva / Цeнтралeн държавeн архив / Bulgaria June, 2023 o Sandro Poropat / Državni arhiv u Rijeci / Croatia International Archives Week 2023 o Karel Halla / Státní oblastní archiv v Plzni, Státní okresní archiv Cheb / 5-9 June 2023 Czech Republic o Ida Nørskov Nielsen / Københavns Stadsarkiv / Denmark Athens o Kalmer Mäeorg / Tallinna Linnaarhiiv / Estonia Celje o Matthieu Becuwe / Archives de la Communauté d’agglomération du Pays de Cheb Saint-Omer / France Eindhoven Gorizia o Yannis Glavinas/ Γενικά Αρχεία του Κράτους / Greece Graz o Hlbocsányi Norbert / Kecskemét / Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Bács-Kiskun Ieper Vármegyei Levéltára / Hungary Kecskemét o Marco Plesnicar / Archivio di Stato di Gorizia / Italy København o Anita Čerpinska / Latvijas Nacionālais arhīvs / Latvia Rabat Riga o Leonard Callus / L-Arkivji Nazzjonali ta’ Malta / Malta Rijeka o Manon van der Linden - Kitslaar / Regionaal Historisch Centrum Eindhoven / Saint-Omer The Netherlands Sofia o Hubert Wajs / Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych / Poland Tallinn Uppsala o Borut Batagelj / Zgodovinski arhiv Celje / Slovenia Warszawa o Anders Nordebring / Riksarkivet i Uppsala / Sweden International Archives Week 2023 5-9 June 2023 Athens Celje Cheb Eindhoven Gorizia Graz Ieper Kecskemét København Rabat Riga Rijeka Saint-Omer Sofia Tallinn Uppsala Warszawa