the world of private banking
the world of private banking
the world of private banking
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THE ROtHScHILD ARcHIVE 39<br />
The Rothschild Archive at <strong>the</strong> beginning <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 21st century<br />
Melanie Aspey<br />
The fact that <strong>the</strong>re are two names associated with this article now that it appears in<br />
print is perhaps an early indication that changes have taken place at The Rothschild<br />
Archive since this paper was delivered in 1998, changes which, it must be said,<br />
we could not have envisaged at <strong>the</strong> time, not <strong>the</strong> least <strong>of</strong> which is <strong>the</strong> impact <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> Internet.<br />
The Rothschild Archive: a Guide to <strong>the</strong> Collection finally appeared in 2000,<br />
its route to press impeded slightly by increased demands placed on <strong>the</strong> archivists:<br />
from <strong>the</strong> business, in support <strong>of</strong> current projects, including <strong>the</strong> transformation<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Museum <strong>of</strong> London exhibition into a travelling display; and from <strong>the</strong><br />
academic community, in pursuit <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sources highlighted in Niall Ferguson’s<br />
commissioned history, which he acknowledged to be ‘something <strong>of</strong> a research<br />
agenda’. The guide was distributed to archives and libraries, users and donors to<br />
promote <strong>the</strong> collection and to suggest <strong>the</strong> myriad subjects that might be fruitfully<br />
pursued in <strong>the</strong> Archive’s London reading room. Accompanying <strong>the</strong> guide was a<br />
card, asking recipients to register for printed updates that would be produced as<br />
new material became available ei<strong>the</strong>r through deposit or as <strong>the</strong> closure period was<br />
relaxed. While more material has become available, not a single printed update<br />
has been produced, for <strong>the</strong> simple reason that <strong>the</strong> guide appeared in <strong>the</strong> same<br />
year as <strong>the</strong> Archive’s website was launched, and it is through this medium that<br />
information about <strong>the</strong> collection has been disseminated.<br />
In 1999 N.M. Rothschild & Sons transferred <strong>the</strong> Archive’s collections to The<br />
Rothschild Archive Trust, an educational charity whose board consists <strong>of</strong> members<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Rothschild family and outside advisers. The founding chairman <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> board<br />
was Emma Rothschild, daughter <strong>of</strong> Victor, third Lord Rothschild, who first opened<br />
up <strong>the</strong> collection to <strong>the</strong> research community in 1978. As an independent body,<br />
<strong>the</strong> Trust is well placed to attract deposits <strong>of</strong> records from every branch <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
Rothschild family, and has been successful in this part <strong>of</strong> its mission. The records<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Viennese house were finally retrieved from <strong>the</strong> Moscow archives in 2001,<br />
and in 2004 ownership <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> records <strong>of</strong> de Rothschild Frères, on deposit with <strong>the</strong><br />
French Archives nationales since <strong>the</strong> 1970s, was handed to <strong>the</strong> Trust, thus uniting<br />
in a legal if not a physical sense all known surviving records <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Rothschild<br />
businesses. The fate <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> business records <strong>of</strong> S.M. von Rothschild <strong>of</strong> Vienna,<br />
<br />
N. Ferguson, The World’s Banker: <strong>the</strong> History <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> House <strong>of</strong> Rothschild (London,<br />
1998).<br />
<br />
For an account <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> records transferred from Moscow, see V. Gray, ‘The return <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> Austrian Rothschild archive’, in The Rothschild Archive’s Review <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Year 2001–2000<br />
(2002). For a description <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> archives in <strong>the</strong> Archives nationales’ Centre des archives du<br />
monde du travail, see A. Sablon du Corail, J. Comble and M. Aspey, ‘Rothschild Reunited: