the world of private banking

40
THE WORLD OF PRIVAtE BANKING
those retained by the Nazi-appointed administrator, has been described in the final
report of the Austrian Historical Commission.
The Archive’s website has enabled the work that was described earlier in this
paper as ‘in progress’ to be disseminated to the widest possible range of users. The
impact on the project to transcribe and translate the Judendeutsch letters has been
the most profound, allowing the publication of the documents as digitized images,
German transcripts and English translations and, perhaps more importantly,
permitting interaction with users so that the most comprehensive analysis of each
letter might be achieved. The Archive’s focus has always been on the content of
the letters, rather than the style in which they are written, but recently the archivists
have begun to explore possible research opportunities in partnership with academic
institutions that will focus on the linguistic importance of the collection.
There is already a model for a partnership of this kind: Jewish Community and
Social Development in Europe 1800–1940: the case of the Rothschilds was initiated
in 2004 with a generous research award, and has since developed with the assistance
of two further grants so that the project, hosted at the Archive and overseen by an
Academic Advisory Committee, consists of a director, a project co-ordinator and a
team of researchers working in archives across Europe and in Israel. 10
The Rothschild Research Forum, 11 a password-protected area within the
Archive’s website, is the result of another partnership, this time with curatorial
colleagues from Waddesdon Manor, a former Rothschild home now owned by the
National Trust. The aim of the Forum, launched in 2003, is to promote the existence
of Rothschild collections and sources, and to enable remote users to gain access
to the collections in advance, or instead, of a personal visit. In 2005 the archivists
published on the site a guide to sources relating to the history of the Credit Anstalt,
material for which there has always been a great demand from researchers, the
first of the finding aids that have been prepared for material beyond the Archive’s
original closure date of 1918.
News of the Forum appeared in The Rothschild Archive’s Review of the Year
2002–2003, another manifestation of the Trust’s commitment to promoting the
collections to the widest possible audience. The Review, published annually
since 2000, contains a report of the Archive’s activities and major acquisitions
as well as featuring articles by researchers based on their use of the Archive’s
resources. Copies are placed prominently in the public spaces of the business,
which continues to house the Archive, providing a welcome link with the creators
of the archives of the future.
the Records of de Rothschild Frères’, in The Rothschild Archive’s Review of the Year 2004–
2005 (2005).
http://www historikerkommission.gv.at/
10
http://www rothschildarchive.org/ib/?doc=/ib/articles/project1. Hanadiv, the Fritz-
Thyssen-Stiftung (Cologne) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council have supported
the project at various stages.
11
http://www.rothschildarchive.org/ta/