The Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU), located in Florence (Italy), is the official archives for the historical documents of the Institutions of the European Union. It is also a research centre dedicated to the archival preservation and study of European integration and is part of the European University Institute (EUI).
Legal Basis and History
The Historical Archives of the European Union was established in 1983 following the regulation by the Council of the European Communities and the decision by the Commission of the European Communities to open their historical archives to the public. A subsequent agreement in 1984 between the Commission of the European Communities and the EUI laid the groundwork for establishing the Archives in Florence, and the HAEU opened its doors to researchers and the public in 1986. In 2011 a Framework Partnership Agreement between the EUI and the European Commission reinforced the Historical Archives’ role in preserving and providing access to the archival holdings of the European Union's institutions and regulated the acquisition and treatment of private archives. In March 2015 the Council of the European Union amended the decisions of 1983 with the Council Regulation (EU) 2015/496.
Mission
The HAEU preserves and makes accessible the archival holdings of EU Institutions and Agencies according to the 30-year rule governing access to archives of the European Union. It also collects and preserves private papers of individuals, movements and international organizations involved in the European integration process. It facilitates research on the history of the European Union and its predecessor institutions, promotes public interest in European integration and enhances transparency in the functioning of European Union Institutions.
Holdings
The holdings are composed of funds coming from the European Institutions, their predecessor institutions and European Union Agencies.
Among its holdings are the archives of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC), the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), the Common Assembly of the ECSC, the European Parliamentary Assembly, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Economic and Social Committee, the Court of Auditors, and the European Investment Bank.
It also holds private deposits and collections from individuals, organisations and associations that advocated, supported and implemented the Post-World War II European conciliation and integration process. These holdings include the archival papers of the European Space Agency (ESA), the Assembly of Western European Union (WEU), the European Council for Municipalities and Regions (CCRN), the European League for Economic Cooperation (LECE) and a unique collection of federalist archives, for example the European Movement (ME), the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and the 'Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE)'.
In the framework of the activities of the ‘EU Inter-institutional Web Preservation Working Group’ and in collaboration with the Internet Memory Foundation the HAEU launched in 2013 an archiving pilot project on EU institutions’ websites. These websites are captured quarterly since the end of 2013 and made available on the HAEU's home page.
Premises
Since 2012, the HAEU has his seat at the historic 'Villa Salviati' in Florence.
'Villa Salviati' is located on the Florentine hills along Via Bolognese and was named after one of its illustrious owners, Jacopo Salviati, who took possession of the estate in 1445. The Salviati family were wealthy wool merchants and bankers and during the 15th century closely connected to the Medici family.
A fortified house was present at the site since the 12th century, but the Salviati family elegantly decorated the villa and its gardens of 14 acres. The asymmetric facades show additions over the centuries but retain some of the crenellated castle look that is typical for a palace outside the city walls. With the passing of the Salviati family, the estate changed hands many times in the last two hundred years and was owned by the Borghese princes, the English Vansittart, the tenor Mario Da Candia, and Gustavo Hagermann in the 19th century.I dintorni di Firenze: nuova guida -illustrazione storico-artistic; Tipografia galletti e Cocci, 1881, page 101.
It is said that in this palace, Veronica Cybo, the wife of Duke Salviati, consumed with jealousy, stabbed to death the Duke's mistress, a Caterina Canacci. Veronica arranged to lure the woman to the palace with the help of Bartolommeo, Caterina's stepson. She then proceeded to decapitate the unfortunate woman and then presented the head to her husband the Duke as a New Year's gift. For the crime, Veronica was exiled from Florence, and Bartolommeo was beheaded.Saunterings in Florence: a new artistic and practical hand-book; by Elvira Grifi; R. Bemporad & Figlio, Florence; 1899; page 454. Among the many allusions to the story, is a novel by Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi.
Since 2000 Villa Salviati has been the property of the Italian State and after the extensive restructuration it has been destined to host the HAEU with 11,000 linear metres of shelving created in a subterraneous deposit.
On 17 December 2009, the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano has inaugurated the opening of the Historical Archives of the European Union at 'Villa Salviati' and in 2012 the Archives were operative.
Consultation Services and Research Assistance
The HAEU has been present on the World Wide Web since 1995 and has developed an electronic online database since 1991. All inventories of fonds, collections and oral history programmes held by the HAEU are published and searchable on its website. The HAEU also publishes the information and the classification schemes of the institutional holdings on the 'Archives Portal EUROPE' and it is linked to the social media Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.
The digitisation programme of archival units and photographs of various fonds and deposits launched in 2006 led to some 12.000 digitalized archival units being directly consultable on the website in pdf format. Likewise, the 600 transcriptions of the European Oral History Program and many audio registrations can be accessed on the site.
The reading room at 'Villa Salviati' is open to the public for consultation of its holdings. The facilities include a specialized reference library composed of 20.000 publications, printed documentation, grey literature and electronic publications.
Access to all archival documents, collections and interviews preserved at the HAEU and available online or in the reading room is free of charge.
The HAEU hosts and organises in close cooperation with the EUI History Department and with external partners research seminars, workshops and conferences. It proposes to be a meeting place between actors and researchers in European Integration matters. To this end, the HAEU co-directs with the EUI History Department the Alcide De Gasperi Research Centre for the History of European Integration, which was inaugurated on 6 May 2015 in the presence of Alcide De Gasperi’s daughter Maria Romana De Gasperi. The Alcide De Gasperi Research Centre aims to promote innovative research projects and facilitates the use of primary sources. It also coordinates networks of scholars and promotes publications on the history of European integration.
Deposits - European Union institutions
The European Parliament AC - Assemblée commune de la CECA ACP - Organes parlementaires pour la coopération au développement AH - Assemblée ad hoc AO - Actes officiels CPPE - Coupures de presse du Parlement européen PE0 - Assemblée parlementaire européenne et Parlement européen avant l'élection directe PE1 - Parlement européen - Première législature PE2 - Parlement européen - Deuxième législature PE3 - Parlement européen – Troisième législature PE4 - Parlement européen – Quatrième législature PE5 - Parlement européen – Cinquième législature SG - Cabinets des secrétaires généraux
The Council of Ministers CM1 - Special Council of Ministers of the ECSC CM2 - Council of Ministers of the EEC and EURATOM CM3 - Intergovernmental Treaty Negotiations CM5 - Accessions to the European Communities and to the European Union CM6 - Negotiations in the framework of the Yaoundé Convention, the Lomé Convention and the Cotonou Agreement
The European Commission CECA Haute Autorité de la Communauté européenne du charbon et de l’acier (1952–1967) CEEA Commission Euratom (1958–1967) CCEE Commission de la Communauté Economique Européenne (1958–1967) CEUE Commission européenne (1967-) BAC - CEE/CEEA Commissions - Fonds BAC
The Court of Auditors CCE - Cour des comptes européenne CCE/DOC - Documentation annexée au fonds DOC/CCE CCO - Commission de contrôle
The Economic and Social Committee CES - Comité économique et social
The Court of Justice CJUE - Cour de justice de l'Union européenne
The European Investment Bank BEI - Banque européenne d'investissement
The Agencies of the European Union AEE - European Environment Agency CEDEFOP - Centre européen pour le développement de la formation professionnelle EF - European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Condition
Deposits - Individuals
A ACA - Antonio Cassese AD - André Darteil ADG - Alcide De Gasperi ALC - Albert Léon Coppé AM - Alexandre Marc AMG - Albert-Marie Gordiani AMG/DOC - Documentation annexée au fonds AMG AS - Altiero Spinelli AV - Angel Viñas AV/DOC - Documentation Annexed to Angel Viñas fonds
B BO - Bino Olivi BR - Bocklet Report
C CA - Christopher Audland CS - Claus Schöndube CSM - Carlo Scarascia Mugnozza
D DH - Danuta Hübner DW - David White Papers
E EBC - Enrique Barón Crespo EC - Emilio Colombo EEA - Enzo Enriques Agnoletti EEA/DOC - Documentation annexée au fonds EEA EG - Emanuele Gazzo EGI - Enrico Gibellieri EGI/DOC - Documentation annexée au fonds EGI EH - Etienne Hirsch EM - Edoardo Martino EM/DOC - Documentation annexée au fonds EM EN - Emile Noël ER - Ernesto Rossi ER/ACS - Ernesto Rossi/Archivio Centrale dello Stato ER/DOC - Documentation annexée au fonds ER
F FB - François Guillaume Bondy FBG - Fabrizia Baduel Glorioso FBG/DOC - Documentation annexée au fonds FBG FD - Fernand Dehousse FD/DOC - Documentation annexée au fonds FD FDLV - Fausta Deshormes La Valle FF - Franz Froschmaier FL - François Lamoureux FMM - Franco Maria Malfatti FXO - François-Xavier Ortoli
G GA - Gordon Adam GB - Günter Burghardt GF - Giulio Fossi GJLA - Graham J. L. Avery GJLA/DOC - Documentation annexed to fonds GJLA GP - Georg Pröpstl GR - Georges Rencki GW - Graham Watson GZ - Giancarlo Zoli
H HALK - Sammlung 'Robert Schuman' von Hans August Lücker HB - Hendrik de Bruijn HC - Henri Cartan HG - Helmut Goetz HVV - Helmut von Verschuer HW - Helen Wallace
I IML - Ivan Matteo Lombardo
J JD - Jacques Delors JG - Jules Guéron JG/DOC - Documentation annexée au fonds JG JP - John Pinder JPG - Jean-Pierre Gouzy
K KM - Klaus Meyer
L LC - Lorella Cedroni LLS - Lionello Levi Sandri LN - Lorenzo Natali
M MB - Monica Stefania Baldi MC - Mauro Cappelletti MID - Keith Middlemas MK - Max Kohnstamm MR - Michel Richonnier MT - Michael Tracy MW - Michel Waelbroeck
O OM - Otto Molden OZ - Orlof Zimmermann
P PA - Pierre Auger PD - Philippe Deshormes PDE - Pierre Debest PDE/DOC - Documentation annexée au fonds PDE PF - Paolo Falcone PF/DOC - Documentation annexée au fonds PF PHS - Paul-Henri Spaak PL - Philip Lowe PLA - Pascal Lamy PLS - Pasquale Lino Saccá PM - Piero Malvestiti PM/DOC - Documentation imprimée provenant du fonds Piero Malvestiti déposée auprès de l'Institut Luigi Sturzo de Rome PSP - Peter Sutherland's Commission Papers PU - Pierre Uri PVD - Pier Virgilio Dastoli PVD/DOC - Documentation annexée au fonds PVD
R RB - Richard Burke