PTT Archive

The PTT Archive is the archive of the former Swiss Postal, Telegraph and Telephone Services . In 1997 the PTT was divided up into the companies of the Swiss Post and the Swisscom Ltd. On behalf of these two public limited companies, the PTT Archive is being operated by the Swiss Foundation for the History of the Post and Telecommunications. By obligation of Swiss archival law, the Swiss Post Ltd. and the Swisscom Ltd., being the successors of the PTT, are bound to preserve these archival holdings and make them accessible to the public. The PTT Archive is situated in Köniz near Bern and is classified as an object of national interest in the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Assets.

On April 30, 1893 the Directorate General of Posts in Bern issued an “Instruktion betreffend die Ordnung des Archivs, die Anlage und Führung der Centralbibliothek und die Besorgung der Registratur der Expeditionskanzlei der Oberpostdirektion“ [Instruction concerning the organization of the archive, the creation and the management of a central library and the provision of the filing cabinet of the Directorate General of Posts]. This is the earliest known historical source that is concerned with the creation of an archive and a library for the then still autonomous directorate General of Posts. Over the time span of a hundred years, this first archive and the library evolved into a central information office of the PTT, called „Bibliothek – Information – Dokumentation“ [Library – Information – Documentation] . At times, the BID employed up to 30 employees.

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