The Swiss Literary Archives were created in 1989 after the writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt donated his manuscripts to the Confederation. This donation was conditional to the creation of the Swiss Literary Archives. The SLA were officially inaugurated at the Swiss National Library in Bern in early 1991. The SLA took over the library’s manuscript collection and since then has continually enriched and developed this collection.

The SLA assembles documents connected to the literature of all four linguistic regions of Switzerland: French, German, Italian and Romansh, with particular emphasis on the 20th and 21st centuries. The holdings consist mainly of notes, drafts, work manuscripts, correspondence, diaries, press clippings, specialised works, books, audio and video documents, photographs, art work, drawings as well as personal objects.

The Literary Archives hold today some 100 complete fonds and 120 partial fonds and collections that can be consulted free of charge for research purposes as well as for scientific, literary and journalistic studies.

In order to ensure optimal preparation of a consultation, the user must imperatively announce his/her intentions at least two weeks prior to the visit.