Collection principles of the PDD

Documents from the evaluation of the Friedrich Staub collection, which marks the beginning of the NL's 125-year-old picture collection.
© NB, Helene Spörri

The Prints and Drawings Department of the National Library collects images documenting the geography, customs and history of Switzerland together with portraits of famous Swiss personalities. The pictorial materials assist historical and art-historical research as well as architecture and historic monuments preservation.

They include:

• views of landscapes and places, portraits and special topics in printmaking from the 17th to the 21st centuries and in photography
• Schweizer Kleinmeister prints
• photography
• postcards
• posters
• editions and artists’ books
• artists’ prints and drawings
• artists’ archives, estates and specific monograph or thematic collections as complete entities

Last modification 14.12.2022