Unternavigation

Collection principles of the SLA

The Swiss Literary Archives (SLA) collect literary estates and archives in the four literatures of Switzerland from the 20th and 21st centuries in German, French, Italian and Romansh, with a particular focus on literature of the inter-war years and from 1968 to the present day.

Compactus shelving system for storing archive boxes — The Ammann publisher’s archive is stored in the Swiss National Library’s underground stacks.
© NL

The SLA collect the archives and literary estates of…

authors from Switzerland
scholars and literary critics
cultural institutions such as publishers, associations of authors, societies and journals
writers of exile literature and migrant writers in Switzerland

Collection criteria

The most important criteria are aesthetic quality, the literary canon, representation in literary histories and national and international reception in literary criticism.

Others include connections to the fonds of the SLA in general and establishing a counter-canon comprising archives of authors, lyricists, concrete poetry and chansonniers. Since the collection documents the development of the four Swiss literatures, particular care is taken to ensure each generation is properly represented.