Rudolf Zinggeler archive

Festively attired women and children in front of St Mary’s chapel, a pilgrimage destination in Vals (1911).
© NL/FAHM

The silk manufacturer Rudolf Zinggeler (1864–1954) from Richterswil (canton of Zurich) took photos mainly in the cantons of Valais, Ticino and Graubünden between 1890 and 1936.

Content and scope

• Photos of towns and villages, buildings, landscapes and day-to-day rural life (work, leisure, festivals)
• 15,280 glass and plastic negatives, black and white, in the formats 9 x 12 cm, 13 x 18 cm and 18 x 24 cm
• 16,340 prints from glass plates (1956–1965)
• The prints are mounted on card, annotated and organised alphabetically by location.

Collection principles

Village scenery in Brione sopra Minusio around 1892
© NL/FAHM

• Rudolf Zinggeler’s heirs gifted his photographic estate to the Swiss National Museum in Zurich in 1956.
• Once the collection had been catalogued and prints produced, most of it was transferred to the Federal Archives of Historic Monuments (FAHM) in 1969.
• The photos of towns, villages, landscapes and day-to-day rural life have great value as historical documents and part of the national heritage. They fit perfectly into the core remit of the FAHM.

Research and access

• The Rudolf Zinggeler archive is described and catalogued in the HelveticArchives database
  

Rudolf Zinggeler archive in HelveticArchives

• The digitised photos are freely available on Wikimedia Commons. 
  

Digitised photos from the Zinggeler archive on Wikimedia Commons

• Further information on the Rudolf Zinggeler archive available on request
• Consultation of originals: on site and by appointment
  

More on this topic

Informationen zu Rudolf Zinggeler im Fotografenlexikon auf fotoCH

Photos by Rudolf Zinggeler in the Swiss National Museum, Zurich

Rudolf Zinggeler in the Maggia Valley

Historical photographs from the Val Medel 100 years ago

Last modification 10.03.2025