June 9th is International Archive Day – Vienna Technical Museum and HOERBIGER are writing company history
Vienna (OTS) – Research interest in corporate history and corporate cultures has increased significantly in recent years, particularly in order to illustrate larger economic-historical and thus also market-political contexts. The Vienna Technical Museum houses extensive company historical holdings: company publications, factory magazines, product catalogs, price lists, advertising material, posters, instructions for use and research literature on important Austrian companies. There is no comparable collection of company-relevant writings in the Austrian museum landscape as that offered by the Vienna Technical Museum. This treasure from Austria’s economic, technological and everyday history forms the basis for the creation of the “Archive for Austrian Corporate History and Culture”, which also opens up new opportunities for cooperation. This is now starting with the HOERBIGER Group archive.
HOERBIGER corporate archive
The Vienna Technical Museum and HOERBIGER have joined forces in 2024 on a project to shed light on the rich history and legacy of an international company with Austrian roots. Through the scientific development and careful maintenance of the group archive, the creation of publications, including a company chronicle covering 130 years of HOERBIGER (planned for publication in the anniversary year 2025), and other initiatives, the history of the group is not only preserved, but also for employees, customers and Partners and future generations can experience it.
The collaboration aims to explore the fascinating history of the company and the founding Hörbiger family, which began with Hanns Hörbiger’s groundbreaking invention of the steel plate valve in 1895. The invention of the innovative valve led to a significant increase in performance in steel production and laid the foundation for the company’s success.
The focus of the exciting company history is Hanns Hörbiger, his son Alfred and his daughter-in-law Martina Hörbiger, who after 1945 was one of the first women in Austrian company history to internationalize the company until her death in 1989. Thanks to their vision and entrepreneurial spirit, the group is now globally positioned – with branches in 43 countries at 133 locations.
The project uses the extensive holdings of the HOERBIGER Group Archives as well as the partial holdings of the Vienna Technical Museum to trace in detail the achievements and challenges that the company and the key players have faced throughout history.
The museum’s inventory includes over 23,000 individual items relating to the company’s history, but also to the pseudo-scientific “world ice theory” developed by Hanns Hörbiger. In the Seestadt Aspern corporate archive, in addition to company documents, numerous historical objects and documents tell the history and corporate culture of the group, its management and its employees.
This project is an example of how museums and companies can work together to preserve and make accessible cultural heritage. It shows how the past can be brought to life through scholarly editing, archiving and presentation to recognize and communicate the achievements of those who paved the way for today’s innovations.
International Archives Day
On June 9, 1948, the International Archives Council (ICA) was founded under the auspices of UNESCO. Archive institutions in many countries around the world celebrate this day to point out the importance of archives for society and to raise awareness of the diverse challenges that archives face, for example in the areas of digitization, preservation or accessibility of archive material. In addition, this day offers many archives the opportunity to present their work and projects in a variety of ways.
Statements:
„With the scientific processing of thousands of archival materials from the corporate archives, the Vienna Technical Museum is dedicating itself to the impressive history of the globally active HOERBIGER Group, which has its roots in Austria. This not only makes an important contribution to the Austrian company’s history, opening a window into the past – this cooperation is also a promise for the future to preserve the memory and achievements of the group.
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Peter Aufreiter, General Director of the Vienna Technical Museum
„Together with the family shareholder, Ms. Christiana Hörbiger, the HOERBIGER Foundation is committed to preserving and professionally preparing the company’s heritage. We clearly feel that today the origins and history of a company play a central role for its employees. Our story inspires and motivates many people because it makes it clear where we come from and what we stand for. So for us it’s not just about documenting HOERBIGER’s history for future generations. Our aim is to communicate our history even better and make it tangible. We are very pleased that we have found a strong partner in the renowned Vienna Technical Museum who will accompany and support us in this work.
“
Andreas Hünerwadel, President of the HOERBIGER Foundation
Questions & Contact:
Vienna Technical Museum
Bettina Lukitsch
+43 1/899 98-1200
presse@tmw.at
www.technischesmuseum.at/presse