The Archives de la construction moderne support EPFL students in the development of their work by providing a dedicated service for targeted information on available collections and holdings. They also offer methodological support and personalised guidance for research and source management in the context of academic studies, theoretical statements and studio projects.
Research tips
How to Search for Documents
Understanding the historical context in which a document was created is essential: who, in the time period and geographical area of interest, might have had the role or expertise related to your research topic?
Before starting archival research, it is important to clearly define your research question, identify the subject and establish the context. Archival research is often a crucial step, but it should always be preceded by bibliographical research to provide proper guidance.
Consultation of finding aids is a crucial step in archival research, helping to locate relevant documents and plan an efficient visit to the archives.
Effective archival research follows both a deductive approach – moving from the general to the specific, based on institutions or document creators rather than subjects – and an inductive approach – searching for a word or phrase to find specific results in the database (a « targeted search »). These two methods are not mutually exclusive, and using them together is often beneficial for thorough and efficient archival research.
At the Archives de la construction moderne, the Morphé platform catalogues thousands of documents relating to architects, engineers, photographers, town planners and construction companies in the form of inventories. These inventories systematically list the archival documents and provide information on their content, date and origin. However, they do not include digital or digitised documents.
To access the detailed contents of the files or to consult the original documents, you can make a request for a personal consultation in the reading room.
Access to Acm-EPFL documents is free and open to all, but consultation is only possible by appointment in a dedicated reading room. Requests must be preceded by a review of the online inventories and the submission of a form indicating the research topic and the desired archival files. A maximum of 10 archival units can be consulted at any one time.
How to Use Documents
Citing sources: an essential practice (…and a requirement!). Citing sources is an essential (and mandatory!) practice for ensuring academic integrity, strengthening the credibility of your work, and contributing to the advancement of knowledge in your field.
Why cite sources?
1 – To show that your arguments are based on evidence and verifiable facts, rather than opinions or assumptions.
2 – To respect authors’ rights by acknowledging their contribution to your work.
3 – To promote academic dialogue by participating in ongoing discussions and contributing to the advancement of knowledge in your field
Citing an archival document
Be sure to include the name of the institution, the reference or inventory number (‘cote’, in French), the title of the document or file, the date, and the author if applicable:
Example: Archives de la construction moderne – EPFL (Lausanne). G. Barbey Papers. 0074.04.0023, Villas Dubochet, à Clarens : vue à vol d’oiseaux aquarellée, [s.d.].
Citing other types of sources
BIBLIOTHÈQUE DE L’EPFL, Rational Bibliographic : guide de rédaction des références bibliographiques [en ligne], Version 1.00, Lausanne : Bibliothèque de l’EPFL, Rolex Learning Center, 2019 [Consulté le 9 juillet 2024]. Disponible à l’adresse : https://www.epfl.ch/campus/library/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Bibliotheque_EPFL_Guide_Rational_Bibliographic.pdf
In the reading room, users can take photographs of documents (working shots) using a tablet provided by the Archives de la construction moderne.
Any user may also (plans, drawings, photographs, manuscripts) for research purposes, provided that their state of preservation allows it. There is a charge for this service. However, EPFL staff and graduates can request up to 10 free copies per semester (300 dpi, maximum output size A3) for scientific publications.
In Switzerland, copyright applies to images in the same way as to other types of creative work, such as texts, drawings, architectural plans, videos or music. If you use an image in a research project, you must comply with copyright laws to avoid infringing the intellectual property rights of the image’s creator.
It is important to note that even if an image is freely available on the internet or in an online database, it may still be copyrighted!
What images can I use freely without permission?
1 – Images released under a Creative Commons Zero (CC-0) licence.
2 – Images in the public domain (70 years after the death of the author or, for anonymous photos, 70 years after publication).
WARNING: The © symbol has no legal value in Switzerland. The absence of an explicit « copyright » notice does not mean that a photo is not protected!
Once documents have been identified and reviewed, it is important to assess the reliability, relevance and objectivity of the information gathered.
To do this, we need to consider the social, political and cultural context of the time in which the document was produced, as these factors may influence its content.
? Origin – Who created the source and for what purpose? When was it created? Is it primary or secondary?
Credibility – Is the source reliable and accurate? Is there corroborating evidence to support the information it contains? Or does it contain factual errors, omissions or exaggerations?
? Context – Under what circumstances was the source created? What were the standards and expectations of the time for the presentation of information?
Bias – Is the source biased or partial? Did the author have preconceived opinions that may have influenced his or her work?
FAQ
- What are archives?
- What is the meaning of document?
- What is the meaning of fonds, collection or papers?
What are archives?
« Documents, whatever their date, their form and their material support, created or received by any personor entity, and by any service of public or private statute, in the exercise of their activity. ».
[International Council on Archives (ICA), « What are archives? »)]
What is the meaning of document?
«What are documents? They are, quite simply, talking things. They are bits of the material world—clay, stone, animal skin, plant fiber, sand—that we’ve imbued with the ability to speak».
[Levy, David M. Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2001. ]
The documents held in an archive are generally primary sources: unique documents, often unpublished or at least not originally intended for publication, created to record information.
These documents usually have a relationship to each other within a collection; they are not isolated as in a library collection, where each volume has a « meaning » independent of the books that may or may not be on the same shelf.
A book is an independent entity, often existing in multiple copies. Archival documents, on the other hand, are part of a ‘system’, a structured whole (fonds) that depends on the process and context in which they were created.
What is the meaning of fonds, collection or papers?
Fonds (used in archival science) : «the entire body of records of an organization, family, or individual that have been created and accumulated as the result of an organic process reflecting the functions of the creator».
Collection : «1. a set of archival or (more commonly) manuscript materials: 2. materials assembled by a person, organization, or repository from a variety of sources; an artificial collection; 3. (sometimes pl., collections) a thematic aggregation of sets of otherwise unrelated archival materials».
Papers : «1. records created and originally kept by an individual or a family; 2. used in the title of a set of archival materials to identify these as one created by an individual or a family».
[Dictionary of Archives Terminology, s.v. “fonds”, “collection”, “papers” February 2025, https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/fonds.html]
Archival hierarchy is a fundamental concept in archival science that describes how documents are created, organised, and preserved in an administrative or historical context.
It helps to understand the provenance and context of documents, facilitating their access and use for historical or administrative research. It also ensures the preservation of documents by identifying their archival value and defining the appropriate preservation rules for each level of the hierarchy.