The archive library

The Czech National Bank Archive has, in addition to its archive collections, an extensive library inherited from the CNB’s legal predecessors. The library houses literature dealing with economic and, in particular, banking history, as well as with the economic and legal sciences.

The library contains a wide-ranging collection of period handbooks, such as Compass, Finanzielles Jahrbuch (1869–1944), Československé (Pražské) burzovní papíry (1924–1942), Handbuch der deutschen Aktiengesellschaften (1912–1941) and Sailing’s Börsenjahrbuch (1891–1932). In the legal area, there are collections of laws from the territory of the former Czechoslovakia and from Austria dating from 1849–1949, as well as individual collections of judicial decisions. The library also contains a complete collection of Úřední list Československé republiky (The Official Gazette of the Czechoslovak Republic) for 1921–1960.

The importance of the archive library is highlighted by a collection of newspapers and journals devoted to issues of law (Prager Archiv, Právník and Všehrd) and banking technology (Obzor Národohospodářský, Peněžní revue, Účetní listy, Finanční právník, Archiv peněžní prakse and Právní prakse). Given the interest of some of the CNB’s legal predecessors in special topics, the collection also includes journals dealing with the Czechoslovak Legions (Československý legionář, Moravský legionář, Legie, V Boj! and Družina), agricultural cooperatives (Zemědělské družstevní listy), the stock exchange (Peněžní bursa and Finanční kurýr) and hostelry (Hostimil). It also contains daily newspapers such as Národní listy (1926–1938) and Čsl. Sjednocení (1920), as well as newspapers and journals which were printed by banking institutions themselves and were devoted to their activities. There is a complete series of journals produced by officials from Živnostenská banka and the State Bank of Czechoslovakia (Věstník úředníků Živnostenské banky, Tribuna, Časopis zaměstnanců Státní banky, Za socialistickou banku, Hlas banky, Československé banky and Bankovnictví). Other Czechoslovak financial institutions are represented by Hlas úředníků Pragobanky, PSP, Časopis spolku úřednictva poštovní spořitelny v Praze, Zprávy Národní banky Československé, Věstník Poštovní spořitelny and Finanční listy.

In an effort to keep its library as up to date as possible with regard to historical and economic research, the CNB Archive works closely with the CNB’s special library, regularly consulting with its staff on purchases of publications. However, the library expands its collections not only by making purchases, but also by means of gifts, through its own publishing activities and by reviewing the latest literature on banking, financial and economic history.