Registry offices in early modern Europe

The project aims to carry out a comparative study of registry offices in early modern Europe - institutions designed to open up urban resources that were becoming increasingly varied and complex to both residents and visitors. Thus, the Bureau d`adresse established at Paris by Théophraste Renaudot and fully operated from about 1630 through 1643 (after that period the scope of services was considerably narrowed) among other activities pursued the objective to procure and make available information as might be required by an individual: Anyone in search for an address or a travel companion, anyone trying to find out the name and place of abode of an important person - a theologian, physician or advocate - might hope for a reply consulting the office. In addition, it served as a sales agency and labour exchange with all incoming inquires being entered onto a register. The institution also issued a journal, the Feuille du Bureau d`Adresse, in which extracts of these register entries were published. Comparable institutions emerged in other European cities, as well: In 1650, Henry Robinson ran the short-lived Office of Address for Accommodations in London, and subsequently a number of so-called Registry Offices appeared, among them the Universal Register Office founded by Henry Fielding in 1750. In 1689, the Adress-Hauß (house of addresses) headed by Nicolaus Gauguet was established in Berlin. In the Habsburg Monarchy, similar institutions, so-called Fragämter (inquiry offices) were set up at Vienna (1707), Prague (1747), and Brno (1751). In addition, in the 18th century so-called Intelligenzbüros (intelligence offices) or Adresscomptoirs (address counters) appeared in the German Reich and in Denmark that also issued their own advertisers. - All these institutions would be added to the traditional communication networks taking on some of their functions, such as serving as sales and employment agencies, information exchange, credit agencies or executing courier services. The proposed project aims to examine the concept of the "address" frequently featuring in the name of the institutions under investigation, on the one hand and to contextualise registry offices - as distinctive locations for knowledge formation and handling during l`âge classique and Baroque to take place - with the entirety of contemporary techniques of data processing. To this end the project will also refer to the literature of Cameralism and Policeywissenschaft (public administration). Research will furthermore be based on the assumption that there are structural similarities between registry offices and internet search engines since both serve the purpose to both refer an inquirer to certain addresses enabling the latter to satisfy certain needs, as well as to provide guidance through an abundance of entangled pieces of information. To comply with this task and to answer a number of further questions outlined in this application research will be extended to archives and libraries in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, France and England. While part of the work has already been commenced other parts are in the stage of planning. First results will be discussed at international conferences as well as on my weblog.

In 1630 the physician Théophraste Renaudot founded a fascinating institution in Paris, the "Bureau d`adresse". This "office" mainly served for obtaining information: Whoever planned to purchase or to sell an item, whoever searched for employment or lodgings, was let to note his request in a register available in the intelligence office after having paid a fee; conversely an interested party could receive a statement of this register. Furthermore the "Bureau d`adresse" served for the medical care for the poor, as pawnshop, and as a kind of scientific academy; weekly lectures on varying subjects were given, e.g. on medicine, on physical phenomena, or on economics. During the 17th and 18th century such intelligence offices emerged likewise in other European states. These offices covered not the wide function range of the Parisian model and were limited to profane procurement activities; hence, their kernel functions equalled a selling agency, an employment office, and an estate agency. The "registry" or "intelligence offices" founded in London, the "Frag- und Kundschaftsämter" founded in the Habsburg Monarchy, and the "Adresscomptoirs", "Berichtshäuser" or "Intelligenzämter" founded in other German-speaking countries may serve as examples for this development. Like current internet search engines intelligence offices acted in the field of tension of concealment and adoption of police function: On the one hand they had to deal with the registered requests as discreet as possible, i.e. announcing name and place of residence of clients only to persons who were seriously interested in the business transaction; on the other hand there was, concerning the procurement of domestic servants, the endeavour of controlling them by demand of their certificate of good conduct and letter of recommendation. Most of the intelligence offices issued advertisers, the so called "Intelligenzblätter", in order to make the registry entries public. During the 18th century many of these "Intelligenzblätter" turned to be regular newspapers and the on-site procurement services were increasingly pushed into the background; henceforth, intelligence offices became editors of newspapers.