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[NOTE: This notice from the Austrian economics network was brought to my
attention by Greg Ransom. -- RBE]
To: Colleagues and Friends
Date: January 8, 1997
From: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Re: Mises's "Lost Papers"
In 1991, Professors Gerhard Jagschitz (University of Vienna) and Stefan
Karner (University of Graz) discovered a huge cache of Austrian
documents--34,000 crates occupying 500 meters of shelf space--in Russia's
formerly secret Center for the Preservation of Historical-Documentary
Collections. Included are the "lost papers" of Ludwig von Mises.
This extraordinary find is reported in Jagschitz's and Karner's 1996
book, edited by Sabine Elisabeth Gollmann, *Beuteakten aus OEsterreich.
Der OEsterreichbestand im russichen "Sonderarchiv" Moskau* (Graz-Wien:
Ludwig Boltzmann Institut fuer Kriegsfolgen-Forschung) (*Confiscated
Austrian Documents: the Austrian Fund in the Russian Special Archive*
[Graz-Vienna: the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research into the
Consequences of War]).
The *OEsterreichbestand*, the Austrian "fund" in the Center for the
Preservation of Historical-Documentary Collections, includes the papers
of many associations, clubs, political parties, and government agencies,
as well as of individuals such as Mises, Otto Neurath, and Othmar Spann.
The Mises papers, "*OEsterreichbestand* #623, *Findbuch* #1" ("Austrian
Fund #623, Findings Book #1") comprise 196 *faszikels* (files), each of
which holds about 100 documents, and together cover the years 1900-1938.
Included among the nearly 20,000 items are materials related to Mises's
education; his lectures and seminars, including stenographic notes and
literature references; political and economic articles, lectures, and
reviews; books, bibliographies, newspapers, journals, pamphlets, and
brochures with contributions by Mises; excerpts from the journal
*Bolschewik* on Mises; bibliographies; and information on those to whom he
served as an advisor.
Also, Mises's scholarly and business correspondence with: publishers,
journalists, and students, as well as such colleagues as Hayek, Machlup,
Morgenstern, and Haberler; associations and clubs such as Rotary;
professional economic associations; universities and academic institutes;
and such international organizations as the League of Nations and the
European Customs Union; as well as his personal correspondence.
In addition: detailed minutes of meetings of the Austrian Chamber of
Commerce, the *Verein fuer Sozialpolitik* (Economic Association), and
other institutions and organizations in which Mises participated; his
report on such events as the Middle- European Economic Meeting of 1927;
and documents related to his service as an officer in the Austrian Army
during World War One.
The lost Mises papers, first brought to American attention by Professor
Richard Ebeling of Hillsdale College, are available for inspection and
copying at the Center for the Preservation of Historical-Documentary
Collections, 3 Vyborgskaja Street, Moscow 125212.
Encouraging negotiations are underway between the Austrian and Russian
governments, however. The Center for the Preservation of
Historical-Documentary Collections has agreed to make available all the
Austrian materials on microfilm or CD-ROM, including the Mises papers.
The Ludwig von Mises Institute, in cooperation with the
*OEsterreichisches Staatsarchiv* (Austrian State Archives), is working to
ensure that the Mises papers will be among the first to be transferred to
CD-ROM, and thus made available to scholars the world over.
Mark Thornton
Department of Economics
228 College of Business
Auburn University, AL 36849
334-844-2930 fax=4615
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