Austrian Archives for Adult Education

The Austrian Archives for Adult Education (Österreichisches Volkshochschularchiv, ÖVA) serves as the central repository for Austrian adult education centres, their respective federal state associations, the national Association of Austrian Adult Education Centres, the Conference for Adult Education in Austria (KEBÖ), and acts as the corporate archive of the Vienna Adult Education Centres (Die Wiener Volkshochschulen GmbH). Furthermore, it is the only archive of its kind in Europe dedicated especially to the history of adult education and the popularisation of science.

The archive's holdings span from the 19th century to the present and comprise audiovisual sources, images, posters, event and course programmes, minutes, and correspondence, as well as numerous personal papers and estates of prominent figures in adult education. Its extensive library is complemented by a specialised collection of periodicals and journals.

The ÖVA also houses the holdings of the Vienna Urania, which—along with the Volksbildungsverein Margareten and the Volksheim Ottakring—was one of the three pivotal founding institutions of Vienna's adult education centres. This specific collection consists of typescripts, publications, and archival materials (correspondence, minutes, statutes, etc.), as well as the lantern slide collection of the Vienna Urania.