Im Takt der Stadt? Archive als alternative urbane Zeiträume im 19. Jahrhundert

Abstract

Time in the nineteenth century has long been discussed primarily in terms of increa-sing synchronization and acceleration. Especially when focusing on urban cultures, this narrative seems to be plausible as the idea of the modern metropolis is shaped by the electrification of the public sphere and work, infrastructural networks and mobility, all of which are related to processes of synchronization and acceleration. But the history of temporalities can be written in a more nuanced way mapping the modern city as a hybrid timespace considering the vivid complex of different time references. Taking this into account, the paper analyzes French and German archives in their ur-ban settings and discusses the perception and use by contemporaries. The conception of archives as organic institutions linked to the administration of the nation-state and the establishment of specific archival museums exhibiting highly erratic documents serve as lens to excavate alternative temporal traces. These are characterized by histo-ricity, the idea of organic growth and diachronic depth. The archive can thus be under-stood as an alternative urban timespace providing temporal stability amidst the accelerated transformation of urban environments.