Business records of M A Rothschild & Söhne, Frankfurt
Very few papers of the Frankfurt house survive. With the closure of the Frankfurt house in 1901, most records of the business were destroyed, although some documents relating to the liquidation of the business, and documentation relating to the Rothschild family trust in Frankfurt were sent to London.
Business records of N M Rothschild & Sons, London
A high proportion of the records of N M Rothschild & Sons have survived across nearly two centuries of continuing business, in good physical condition and carefully preserved order, looked after by generations of clerks in the Archives Department of the London Bank. It was Victor, 3rd Lord Rothschild, who, in 1978, with the encouragement of the historian J. H. Plumb, then Master of Christ's College, Cambridge, took the first steps towards putting the records of the London business in order so as to make them available to the research community. An Archivist was appointed and work began on sorting the records and systematising procedures for access. In 1999, the Board of Directors of N M Rothschild & Sons Limited, under the Chairmanship of Sir Evelyn de Rothschild (1931-2022), formally gifted the contents of the Archive Department of the London business to a newly established body of Trustees. Since 1999, the scope and scale of the Archive have gradually broadened as donations and deposits of further papers concerning the activities and history of the Rothschild family have been received.
Business records of de Rothschild Frères, Paris
For many years up until the Second World War, the archives of the Paris house survived remarkably intact, held in the bank's premsies in the rue Laffitte, Paris. In 1972, the French Rothschild family deposited the archives of de Rothschild Frères with the Archives Nationales de France in Paris. These papers were subsequently transferred to the Archives Nationales du Monde du Travail in Roubaix, France. The papers remain held on deposit at the Archives Nationales du Monde du Travail in Roubaix, France.
Business records of of S M von Rothschild, Vienna
The Viennese bank founded by Salomon von Rothschild in the 1820s was eventually taken over by the firm S. Nicolai during the Second World War. Regrettably, most papers of the business have not survived. However, The Rothschild Archive holds a small but significant collection of papers of the Viennese Bank which were seized during the war and later restituted to the Rothschild family. Please see the 'The Return of the Austrian Rothschild Archive' in The Rothschild Archive Annual Review 2001-2002 for more information about the history of these records. There are also some papers concerning the Viennese house which are held with the collections of de Rothschild Frères at the Archives Nationales du Monde du Travail, Roubaix, France.
Business records of C M de Rothschild & Figli, Naples
The Naples house closed in 1863; the records of the Naples house were held by the Frankfurt partners and were destroyed after the closure of that branch in 1901, although some correspondence from Carl, Adolphe and C M de Rothschild & Figli to the London bank survives in the records of the London house.
Rothschild family papers
The Rothschild Archive also holds collections of personal papers and material relating to the many and varied private interests of members of the Rothschild family. Private papers survive in varying degrees; many family members left instructions that personal correspondence and papers be destroyed after their death, and many of the estate papers of the great Rothschild estates have been lost. Further tranches of material were destoyed during the Second World War.
The Archive has created a Guide to its holdings. For full information about the history of the collections and detailed catalogue information, Go to The Guide to the collections of The Rothschild Archive »
