Pirquet Archive – Introduction

Introduction

The Archive contains documents, pictures, maps and family trees collected by some of our ancestors beginning in the 18^th century in Belgium and Austria. See also View Prominent Ancestors.

The Most Prominent Characters

• Pierre Martin Pirquet v. Cesenatico
• Peter Zeno Pirquet and his wife Flora Pereira-Arnstein, a great-granddaughter of Fanny Arnstein, whose father was Daniel Itzig.
• Peter Zeno’s sons Theodor and Silverio Pirquet carried on taking care of the family collection.

History of the Collection

The family collection was inherited by Theodor Pirquet in 1912, who continued working on the family history; later Silverio took on this task.

Flora had wished that the collection not be dispersed. Thus Hubert Pirquet inherited it and sent it to Zürich for safekeeping, whence, after his death, it was sent to his brother Silvio in Boston. After Silvio’s death it was sent to John Pirquet in Victoria, B.C., Canada. Thereafter it was sent in 2019 to Peter (Pasi) Pirquet in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The idea of re-establishing the Pirquet Archive in Austria was first discussed in 2005 and became a reality when Pasi sent the collection to Vienna. Lizzy, Claus and Peter then negotiated the tenancy of the room where it is now kept, with Toni Pinschof as curator.

The Pirquet Archive Contains

Silverio’s 1949 Testament

36 items listed — including 32 pictures / portraits and 4 collections of documents, of which No. 28 is Trunk No. 1.

Trunk No. 1

Trunk No. 1 (No. 28 in the testament) contained 17 items catalogued as shown in the photographs of the inside lid. These numbers are used to identify scanned documents, enabling the visitor to find the originals in the Archive or on the website.

Trunk No. 2

Trunk No. 2 contained additional documents collected by Theodor and Silverio Pirquet.