Special collections BiG
The Library Am Guisanplatz BiG houses various special collections. Because of its origins as the former Swiss Federal Military Library (EMB), these are primarily titles on military history. The special collections also include Georg Heberlein’s autograph collection and Walter Rutishauser’s photo archive.
Military postcard collection
The military postcard collection at the Library Am Guisanplatz BiG contains almost 2,200 postcards that members of the armed forces sent to their friends and relatives by field post, mainly during the two world wars.
Georg Heberlein autograph collection
The Georg Heberlein autograph collection at the Library Am Guisanplatz BiG comprises around 1,400 autographs of famous personalities such as Charles the Bold, Ronald Reagan and Neil Armstrong.
Albert von Escher collection
The Albert von Escher collection contains watercolours of uniforms worn by cantonal and federal troops from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
Photo archive Walter Rutishauser
The Library Am Guisanplatz (BiG) houses the photo archive of press and agency photographer Walter Rutishauser. The archive contains a wide range of images of people and subjects spanning the period from 1960 to 2000.
Historical maps
The Library Am Guisanplatz BiG owns a collection of historical maps dating back to the 17th century. The collection includes national maps of Switzerland, printed regional maps and manuscript maps of Switzerland and neighbouring countries.
Korea collection
The archive of the Swiss–Korea Association is located in the Library Am Guisanplatz (BiG). It consists of diaries, films, photo albums and slide collections by Swiss military personnel who were stationed in Korea during the 1950s.