Paper short abstract:

Starting in 1804, first attempts to record material and social aspects of everyday life took place in the duchy of Styria. Tracking these attempts, not only the different forms of texts produced can be determined, but also writers and editors who disseminated first results to a wider readership.

Paper long abstract:

Under the influence of similar French and Swiss enterprises, in 1804 the conceptualisation of a big questioning campaign regarding economic, social and cultural conditions in the duchy of Styria were initiated by Archduke John. To a large degree, the written outcomes are available in the Styrian state archive. Even if the main goal was to enhance economic and social conditions, over time the cultural aspects gained greater importance. The quality and quantity of the answers given to the voluminous questionnaires ranged from nearly non-existent to a comprehensive monograph. Especially the poor answers caused a second campaign in order to enhance the results of the enterprise. Writers and painters were involved in the production and the dissemination of outcomes.

The interests of contemporaneous authors very much shifted to romantic aspects and widely neglected social and economic ones. These, on the other hand, were central to the descriptions of rural areas, published in the journal of the agrarian society, whose publications can be seen as an early example of a medium aiming especially at the rural population.

Over time, distinct parts of the material of the questioning campaign and the connected enterprises where taken into account for scientific as well as cultural and political purposes and under new epistemological contexts. As an example, the so-called Knaffl-manuscript can be seen, which was edited in the 1920s.