Zürich James Joyce Foundation
The Zürich James Joyce Foundation (ZJJF; ) cultivates the memory of the life and work of the Irish writer James Joyce as well as his special relationship with Zürich, where he spent decisive years of his life, died in 1941 and was buried. The Zürich James Joyce Foundation, directed by Fritz Senn and supervised by curators Ruth Frehner and Ursula Zeller, is an archive, documentation center, specialized library, literary museum, as well as a meeting place for researchers and reading groups, and has established itself as an essential European Joyce research site through numerous scholarly activities.

History 

The Foundation was established on May 9, 1985, based on an idea by Renée Wolf in collaboration with , then chairman of the Board of Directors of Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS). UBS covered the costs for the first six years. In addition, various Zürich companies and the Canton of Zürich made a financial contribution. Today, the foundation is more or less financially independent.

In the founding phase, the foundation was located at Augustinergasse 28. In March 1989, it moved to  (Augustinergasse 9), thus remaining in a central location, in the immediate vicinity of Bahnhofstrasse.

Activities 

Since its establishment, the Foundation has been directed by the Swiss James Joyce specialist Fritz Senn. Together with the curators, Ruth Frehner (since 1985) and Ursula Zeller (since 1990), who prepare and supervise the diverse activities of the Foundation in terms of content and concept, as well as take the lead in various projects (exhibitions, publications, editing of the Sylvia Beach Edition, events), he has developed the ZJJF into the central Central European Joyce research center.

The foundation sees itself not only as a museum or library, but also promotes the examination of Joyce's life and work through exhibitions, events, reading groups, workshops, symposia and publications. Finally, it wants to reduce the public's fear of Joyce, who is considered to be a difficult author, which is one of the purposes of the three weekly reading groups that deal with Ulysses and Finnegans Wake in continuous study.

Holdings 

The Foundation is the largest Joyce collection in continental Europe. Its focal point is the specialized library, which covers approximately 250 shelf meters and contains some 7000 works, including various editions of Joyce's works, with some editiones principes among them, illustrated editions, and numerous collector's items. In addition to primary and secondary literature, the Foundation owns autographs, original editions, letters, photographs, records, professional journals, posters, professional publications, audio, video, and DVD recordings of Joyce's works and documentaries, as well as the following Joyce "relics": one of his two death masks, two walking sticks, a necktie, and one of his travel trunks.

In figures, this means 400 volumes of works, 700 volumes of translations, 2800 volumes of Joyce secondary literature, 3200 volumes of reference works as well as other primary and secondary literature. There are also nearly 200 autographs (almost half of which are Joyce's), 600 sound recordings, 50 videos and DVDs, 100 volumes of photographic chronicles, hundreds of posters and visual materials, and thousands of separates.

Association of Friends of the Zürich James Joyce Foundation 
The Association of Friends of the Zürich James Joyce Foundation () was founded in 1987 to support the Foundation both ideally and financially. Among other things, it awards short-term scholarships that enable Joyce scholars to spend one or two months doing research here. In addition, the Friends cover the fees for the "Strauhof Lectures" and, together with the Foundation, host the Bloomsday celebration. Last but not least, they also support contributions to book publications as well as other selected Foundation projects.

External links 
 
 
 
 

1985 establishments
Culture of Zürich
James Joyce
Libraries in Zürich
Zurich
Zurich James Joyce Foundation
Literary museums
Museums in Zürich
Organisations based in Zürich
Swiss literature