The photo archives of Switzerland preserve a treasure of thousands of photographs that document Swiss life over the past decades in all its facets. Whether industrial scenes or rural customs, craftsmen or wedding couples, the absurd or the everyday – the images that lie dormant in the archives represent a significant yet largely overlooked cultural heritage, which is being explored in this new publication series on a national scale. Initiated by the renowned photography expert Paul Hugger, the series presents visual worlds from the past two centuries that await discovery in the state and municipal archives, museums, and libraries of Switzerland. The volumes raise awareness of the richness and abundance of these visual testimonies of the past. The regionally organized series explores in the first volume.