Online resources
Access to CERN’s historical documents
Some items from the CERN Archives have been digitized and are available online. We are progressively adding new links and documents to the Archives database. You can also browse or search the collections in the CERN Document Server, or use the links given below.
But don’t forget – the CERN Archives contains around one linear kilometre of records. Most in-depth historical research still requires the consultation of paper documents! See CERN Archives for more information about our holdings and about how to request access to the Archives. We are also happy to help if you have specific questions concerning the history of CERN – we will do our best to find the answer for you or send you a PDF of the relevant document.
For general information about the history of CERN, see About CERN and History of CERN.
CERN Council and its Committees |
More information about CERN’s governing body can be found here. The records are available here; you can search for keywords in the cataloguing information, and you can also search the full texts by prefixing your search term with “fulltext:” (e.g. fulltext:netherlands) Access to this material is restricted; in general all documents over 30 years old and all non-confidential Council documents over 5 years old are freely available, plus some more recent records that were opened following changes to the access rules in 2009. |
CERN Departmental and Group reports |
Many departmental reports have been digitized. You can search for them directly in CDS or consult our historical chart, which gives information on the changes to CERN’s internal organization since 1954 and, where possible, provides links to lists of reports and to the full texts. You can navigate by year or by department name. An example is given here. |
The CERN Convention |
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CERN press releases |
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CERN Annual Personnel Statistics |
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CERN Annual reports |
Published every year since 1955, the annual reports also include the annual lists of CERN publications. |
CERN accounts |
You can find various monthly and annual accounting records among the documents of the CERN Finance Committee. |
CERN Courier |
An international journal of high-energy physics. Latest issue; past issues. |
CERN Bullletin |
CERN’s staff magazine. Past issues from 1965 to 1999. Past issues since 2000. |
CERN Yellow Reports |
The CERN Yellow Report series was started in 1955 as a way of communicating work done at CERN where publication in a journal was not appropriate (e.g. proceedings of workshops, symposia, etc.) |