The Historical Archives consist of about 70,000 pre-war and wartime files (1919-1947), 200,000 post-war files (1948-1978), together with a number of special collections, including the ILO Directors and Directors-General Archives - Albert Thomas (1920-1932), Harold Butler (1932-1938), John G. Winant (1939-1941), Edward Phelan (1941-1948), David A. Morse (1948-1970) and C. Wilfred Jenks (1970-1973); C. Wilfred Jenks’ private papers (1920-1973); the records of the International Labour Office (Basel, 1890-1919) and photographic and audiovisual collections.
The ILO maintains also a library with a database.

The WCC libraries contains works concerning ecumenism, ecclesiology, mission, church history, interfaith dialogue, human rights etc. It also contains a collection of 1200 periodicals (list of current periodicals). The library catalogue is a part of the RERO catalogue Geneva.
The Archives enclose the whole documentation made by the WCC since his foundation: Documents with regard to his origin, assemblies, central and executive committees, divisions, departments, correspondence of the general secretariat etc. Besides, the Archives contain the documents of other important ecumenical organisations.
The WCC Archives also contain photo and multimedia collections (sound material, films and videos, microforms).
The inventories of the holdings are online available in the PDF format and also a search engine.

The research institution of the Law Sources Foundation of the Swiss Lawyers Society, set up over 100 years ago, provides a unique range of law sources from each of Switzerland’s linguistic regions in its «Collection of Swiss Law Sources» (Sammlung Schweizerischer Rechtsquellen). Normative and non-normative sources from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Age (up to 1789) throw light on a wide array of public and private law and legal practice. The publications also offer insights into cultural history and interfaces to other scientific disciplines, and are therefore a rich trove of information for those interested in legal, economic, social, ecclesiastic, local, and regional history as well as for cultural anthropologists and, of course, linguists.