Inaugurated in 2004, the purpose of the SDF Historical Archives is to gather, preserve and showcase the historical documentation concerning the story of SDF and Group brands: SAME, Lamborghini Trattori, Hürlimann, DEUTZ-FAHR and Grégoire.
It features more than 260,000 technical drawings and 40,000 documents, catalogued, digitised and organised in a photo archive, a specialist library on the mechanisation of agriculture in Italy, a collection of technical (original drawings, patents, use and maintenance booklets, workshop manuals, spare parts catalogues) and advertising material (leaflets, print advertising, calendars, company newsletters, videos) and administrative records (company documents, financial statements, type-approval registers).
The oldest document in the archive dates back to the 1920s, a printed photograph of the Cassani family, with brothers Francesco and Eugenio with their mother in particular.
Over the course of 2016, the Historical Archives in Treviglio acquired the historical documentation that had previously been stored at the German headquarters of SDF in Lauingen, relating to the Ködel & Böhm, Fahr and DEUTZ-FAHR brands.
The Archives can be found next to the SAME Museum, dedicated to the history of the tractor and the mechanisation of agriculture.
Due to their rich heritage that tells the story of the mechanisation of agriculture in Italy, the Historical Archives and Museum have been judged “of particular historical importance” by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities. For this reason, the Archives and Museum are subject to all the provisions of Legislative Decree 42 of 22 January, 2004 (Cultural Heritage Code). Specifically, and as stated in the Decree, the documentation shall be preserved, ordered and inventoried (art. 27, 30, 32–37 and 43) and dividing the archives (art. 20 para. 2) and definitively sending the archives or the individual documents belonging to them outside the territory of the state of Italy (art. 65) is prohibited.
The Historical Archives are a service offered by the company and they make use of sector professionals both within and outside of the company.
The Archives regularly expand through the documentation produced and sent by the internal offices, sales network and private individuals.
The material preserved is owned by SAME-DEUTZ-FAHR Italia S.p.A.
Its services may be directed internally within the company, externally on request, or through direct initiatives.
Internal services
- Thematic research
- Copies of documents
- Specific research assistance
- Historic marketing
- Coordinating institutional/historic images
- Historic website pages
- Customer Care for Collectors
- Induction activities for new employees
External services
- Teaching and training
- Assistance and visits for journalists
- Thesis assistance
- Customer visits
- Guided visits for groups and individuals
- Responses to consumers
- Research into imagery and documentation
- Historic documentation on the company, brands and products
Direct activities
- Exhibitions, meetings, conferences, lectures, publications
- Collaboration with local, national and international public institutions
- Collaboration with local, national and international cultural institutions
- Loans for shows, exhibitions, publications
- Relations with schools and universities