Gerold Meyer von Knonau (2 March 1804 - 1 November 1858) was a Swiss geographer and historian whose most enduring contribution to scholarship may well have been his pioneering work between 1837 and 1858 as cantonal archivist for Zürich and the surrounding region.

[4] He received his schooling in Zürich and then, in 1824, moved with his brilliant but shy younger brother Konrad to Berlin in order to complete a broadly based programme of study that included civic administration and Jurisprudence.

He produced a couple of popular-scholarly books during this period, reflecting his interests in Swiss history and geography, and with at least half an eye on the schools market.

Within the Swiss intellectual élite he became increasingly well networked as a side-effect of his research work, notably with the polymath statistician-politician Stefano Franscini, with whom he would later collaborate on at least one statistical project.

[11] He also teamed up with the book dealer-publisher "Huber & Co" of St. Gallen to mastermind a plan for a "Comprehensive Description of Switzerland" and "In-depth Statistics", envisioned both as a reference source for students of Swiss Geography and as a travel guide.

[12] Also worth a mention is his 1833 volume "Heldinnen des Schweizerlands" ("Heroines of the Swiss lands"), a compilation of biographical essays by Meyer von Knonau which, unusually, incorporated a number of lithographic plate based illustrations, and which became popular among the reading classes of the time.

In 1847 he published "Die Böcke, ein Beitrag zur zürcherischen Familien- und Sittengeschichte" (loosely, "Young bucks, a contribution to Zürich's family and moral history"), intended for.

He undertook a major project for the "General Swiss Historical Research Society" ("Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Geschichte" - as it was known at that time) to produce four volumes of an "archives series".

In his capacity of Cantonal Archivist, in 1859 he published an "Archive of Kappel Abbey", a very large formerly Cistercian Monastery near Zürich that had recently been acquired by the municipality and converted for use as an orphanage and related welfare and schooling purposes.

[b] Towards the end of his life he accepted an offer from the federal (Swiss) government to publish the multi-volume archival collection "Sammlung der älteren eidgenössischen Abschiede", himself compiling the fifth volume, completed in 1856.

[2][14] The "Historisch-geographisch-statistisches Gemälde der Schweiz" series, which Meyer von Knonau created and for many years managed, can be seen as his most important publishing venture.