List of national archives

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National archives are central archives maintained by countries or nation states. This article contains a list of national archives. In some countries, national libraries serve the same purpose as national archives - or have archival departments.

Among their more important tasks is ensuring the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both analogically and digitally, for the government itself, researchers and the public.

Some national archives collections are large, holding millions of items spanning several centuries, while others have been created more recently and have modest collections. Many national archives are effectively dispersed, especially in post-colonial countries, and often have smaller local collections due to cultural imperialism and the theft of cultural and national documents and artifacts. There are ongoing international efforts to repatriate these materials to their communities of origin, in particular Indigenous cultural and intellectual property.

In the last decade, digitization projects have made possible to browse records and contents online.

A

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Afghanistan National Archives of Afghanistan Kabul 1890
 Albania General Directorate of Archives Tirana 1949 [1]
 Algeria Centre Nationale des Archives Birkhadem, Algiers [2]
 American Samoa American Samoa's Office of Archives and Records Management Tutuila 1978 [3]
 Andorra National Archives of Andorra Andorra la Vella 1975 [4]
 Angola Arquivo Histórico Nacional Luanda
 Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda National Archives St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda 1982 [5]
 Argentina General Archive of the Nation Buenos Aires 1821
  • 800,000 photographs
  • 100,000 volumes
  • 3,000 films
[6]
 Armenia National Archives of Armenia Yerevan 1923 [7]
 Aruba National Archives of Aruba Oranjestad 1994 [8]
 Australia National Archives of Australia Canberra 1961
  • 40,000,000 items
[9]
National Film and Sound Archive 1984
  • 2,800,000 items
[10]
 Austria Austrian State Archives Vienna 1749 [11]
 Azerbaijan National Archive Department of Azerbaijan Baku 2002 [12]

B

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Bahamas National Archives of the Bahamas Nassau 1971 [13]
 Bahrain National Library of Bahrain at Isa Cultural Centre Manama 2008 [14]
 Bangladesh National Archives of Bangladesh Dhaka 1973
  • 225,000 volumes
[15]
 Barbados National Archives of Barbados Bridgetown
West Indies Federal Archives Centre Cave Hill, Saint Michael, Barbados 2004 [16]
 Belarus National Archives of Belarus Minsk 1927 [17]
 Belgium National Archives of Belgium Brussels [18]
 Belize National Archives of Belize Belmopan
 Benin National Archives of Benin Porto-Novo 1914 [19]
 Bermuda Bermuda National Library Hamilton, Bermuda 1839 [20]
 Bhutan National Library & Archives of Bhutan Thimphu 1967 [21]
 Bolivia National Archive and Library of Bolivia Sucre 1836
  • 114,000 volumes
[22]
 Bosnia and Herzegovina Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo [23]
 Botswana National Archives of Botswana Gaborone 1967
  • 20,000 items
 Brazil Arquivo Nacional Rio de Janeiro 1838
  • 1,740,000 photographs
  • 124,000 films
  • 44,000 maps
  • 20,000 illustrations
  • 4,000 videotapes
[24]
 British Virgin Islands Archives and Records Management Unit, Governor's Office Road Town [25]
 Brunei Brunei National Archives Bandar Seri Begawan 1983
 Bulgaria Bulgarian Archives State Agency Sofia [26]
 Burkina Faso National Archives Centre Ouagadougou [27]
 Burundi DMS Burundi Bujumbura

C

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Cambodia National Archives of Cambodia Phnom Penh [28]
 Cameroon National Archives of Cameroon Yaoundé 1966
  • 64,000 volumes
 Canada Library and Archives Canada Ottawa 2004
  • 30,000,000 photographs
  • 20,000,000 books
  • 3,000,000 architectural drawings, plans and maps
  • 425,000 works of art
  • 550,000 music items
  • 90,000 films
[29]
 Cape Verde Arquivo Histórico Nacional Praia 1988
 Cayman Islands Cayman Islands National Archive George Town, Cayman Islands 1991 [30]
 Chad Archives Nationales du Tchad
 Chile National Archives of Chile Santiago 1927 [31]
 China National Archives Administration of China (a.k.a. the Central Archives) Beijing 1954
  • 80,000,000 items
[32]
 Colombia General Archive of the Nation Bogotá 1989 [33]
 Comoros Comoros National Library Moroni, Comoros 1979
 Republic of the Congo Archives Nationales du Congo Brazzaville
 Cook Islands National Archives of the Cook Islands 1974
  • 4,000 photographs
[34]
 Costa Rica National Archives of Costa Rica San José 1881 [35]
 Croatia Croatian State Archives Zagreb 1763 [36]
 Cuba Archivo Nacional de la República de Cuba Havana 1840 [37]
 Curacao Nationaal Archief Curacao Willemstad [38]
 Cyprus Cyprus State Archives Nicosia 1972 [39]
 Czech Republic National Archives Prague [40]

D

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Democratic Republic of the Congo Institut National des Archives du Congo Kinshasa 1989
  • 3,000 volumes
 Denmark Danish National Archives Copenhagen 1889 [41]
 Djibouti Archives Nationales et Bibliotheque de Djibouti Balbala
 Dominica Dominica Library & Information Service Roseau 1843 [42]
 Dominican Republic Archivo General de la Nación de República Dominicana Santo Domingo 1935 [43]

E

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 East Timor National Archives of East Timor Dili 1999
Timorese Resistance Archive and Museum 2005 [44]
 Ecuador National Archives of Ecuador Quito 1884
 Egypt Egyptian National Library and Archives Cairo 1870 [45]
 El Salvador National Library of El Salvador San Salvador 2023
 Eritrea National Archives of Eritrea Asmara
 Estonia National Archives of Estonia Tartu 1999 [46]
 Eswatini Eswatini National Archives Lobamba 1971 [47]
 Ethiopia National Archives and Library of Ethiopia Addis Ababa 1944 [48]

F

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Falkland Islands Jane Cameron National Archives Stanley 1841 [49]
 Faroe Islands National Archives of the Faroe Islands Tórshavn 1932 [50]
 Fiji National Archives of Fiji Suva 1954 [51]
 Finland National Archives of Finland Helsinki 1816
  • 726,000 maps
  • 334,000 volumes
[52]
 France Archives Nationales Paris and Pierrefitte-sur-Seine 1790 [53]

G

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Gabon Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Gabon Libreville 1969
 Gambia The Gambia National Records Service Banjul 1966
 Georgia National Archives of Georgia Tbilisi 1920
  • 274,625 photographs
[54]
 Germany German Federal Archives Koblenz 1952 [55]
 Ghana National Archives of Ghana (until 1997) Accra
Public Records and Archives Administration Department 1997 [56]
 Gibraltar Gibraltar Archives Gibraltar 1969 [57]
 Greece General State Archives Psychiko 1914 [58]
 Greenland Greenland National Museum Nuuk 1982 [59]
 Grenada Grenada National Museum St. George's 1959
  • Grenada Plantation Records, 1737-1845
[60]
 Guam Guam Museum Hagåtña 1980 [61]
 Guatemala Archivo General de Centro América Guatemala City 1846
  • Documents dating from 1537 onwards - relating to government, commerce, colonialism, revolutions, religion and more
[62]
Guatemala National Police Archives Discovered in 2005
  • 80 million pages of documents from, dating from the late 19th-century through the Guatemalan Civil War
  • Largest recovered collection of state secrets in Latin America
  • Documents detailing kidnappings, torture, murders, and disappearances of the estimated 200,000 civilians who perished during the Guatemalan Civil War
 Guinea National Archives of Guinea Conakry
 Guinea-Bissau Arquivos Históricos Nacionais da República da Guiné-Bissau Bissau 1984 [63]
 Guyana National Archives of Guyana (a.k.a. the Walter Rodney Archives) Georgetown, Guyana 1958

H

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Haiti Archives Nationales d'Haïti Port-au-Prince 1860 [64]
 Honduras Archivo Nacional de Honduras Tegucigalpa 1880 [65]
 Hong Kong Government Records Service Kwun Tong, Kowloon 1989 [66]
 Hungary National Archives of Hungary Budapest 1756 [67]

I

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Iceland National Archives of Iceland Reykjavík 1882 [68]
 India National Archives of India New Delhi 1891 [69]
 Indonesia National Archives of Indonesia Jakarta 1819 [70]
 Iran National Library and Archive of Iran Tehran 1899
  • 55,000 old books, including 28,158 manuscripts and more than 26,000 lithographs featuring old lead printing
  • An Iranian Studies collection that includes 80,410 books, 2,300 dissertations and 6000 journals
  • An Islam Studies collection with 8,203,238 books, magazines and tapes
  • The library has 14 halls with 15 million library items
  • Smallest known octagonal Quran (3 x 3.3 cm), قرآن هشت ضلعی
[71]
 Iraq Iraq National Library and Archive Baghdad 1920 [72]
 Ireland National Archives of Ireland Dublin 1867
  • Primary (Griffith) Valuation, 1847-1864 land and buildings value directory
[73]
 Isle of Man Manx Museum Douglas, Isle of Man 1922 [74]
 Israel Israel State Archives Jerusalem 1949
  • 400 million documents, maps, stamps, audio tapes, video clips, photographs and special publications
[75]
Central Zionist Archives West Jerusalem 1919 [76]
 Italy Central Archives of the State Rome 1875 [77]
 Ivory Coast Archives Nationales du Côte d´Ivoire Abidjan

J

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Jamaica Jamaica Archives and Records Department Kingston, Jamaica 1955 [78]
 Japan National Archives of Japan Chiyoda, Tokyo 1959 [79]
 Jordan National Library of Jordan Amman 1977 [80]

K

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Kazakhstan National Archives of Kazakhstan Astana 2002 [81]
Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan Almaty
Republic of Kazakhstan Presidential Archive
 Kenya Kenya National Archives Nairobi 1965
  • 40,000 volumes
[82]
 Kiribati Kiribati National Library and Archives Bairiki
 Kosovo National Library of Kosovo Pristina 1944
  • 382,806 books
[83]
State Agency of Archives of Kosovo[2] 1977
 Kuwait National Library of Kuwait Kuwait City 1923
  • 465,000 books
[84]
 Kyrgyzstan National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic Bishkek 1934 [85]
Central State Archives of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan

L

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Lebanon Centre des Archives Nationales Beirut [86]
 Liberia Center for National Documents and Records Monrovia 1977
 Libya National Archives of Libya Tripoli, Libya
 Liechtenstein National Archives of Liechtenstein [87]
 Lithuania Office of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania Vilnius [88]
 Luxembourg Archives nationales de Luxembourg (ANLux) [89]

M

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Madagascar National Archives of Madagascar
  • 30,000 volumes
 Malawi National Archives of Malawi [90]
 Malaysia National Archives of Malaysia Kuala Lumpur 1957
 Mali Direction Nationale des Archives du Mali Bamako
 Malta National Archives of Malta Rabat, Malta [91]
 Marshall Islands Alele Museum & Public Library [92]
 Mauritania National Archives of Mauritania 1955
  • 3,000 volumes
 Mauritius National Archives of Mauritius Coromandel, Mauritius 1815 [93]
 Mexico Archivo General de la Nación Mexico City [94]
 Mongolia National Archives of Mongolia Ulaanbaatar 1927 [95]
 Montenegro State Archives of Montenegro Cetinje 1951 [96]
 Morocco National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco Rabat 1924 [97]
 Mozambique Arquivo Histórico de Moçambique 1934
 Myanmar National Archives of Myanmar Naypyidaw 1973 [98]

N

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Namibia National Archives of Namibia Windhoek 1939
  • 6,000 maps
  • 40,000 photographs
  • 30,000 audiovisual items
[99]
 Netherlands Nationaal Archief The Hague 1802 [100]
 New Zealand Archives New Zealand Wellington [101]
 Nicaragua General National Archive Managua
 Niger Archives nationales du Niger[3]
 Nigeria National Archives of Nigeria Abuja [102]
 Norway National Archival Services of Norway Oslo 1817 [103]

O

P

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Pakistan National Archives of Pakistan Islamabad
  • 19,000 books
[104]
 Palestine Palestine National Archives Ramallah [105]
Central Archives of Gaza City Gaza City
Al-Budeiri Library Old City of Jerusalem
  • 900 manuscripts
Khalidi Library 1900 [106]
 Panama National Archives of Panama Panama City 1912 [107]
 Paraguay Archivo Nacional de Asunción [108]
 Peru General Archive of the Nation Lima 1872 [109]
 Philippines National Archives of the Philippines Manila [110]
 Poland Central Archives of Historical Records Warsaw 1808 [111]
National Digital Archives 2008
(1955)
  • over 15,000,000 photographs
  • over 40,000 sound recordings
  • about 2,400 motion pictures
[112]
 Portugal Torre do Tombo National Archive Lisbon 1378 [113]
 Puerto Rico Archivo General de Puerto Rico San Juan, Puerto Rico 1955 [114]

Q

R

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Romania National Archives of Romania Bucharest
  • 70,000 books
[115]
 Russia Russian State Archive of Contemporary History Moscow [116]
Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History
Russian State Archive of Literature and Art 1941 [117]
State Archive of the Russian Federation 1992 [118]
 Rwanda National Archives of Rwanda Kigali [119]

S

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Saharawi National Archive
 San Marino State Archives of San Marino [120]
 Scotland National Archives of Scotland Edinburgh [121]
 Senegal National Archives of Senegal Dakar [122]
 Serbia Archive of Serbia Belgrade 1900 [123]
 Seychelles Seychelles National Archives Mahé, Seychelles 1964 [124]
 Singapore National Archives of Singapore [125]
 Slovakia Slovak National Archives Bratislava 1928 [126]
 Slovenia Archives of the Republic of Slovenia Ljubljana [127]
 South Africa National Archives and Records Service of South Africa Arcadia, Pretoria [128]
 South Korea National Archives of Korea Daejeon [129]
 South Sudan National Archives of South Sudan Juba
 Spain Archivo Histórico Nacional [es] Madrid 1866 [130]
General Archive of the Indies Seville
  • 43,000 volumes
  • 80,000,000 pages
[131]
Archivo General de Simancas Simancas [132]
 Sri Lanka Department of National Archives Colombo [133]
 Sudan National Records Office of Sudan Khartoum
  • 13,000 volumes
  • 20,000,000 documents
[134]
 Suriname National Archives of Suriname Paramaribo [135]
 Sweden National Archives of Sweden Stockholm [136]
  Switzerland Swiss Federal Archives Bern 1798 [137]
Swiss Literary Archives 1991 [138]
Swiss Film Archive Lausanne
  • 85,000 films
  • 26,000 books
  • 3,000,000 photographs
[139]
Swiss National Sound Archives Lugano 1984 [140]

T

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Taiwan National Archives Administration, National Development Council [141]
 Tanzania Tanzania National Archives Dar es Salaam 1962
 Thailand National Archives of Thailand Bangkok
  • 444,009 photographs
  • 808,693 films
  • 20,062 maps and plans
[142]
Thai Film Archive Nakhon Pathom province [143]
 Togo National Archives of Togo Lomé
 Trinidad and Tobago National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago Port of Spain [144]
 Tunisia National Archives of Tunisia Tunis [145]
 Turkey Ottoman archives Istanbul [146]

U

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Ukraine State Archival Service of Ukraine [147]
 United Arab Emirates National Library and Archives Abu Dhabi 1968 [148]
 United Kingdom The National Archives Greater London [149]
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Belfast 1923 [150]
 United States National Archives and Records Administration Washington, D.C. 1934 [151]
 Uruguay General Archive of the Nation Montevideo

V

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Vanuatu National Archives of Vanuatu [152]
 Vatican City Vatican Apostolic Archive Cortile del Belvedere 1612 [153]
 Venezuela National Archives of Venezuela Caracas [154]

W

X

Y

Z

Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website
 Zambia National Archives of Zambia Lusaka
  • 70,000 volumes
 Zimbabwe National Archives of Zimbabwe Harare 1935 [155]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ceesay, Hassoum (2018). "Doing Archival Research in The Gambia: Locating and Appraising the Sources". Esboços: histórias em contextos globais. 25 (39): 49–67.
  2. ^ "Kosovo's forgotten archive - K2.0". Kosovo 2.0. 2023-10-12. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
  3. ^ Marcel Lajeunesse, ed. (2008). Les Bibliothèques nationales de la francophonie (PDF) (in French) (3rd ed.). Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. OCLC 401164333. Free access icon

External links