List of national archives
From Mediated Wiki, the community-governed knowledge commons
f
Facebook
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.
Contents
A
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 [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 Belize Archives and Records Service 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 [22] Bosnia and Herzegovina Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo [23] Botswana National Archives of Botswana Gaborone 1967 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 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 Catalonia National Archive of Catalonia Sant Cugat del Vallès 1980 [30] Cayman Islands Cayman Islands National Archive George Town, Cayman Islands 1991 [31] Chad Archives Nationales du Tchad Chile National Archives of Chile Santiago 1927 [32] China National Archives Administration of China ( the Central Archives)Beijing 1954 [33] Colombia General Archive of the Nation Bogotá 1989 [34] 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 [35] Costa Rica National Archives of Costa Rica San José 1881 [36] Croatia Croatian State Archives Zagreb 1763 [37] Cuba Archivo Nacional de la República de Cuba Havana 1840 [38] Curacao Nationaal Archief Curacao Willemstad [39] Cyprus Cyprus State Archives Nicosia 1972 [40] Czech Republic National Archives Prague [41]
D
E
F
G
Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website Gabon National Archives of Gabon Libreville 1969 Gambia The Gambia National Records Service Banjul 1966 Audio recordings and oral histories in various Mande , Niger–Congo and Atlantic–Congo languages - including Mandinka , Fula , Wolof , Jola , Krio , Soninke , Manjak , Serer and Karoninka. [1] Pre-colonial and rare colonial texts containing documentation, data, social histories, women's histories and plant knowledge Georgia National Archives of Georgia Tbilisi 1920 [55] Germany German Federal Archives Koblenz 1952 [56] Ghana National Archives of Ghana (until 1997)Accra Public Records and Archives Administration Department 1997 [57] Gibraltar Gibraltar Archives Gibraltar 1969 [58] Greece General State Archives Psychiko 1914 [59] Greenland Greenland National Museum Nuuk 1982 [60] Grenada Grenada National Museum St. George's 1959 Grenada Plantation Records, 1737-1845 [61] Guam Guam Museum Hagåtña 1980 [62] Guatemala Archivo General de Centro América Guatemala City 1846 Documents dating from 1537 onwards - relating to government, commerce, colonialism, revolutions, religion and more [63] 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 [64] Guyana National Archives of Guyana ( the Walter Rodney Archives)Georgetown, Guyana 1958
H
I
Country Archive Location Year Collection size Notable artifacts Image Website Iceland National Archives of Iceland Reykjavík 1882 [69] India National Archives of India New Delhi 1891 [70] Indonesia National Archives of Indonesia Jakarta 1819 [71] 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 [72] Iraq Iraq National Library and Archive Baghdad 1920 [73] Ireland National Archives of Ireland Dublin 1867 Primary (Griffith) Valuation, 1847-1864 land and buildings value directory[74] Isle of Man Manx Museum Douglas, Isle of Man 1922 [75] Israel Israel State Archives Jerusalem 1949 400 million documents, maps, stamps, audio tapes, video clips, photographs and special publications [76] Central Zionist Archives West Jerusalem 1919 [77] Italy Central Archives of the State Rome 1875 [78] Ivory Coast Archives Nationales du Côte d´Ivoire Abidjan
J
K
L
M
N
P
R
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 [123] Scotland National Archives of Scotland Edinburgh [124] Senegal National Archives of Senegal Dakar [125] Serbia State Archives of Serbia Belgrade 1900 [126] Seychelles Seychelles National Archives Mahé, Seychelles 1964 [127] Singapore National Archives of Singapore [128] Slovakia Slovak National Archives Bratislava 1928 [129] Slovenia Archives of the Republic of Slovenia Ljubljana [130] South Africa National Archives and Records Service of South Africa Arcadia, Pretoria [131] South Korea National Archives of Korea Daejeon [132] South Sudan National Archives of South Sudan Juba Spain Archivos Estatales - State Archives Madrid [133] General Archive of the Indies Seville 43,000 volumes 80,000,000 pages [134] Archivo General de Simancas Simancas 1540 More than 78.000 units (bundles/boxes/books) 13,5 km of shelves [135] Sri Lanka Department of National Archives Colombo [136] Sudan National Records Office of Sudan Khartoum 13,000 volumes 20,000,000 documents [137] Suriname National Archives of Suriname Paramaribo [138] Sweden National Archives of Sweden Stockholm 1618 Codex Argenteus [139] Switzerland Swiss Federal Archives Bern 1798 [140] Swiss Literary Archives 1991 [141] Swiss Film Archive Lausanne 85,000 films 26,000 books 3,000,000 photographs [142] Swiss National Sound Archives Lugano 1984 [143]
T
U
V
Z
See also
References
^ Ceesay, Hassoum (2018). "Doing Archival Research in The Gambia: Locating and Appraising the Sources" . Esboços: histórias em contextos globais . 25 (39): 49–67. ^ "Kosovo's forgotten archive - K2.0" . Kosovo 2.0 . 2023-10-12. Retrieved 2023-12-22.^ "International Memory of the World Register: Nisvasattatvasaṃhitā" . media.unesco.org . UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. Retrieved 21 November 2025.^ "NA | National Archives of Nepal" . narchives.gov.np . Retrieved 21 November 2025.^ Marcel Lajeunesse (ed.) (2008). Les Bibliothèques nationales de la francophonie Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec . OCLC 401164333 External links