Archives timeline

A list of key dates in the development of archives and related bodies.

This list is for general 'foundings, transformations, and closings' of archives - the chronologies of specific archives should be put on their particular pages.

Up to 1600

 * 1295 Plzen City Archive
 * 1371 Stadtarchiv Heilbronn
 * 1373 Merton College Library
 * 1378 Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo
 * 1408 Stadtarchiv Kassel
 * 1440 Stadtbibliothek Hannover
 * 1451 University of Glasgow founded - archives date back to this point (but some older).
 * 1540 Archivo General de Simancas
 * 1549 Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek
 * 1555 National Library of Malta

17th century

 * 1602 Bodleian Library
 * 1607 National and University Library in Zagreb
 * 1610 Lambeth Palace Library
 * 1613 Kedermister Library
 * 1640 National Library of Finland
 * 1648 Danish Royal Library
 * 1660 Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Meiningen
 * 1696 Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt

18th century

 * 1707 Marsh's Library
 * 1712 Biblioteca Nacional de España and National Library of Spain
 * 1714 Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze and National Central Library (Florence)
 * 1717 New Hampshire State Library
 * 1749 National Archives of Austria
 * 1751 Society of Antiquaries of London
 * 1756 Hungarian National Archives
 * 1770 Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense
 * 1774 National and University Library of Slovenia
 * 1777 National Library of Colombia
 * 1780 Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
 * 1784 Hungarian National Archives moved from Bratislava to Buda (now Budapest)
 * 1785 Archivo General de Indias
 * 1790 Archives départementales de la Corrèze and Archives nationales (France)
 * 1792 Oldenburg State Library
 * 1794 State decree, France, made it mandatory to centralize all the pre-French Revolution private and public archives.
 * 1795 National Library of Russia
 * 1796 Law passed France which created departmental archives (archives départementales) in the départements of France
 * 1796 Archives départementales de la Haute-Saone, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal and New Jersey State Library
 * 1798 Federal Archives of Switzerland, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands
 * 1800 Archives nationales (France) became an autonomous body of the French state. Library of Congress instituted for the US Congress.

19th century

 * 1802 National Széchényi Library
 * 1804 Punjab Archives
 * 1806 Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart. King Louis Bonaparte gave the National Library of the Netherlands its current name.
 * 1808 Archivio di Stato di Napoli and Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
 * 1810 National Library of Brazil and National Library of the Argentine Republic
 * 1813 National Library of Chile
 * 1815 Thomas Jefferson sold 6,487 books, his entire personal collection, to the Library of Congress. Archivio di Stato di Venezia and National Library of Uruguay
 * 1818 National Library of South Africa and New York State Library
 * 1820 Naturalis founded as the National Museum of Natural History
 * 1821 Biblioteca Nacional del Perú and Maharashtra State Archives
 * 1823 Library of Virginia
 * 1825 Archives départementales de la Seine-Maritime and National Library Service of Belize
 * 1826 Archivio storico del Comune di Venezia, Matica srpska (in Budapest), State Library of Massachusetts and Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Altenburg
 * 1827 Landesarchiv Berlin and Municipal Library of Akureyri
 * 1828 State Library of New South Wales
 * 1829 National Archives of Luxembourg and State Central Library, Kerala
 * 1832 National Library of Armenia, National Library of Greece, National Library of Moldova, and National Library of Serbia
 * 1829 National Archives of Luxembourg and State Central Library, Kerala
 * 1832 National Library of Armenia, National Library of Greece, National Library of Moldova and National Library of Serbia
 * 1833 National Library of Mexico and National Library of Venezuela
 * 1835 Archives départementales de la Charente, National Library of Algeria and The Archives of the Episcopal Church
 * 1837 Eutiner Landesbibliothek
 * 1838 Brazilian National Archives established as the "Imperial Public Archives".
 * 1839 Bermuda National Library, Royal Library of Belgium, and National Library of the Republic of Texas, later the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
 * 1846 Archivo General de Centro América, National Parliamentary Library of Georgia and Smithsonian Institution
 * 1848 Boston Public Library
 * 1849 Minnesota Historical Society, Minnesota State Law Library and Administrative Library of the Ministry of Interior


 * 1864 Matica srpska moves from Budapest to Novi Sad.
 * 1887 Palais Porcia (Vienna)
 * 1880 Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense acquires the status of a national library.

20th century

 * February 27, 1901 Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH)
 * 1907 Presidential Decree no. 1825, Brazil - established the duty of all publishers to send one copy of each publication to then-called Bibliotheca Nacional.
 * 1911 Brazilian National Archives take their present name.
 * 1932-1992 National Library of Russia in St Petersburg, known as the State Public Saltykov-Shchedrin Library
 * 1945 Archives of the Republic of Slovenia (ARS) created (based on earlier bodies).
 * 1946 Archivo Histórico Provincial de Córdoba founded.
 * 1955-1990 National Parliamentary Library of Georgia operated under the name of "State Republic Library”
 * 1965 Archives of the History of American Psychology established
 * 1966 The Alabama Historical Commission created by an act of the state legislature
 * 1977 The National Archives building at Kew, London, opened.
 * 1987 Archivo General de Indias building and its contents were registered by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
 * 25 December 1996 National Parliamentary Library of Georgia established
 * July 1998 Archives of Indian Labour. Functions of the National Library of South Africa described in National Library Act, No 92 of 1998

it passed under control of Parliament of Georgia, and now its official name is "National Parliamentary Library of Georgia” (NPLG). In 2000 it was named after Ilia Chavchavadze, the great Georgian literary and public figure, widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of modern Georgia.

21st century

 * Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003. The National Archives created by merging the Public Record Office and the Historical Manuscripts Commission.
 * 2004 Congressional Law no. 10,994, Brazil in effect updated publishers' legal deposit with the National Library of Brazil
 * March 2008 Family Records Centre, Islington, closed.
 * 2009 Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo renamed Instituto dos Arquivos Nacionais
 * 2012 National Archives of Hungary became the Hungarian National Archives