National Archives of Armenia (Հայաստանի ազգային արխիվ)

History and Founding

The National Archives of Armenia were officially established in 1923 by decree of the government of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. The institution began operating formally on the basis of archival materials collected from pre-revolutionary and early Soviet institutions. From 1923 to 1924, a separate party archive was formed from the records of the Armenian Communist (Bolshevik) Party's Central Committee. By 1925, the head of the State Central Archive reported that 21 pre-revolutionary and 27 Soviet institutional fund holdings had been concentrated at the archive.

In 1958, the Council of Ministers of the Armenian SSR restructured the archival system, creating two state central archives: one for historical materials and one for materials related to the October Revolution and socialist construction. Following Armenian independence in 1991, the archives continued to develop. In 2003, a law on freedom of information was passed and smaller regional archives across Armenia were consolidated into the national system, creating 2,070 new archival fonds. As of 1 January 2013, the archives held 5,759 fonds with 3,419,353 storage units. The archives operate as a non-commercial state organisation under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, with 11 regional branches and 29 regional offices.

Collections and Holdings

The National Archives hold a vast body of documentary heritage covering Armenian history from the pre-revolutionary era to the present. Holdings include records of state and ecclesiastical bodies, the former Communist Party of Armenia, personal papers of scholars and public figures, cinema, photo, and phonographic documents, and materials related to the Armenian diaspora. Notable collections include the Archives of the Divan of the Catholicos of All Armenians (1660–1947), the Archives of the Saint Apostolic Synod of Etchmiadzin, editorial records of the newspaper Mshak, and the papers of historians such as Arshak Safrastyan.

Relevance to Journalism and Media History

The archives hold the ecclesiastical section of the editorial board of the newspaper Mshak, a historically important Armenian-language newspaper. The cinema and photo-phonographic document collection, which by 1957 held over 30,000 units, provides a significant resource for the history of Armenian media and visual culture.

Access and Usage

The archives are open Monday through Friday 09:00–18:00 (with a break 13:00–14:00). Researchers typically require an official letter from their university or institution. The archive operates a reading hall, online exhibition, e-request service, and a genealogical research service for individuals tracing family histories. It also publishes the Bulletin of Armenian Archives, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal issued twice yearly.