National Records Office of Sudan

Overview

The National Records Office of Sudan (NRO), located in Khartoum, serves as Sudan's national archive and principal repository for the country's documentary heritage. It operates under the auspices of the Council of Ministers of Sudan.

History and Founding

The NRO was established in 1956 as the Landsarchiefdienst to serve as the national oversight body for government archives. Some sources cite an earlier founding date of 1916, reflecting a prior colonial-era records office established under the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium period.

Collections and Holdings

The archive holds approximately 20 to 30 million documents and 13,000 bound volumes covering Sudanese history from the 1870s onward, with some items dating as far back as 1504. The collections span official documents from the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium period through the mid-1980s, including government correspondence, manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, and photographs. Notable holdings include 40,000–50,000 letters from the Mahdist revolution of the late nineteenth century, Arabic manuscripts, and images documenting the Mahdist State (1885–1899). The archive also holds a significant newspaper collection and photographic negatives covering the early twentieth century.

Sudan Memory Project

Since 2018, the NRO has been a leading partner in the Sudan Memory project, an international digitisation and cultural heritage initiative working to conserve and promote Sudanese documentary heritage both physically and online. In partnership with Genus IT and the University of Bergen, the NRO undertook digitisation of manuscripts, newspapers, magazines, and photographs. Newspapers from the NRO's collection, digitised under this project, are accessible via the Sudan Memory portal at sudanmemory.org.

Media and Journalism Collections

The NRO holds a broad range of historical Sudanese newspapers, offering a wide range of titles in English and Arabic that represent a significant portion of Sudan's press history. These digitised newspapers are accessible through the Sudan Memory website.

Access and Current Status

The NRO has no public website or online catalogue. The archive and its collections sustained significant damage during the Sudanese civil war that intensified from 2023. Access for researchers has historically required in-person visits to Khartoum.