ARHIVSKI VJESNIK 42. (ZAGREB, 1999.)

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J. van den Broek, Current developments in the archival network in the Netherlands, Arh. vjesn., god. 42(1999), str. 103-112 ply what they were: regional cultural institutions with strong ties with other agencies and associations in the field. They used to play an important role in regional cultural life (they counted as what in officialese is called 'parts of the basic cultural infrastructure') without being themselves parts of the administrative structure of the provincial government. Dutch municipalities enjoy a large amount of autonomy which is also honoured by the archival law. Municipalities are still free in their choice to appoint an archivist or not. With the exception of some procedural prescriptions the law offers no general rules or standards for the custody of records. Nor is there any basis for organisational links between municipal archives among themselves or with state archives. Most municipal archives heed closer connections with the institutions of the local administration and with their direct cultural environment than with other archival institutions and the profession in general. As I said earlier, some of them continue old traditions, in some cases together with town libraries of museums. Many smaller sized municipalities, not being able to maintain a appropriately staffed repository of their own, sought and found co-operation with their neighbours and established common archives. All kinds of co-operation among municipal archives is based on voluntariness. Attempts at co-operation frequently meet with local differences. Nevertheless, there are many examples of successful joint efforts, both in the field of cultural projects and in the custody of records. Such was the Dutch archival network up to the year 1998, when the municipal and state archives in Utrecht merged to establish a new, large archival institution. At the same time talks started between the State Archival Service and the municipalities in Zwolle en Middelburg in order to set up new common archives in the provinces of Overijssel and Zeeland. I myself, as director of the municipal archive of Groningen, am closely involved in a similar process. Like the others, the provincial archive of Groningen was transformed into a state archive at the end of the 19th century. It is not without reason that our province is called after its main town: Groningen. This town has always been the only big population centre in the region. Already in the beginning of the 19

th century the old records of the town and the province had been transferred to the town hall of Groningen. In a singular spirit of harmony they had been kept there by an official who carried the title of provincial archivist. Between 1882 (the year in which the provincal archivist became a state official) and 1918 (the year when the archival law forced the municipality of Groningen to establish an archives repository of its own) the records of town and province of Groningen were kept by a State Archivist. From 1918 on the records from the province and the town were separated. The provincial holdings remained under the custody of the state archivist, the newly ap107