The National Archives of Hungary (Budapest, 2006)

MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES - County Archives (Regional, general public archives) by Csaba Káli

hands of the archival department of the competent ministry. (Today the Ministry of National Cultural Heritage). As a whole this kind of change proved to be useful in the life of county archives since the local intention could be fulfilled more efficiently due to the decentralization of decisions relating to county archives and since the new maintainer could feel more responsibility for the institutions. Partly because of this and because of other reasons the development of county archives could increase from this time. At the same time significant differences started to come into being among the archives since the affinity of the maintainer determined the personal and financial supply of the institution. It also led to differentiation of county archives. Apart from this, The feudal room of the Archives all in all the former rather poor of Somo

Sy County store, personal and financial conditions proved in a great extent but still they were not enough for achieving an optimal condition. The sixties, seventies and even the eighties brought a relative development. It means e.g. that the material of the county archives (archives out of the centre - the comment of the translator) that was kept in forced storage (e.g. unheated, damp cellars) got into other but still forced stores that were minimally appropriate for their keeping (abandoned palaces, former church and farm buildings). They still could not be considered appropriate possibility of storage. Up-to-date, complete buildings for archives were not built during the years of socialism. The only positive example is perhaps the Archives of Szolnok County The political changes of 1989 and 1990 in Hungary and the following decade brought significant changes, most importantly in the area of storage and technical modernization. The local county authorities that were formed after the first free elections and that replaced the county councils became the maintainers of county archives. This fact caused modifications in the name of some county archives. In some cases the words of 'local authority, self-