Dr. Péter Balázs: Guide to the archives of Hungary (Budapest, 1976)

Zala Megyei Levéltár (Zala County Archives)

begin with 1555, being very defective in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, continuous from 1716, provided with indexes up to 1849. The pre-1786 part of the records of the assemblies and the law courts is stored in the artificial order established after 1794, the other part between 1786 and 1849 in the original order generally, relatively suitable for research with the help of the finding aids. The assessments of the eighteenth century, especially the tabular assessments according to villages between 1776 and 1847 make up an important and almost complete series. Among the records between 1850 and 1871 only those of the imperial prefect's office are adequately arranged, complete and provided with finding aids. From the period from 1861 to 1871 the records of the central county organs, together with those of the districts from 1850 to 1871 are defective and in a large part unarranged. As to the period after 1867 only the series of assembly journals is complete, the records of the Lord Lieutenant begin with 1885 only; the records of the sub-prefect are partly, those of the orphans' court totally annihilated. The records of the Administrative Commission exist, but without finding aids. Of the papers of the chief constables only those of the Keszthely (1901-1949), the Pacsa (1910-1949), the Zalaegerszeg (1932-1949) and the Zalaszentgrót (1927-1949) districts keep considerable material. The records of various county organs after 1945 have come into archival custody in order. The most valuable parts of Nagykanizsa borough archives, the council journals and the records of the feudal period, were almost entirely destroyed in 1945, even the remaining material was badly damaged by bad storage. The administrative records are preserved from 1870 to 1939, but their original order was disintegrated, the finding aids are missing up to 1910, research in them is very circumstantial. The material of Zalaegerszeg city archives up to 1885 was rearranged in an arbitrary artificial system in 1902, but the elaborated index makes research easier. The journals of the council and the municipal commission exist from 1743 to 1949. In the records from 1885 to 1944 the year 1945 caused considerable damage, but the remaining ones are in the original order and the majority is suitable for research with the help of the original finding aids. The archives of the Zala County Council unites the post-1950 records of the county and district councils and their executive committees, taken into archival custody, together with those of the specialized organs of the district councils and district boards. They are taken over in the original order with finding aids continually. Of the archival groups of villages and notarial districts the records of