Háromnyelvű levéltárismertető : The National Archives of Hungary : Das Ungarische Staatsarchiv : Les Archives Nationales de Hongrie

microfilm collection of the year 1950 grew to 20 million in two decades. Parallel with these changes, the entire archival material was rearranged and made a full inventory of the holdings according to the principle of provenance. The number of publications also increased significantly. While only 20 works were published between 1875 and 1944, the number of publications increased to 200 by 1969. The extensive processing work considerably improved research conditions, the number of users increased including a growing number of foreign researchers as a sign of lessening cold war tensions. In accordance with the adoption and practice of the 'open archives' concept users and visitors could get acquainted with the building and the collections of the Archives through guided tours and exhibitions. On 1 June 1970 the New Hungarian Central Archives was established as an independent institution to preserve the central governmental records created after 1945. The National Archives thus became a closed historical collection receiving no more regular records transfers. Accordingly, from that point professional work focused on the complete arrangement and processing of the preserved material, and by the middle of the 1970s the material became easily accessible even by international standards. The New Hungarian Central Archives was also located in the Castle of Buda, in the former building of the Ministry of Finance. Beside the large-scale acquisition of material, the scientific publishing activity of the new institution also began. Education appeared among the basic tasks of the Archives in the form of records management courses for the employees of records creators. Following the change of political system in 1989-1990, a vast amount of administrative work was poured on the institution. In the course of the transition to democracy, as a result of legal regulations on compensation, the public demand for information, exhausted almost the full working capacity of the Archives to such an extent that pushed routine archival work into the background. Act No. 85 of 1991 enacted by the Parliament of the Republic of Hungary ordered the reunification of the divided institution. Parallel with the codification of the Act, a government decision was made that a new archives building should be raised on the site of a former Soviet military barracks, in District III of Budapest. The effective date of reunification was 1 July 1992. These days the institution, keeping more than 71000 linear metres of records and giving work to 260 employees, faces new challenges. Looking back on the years that have passed since the reunification, significant results can be reported, The most important of them is perhaps the completion of the new archives building in 1997. This was followed by a significant development of IT infrastructure, which set the framework of the future acquisition and preservation of electronic records, a task the Archives intends to accomplish in compliance with international standards. Digitisation of records has also begun, the Archives published several CD-ROMs during the past decade. The website of the institution is available to the public at www.mol.gov.hu along with an electronic periodical, called ArchivNet, publishing archival sources of the 20

th century history of Hungary. (www.archivnet.hu)