The National Archives of Hungary (Budapest, 2006)

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL ARCHIVES OF NATIONAL COLLECTION - Hungarian National Archives by Géza Érszegi and István G. Vass

without regard to the fact that they are original ones or transcriptions or copies. First of all the original issues of records and the transcribed ones from medieval times have been included in the collection. In the absence of the originals, later copies will be included in the collection. The central archives of medieval Hungary can be reconstructed only partially from the remaining documents of the Hungarian National Archives. But this material can be significantly extended if we acquire the material of other archives and libraries in Hungary into consideration Mreover, if we consider the material of foreign archives and libraries relating to Hungary / Hungarica , the prospect is immeasurably increased. Most material can be examined not only microfilm, but also in enlarged forms. After the years of World War II the adoption of written materials of the governmental authorities from the turn of the century and between the two World Wars continued. Later there was a sharp increase of written materials originating from the three or four years after World War II to the beginning of 1950s. The family archives, the ones from the civil age and the newly received governmental written materials from after 1945 were seriously damaged by fire during the Revolution of 1956. Therefore, we can say that the sourcematerials of this age is incomplete. As for arranging and classifying the material of the archives when the material was moved to the new building in 1923 it was obvious that the written material had to be placed according to the principle that fonds are an indissoluble unity. The Collection from before Mohács also preserved the principle that fonds possess a permanent, indissoluble unity. But they are kept according to chronological order not based on the principle of fonds. At the same time all the materials were valued and taken in inventory, but there were many more to finish in the following decades, too. The final arrangement of the materials originating from before the war was done in the 1950s / partly in 1960s and 1970s/. The informative stocks and repertories in use have been issued since the year of 1960. Proper arrangement of the archives is ensured by the section-system introduced at this time. The sections include the larger archives, which connect to each other to certain extent and fonds. The base of the connection that is the base of the systematization can be historical, organ typological fonds typological, chronological or the types of documents. The sections are marked with letters, within these fonds and divisions are marked with serial numbers.