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

Hajdú-Bihar Megyei Levéltár (Haj dú-Bihar County Archives)

HAJDÚ-BIHAR MEGYEI LEVÉLTÁR (HAJDÜ-BIHAR COUNTY ARCHIVES) 4001 DEBRECEN, Vörös Hadsereg útja 20. (Pf. 39.) Tel. 12-223 Director: Dr. István GAZDAG The history of three former municipal archives, making up Hajdu-Bihar County Archives (Debrecen municipal city, Bihar and Hajdu counties) was largely different. In Debrecen the city chancellery preserved the important records and privileges prior to Mohács already. By the early 1700s a "conservatorium" was established. In 1774 the material of the secret archives was separated from the common archives and this division lasted till 1915. In this year the historical archives of Debrecen city was established by the unification of the secret and the common archives. In 1705 great damage was done in the material by the imperial mercenaries. The ancient records of Bihar county were destroyed in 1660, as the Turks occupied Nagyvárad. After their expulsion the assembly journals were kept from 1688. From 1790 the county employed a standing archivist for the care of the records. A part of the Bihar county archives was preserved at the new county seat, Berettyóújfalu from 1920. This material was transferred to the new county archives in 1950, at the extinction of Bihar county. We have data for several selections in Bihar county archives in the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. The archives of the Hajdu district are first mentioned in 1688 in the district seat, Böszörmény, but the more important records and privileges were preserved as early as in 1605. A "regestrator" is testified in 1793, a large scale selection was executed in 1849. Hajdu county was founded in 1876, with the seat and the county archives at Debrecen. The former Hajdu district archives have been taken over by the county. The archival material has been preserved relatively complete. From the eighteenth century on the Hajdu towns had independent archives. The ancient archival material was cared for by the boroughs only, from 1872, so the records of Hajdúböszörmény, Hajdúnánás and Hajdúszoboszló remained almost intact. The remaining three Hajdu settlements, made parishes in 1872 (Hajduhadház, Hajdudorog, Vámospércs) were less keen on their records. We have taken over the archival material of the Hajdu boroughs and of the mentioned three villages between 1951 and 1953. These records were more or less damaged between 1944 and 1948 through selections.