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

Pest Megyei Levéltár (Pest County Archives)

county hall at Pest, giving place to the records as well. As early as in 1717 the arrangement of the archival material was decreed, later several rules touched the preservation of archival material, its use in the law suits of privates, the research in the archives, the issue of copies, etc. From the 1750s royal mandates regulate the arrangement and registration of the archival material. As Joseph II ordered the separation of county administration from jurisdiction, also the segregation of the archival duties from those of the notary became necessary. A self-standing archivist was employed on the 29th November 1785 in the person of Gábor BALLA. In the formative period of county archives no distinction was made between them and the registry. The arriving records were registered in the archives; apart from a few years under Joseph II up to the end of 1849 the listing of arrivals and expeditions was unknown, only the records of the settled affairs have come to the archives. Gábor BALLA elaborated the system of archival management; it remained valid in Pest county up to 1850 and was taken over by other counties totally or in its outlines. Baila 's system is clear and easy to survey; on the basis of his punctual and detailed lists, his precise indices the county material of the feudal period is easily accessible even to-day. The second period of the history of our repository lasted from 1850 to 1950. As early as in 1850 the registry was separated from the archives, the listing of records was introduced again and the official and registry management punctually regulated. The chief archivist of the county was not only in charge of the archives but he supervised the registry at the same time. County by-laws regulated the activities of the archives and the registry usually together. From the early nineteenth century to 1872 also the legal archives belonged to the repository, i.e. a judicial registry where judges and advocates could study the material of the current law-suits. The archives was bound essentially to take over the records of the county administration and jurisdiction, i.e. the county registry. Since in Hungary it was held that the offices of the districtual chief constables were but the prolongations of the central county organs, their records have come to the county archives naturally. As early as at the beginning of the nineteenth century the archives considered as its duty to take over the bequests of deceased advocates, the papers of some noble families, from 1828 yearly the duplicates of the confessional civil registers and from 1895 those of the state civil registers. The material of the town and village archives, however, remained with