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

(Central Archives) - Magyar Országos Levéltár (Hungarian National Archives)

The Director belongs to the category of general director. His two vicedirectors are in charge of a section each. The secretariat does the secretarial work of the general director, deals with matters of personnel and planning, edits, publishes and distributes the mimeographic publications of the Archives, and is in charge of the exchange of publications. In controls the bureau where registering, type-writing, posting is done and the files are kept. One part of the finance department does the work of financial administration, the other fulfils the tasks of the warden. The technicians, the chauffeur, the night-watchman, the janitors, the repository assistants, the charwomen, the deliverers of the Archives are attached to the finance department. The library of the Archives is accessible to its personnel and the researchers. At the end of 1974 its holdings totalled 31.229 works in 65.082 volumes. The library is the centre of the network of archival libraries. In the central research room the material preserved by Sections I and III is accessible for research. Those doing research in the material of Sections II and IV have a separate room. Microfilm readers can be used in a special room by researchers in the film archives. Research rooms are open from 8.30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on workdays, to noon on Saturdays. Section I preserves the records of the central organs of government from 1526 to 1867. Section II is in charge of the records of the central bodies of government from 1867 to 1944. Section HI keeps the records of families, corporations and other nongovernmental institutions both from the feudal and bourgeois periods. Also the collections established from special material (records prior to 1526, maps, plans, photographs, seals) are entrusted to the care of this Section. Section IV preserves the records of economic bodies, mainly from the bourgeois period. The overwhelming majority of this material was in charge of a special repository, the Central Economic Archives between 1953 and 1961. Section V comprises 3 groups. The photographic group takes photographs for various purposes, mainly for security, in negative and positive copies, the latter for the use of research. A part of the films is enlarged. The group is in charge of the Xerox-machine.