The Department of National Archives ( Sinhala: ජාතික ලේඛනාරක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව ''jāthika lēkhanārakshana depārthamēnthuwa'') is a government department in Sri Lanka which is the repository of the non-current records of the Government of Sri Lanka. The headquarters of the National Archives is situated along Reid Avenue in close proximity to Independence square,

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

and has a branch office in

Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...

History

The current department operates under the provisions of the ''National Archives Law No. 48 of 1973'', and ''National Archives (Amendment) Act No. 30 of 1981''. The duties of

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can consis ...

s in Sri Lanka can be traced back to the ancient Sri Lankan Kingdoms dating as far back as 3rd century BC, when officers were appointed to maintain royal archives of Sri Lankan monarchs. In the 19th century, Hay Macdowall noted the existence of ''Maha Mohotti'' within the Kandyan Court responsible for the maintenance of the Court archives during the 18th and 19th centuries. Modern archiving in the country began when the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

established archives in

Galle Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern ...

. The current department was formed with the creation of the post of Government Archivist in 1901 by the Government of Ceylon, as part of the Chief Secretary's Office (also known as the '' Colonial Secretary''). R.G. Anthonisz was appointed the first Government Archivist in 1902. The Department of the Government Archivist was formally established in 1947 and, following the enactment of the ''National Archives Law No. 48 of 1973'', was renamed Department of National Archives.

Records

Records held in the Department of National Archives include those of the Portuguese-, Dutch- (Land Tombo, Head Tombo and School Tombo Council Minutes and practically all records of the Dutch administration on the island) and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

periods, copies of Crown Grants, Grain Tax Registers, Nila Pangu- & Praveni Pangu registers, as well as records since independence 1948, including those of Government-, Semi Government- and other institutions. Apart from these there is a large collection of donated or purchased papers,

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

s and books from institutions and individuals such as the Horagolla library (part of the Bandaranaike estate), the ''

Times of Ceylon ''The Times of Ceylon'' was an English language daily newspaper in Sri Lanka published by Times of Ceylon Limited (TOCL). It was founded in 1846 as the ''Ceylon Times'' and was published from Colombo. It ceased publication in 1985. History The ...

'' Collection and Buddhist temples. Collections of election literature, maps of the island (both colonial maps and post-independence Surveyor General's maps), government publications such as pre-independence Ordinances (1796-1947),

Government Gazettes A government gazette (also known as an official gazette, official journal, official newspaper, official monitor or official bulletin) is a periodical publication that has been authorised to publish public or legal notices. It is usually establis ...

, Blue Books (1821-1937), Sessional Papers (1860 onward), Administration Reports (1867 onward) and

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official prin ...

reports (1870 onward) also form part of the Archives' stock.

Heads of Department

Government Archivist

* R.G. Anthonisz,

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

, JP (1902–1921) *Edmund Reimers,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(1921–1940) *J. H. 0. Paulusz (1940–1958)

Director, National Archives

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Archives in Sri Lanka National Archives Historiography of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka