The National Archives of Chile (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: ) is a public organization of the Chilean state, created in 1927 with the goal to "collect and conserve the archives of the Departments of State and all the documents and manucsrpits related to the

national history Historiography is the study of how history is written. One pervasive influence upon the writing of history has been nationalism, a set of beliefs about political legitimacy and cultural identity. Nationalism has provided a significant framework ...

, and to oversee their organization and use". It is treated as a dependent organization of the Dirección de Bibliotecas, Archivos y Museos (Direction of

Libraries A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

, Archives, and

Museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

s), which is administered by the Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes de Chile (National Council on Culture and the Arts).

History

The organization has its historical roots in several specialized archives created by different public organizations of the Chilean state. In its foundational form, it was an office attached to the General Archive of the Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas de Chile (National Institute of

Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

of Chile), created in 1847 under the auspices of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Manuel Bulnes Manuel Bulnes Prieto (; December 25, 1799 – October 18, 1866) was a Chilean military and political figure who was President of Chile from 1841 to 1851. Born in Concepción, he served as the president of Chile between 1841 and 1851. At the ...

. The "''Ley Orgánica de Ministerios''" ("

Organic Law An organic law is a law, or system of laws, that form the foundation of a government, corporation or any other organization's body of rules. A constitution is a particular form of organic law. By country France Under Article 46 of the Constitutio ...

of Ministries") of 1887 ordered the creation of the ''Archivo General de Gobierno'' (General Archive of the Government), a dependent to the Ministerio de Justicia e Instrucción Pública de Chile (Ministry of Justice and Public Instruction of Chile), which, together with the department of

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

s of the

Biblioteca Nacional de Chile The National Library of Chile () is the national library of Chile. It is located on the Avenida Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins in Santiago, Chile, Santiago, in a building completed in 1925, though its history reaches to the early nineteent ...

(

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, ...

of Chile) and the documents of the Archivo Judicial de Chile (Judicial Archive of Chile), was reorganized in to a single dependency called the Archivo Nacional de Chile. With the creation of the Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes, the administration of the dependency was not modified, and the Archive continued under the DIBAM. In reality, the Archivo Nacional was located beside the building of the Biblioteca Nacional, at the exit of the

Santiago Metro The Santiago Metro () is a rapid transit system serving the city of Santiago, the capital of Chile. It currently consists of seven lines (numbered 1-6 and 4A), 143 stations, and of revenue route. The system is managed by the state-owned Metro S. ...

Santa Lucía station, on the street Miraflores. Nazi assembly in Chile

Collection

The collection includes extensive records on Nazi activities in the country, related to spy operations and the

Ratlines Ratlines () are lengths of thin line tied between the shrouds of a sailing ship to form a ladder. Found on all square-rigged ships, whose crews must go aloft to stow the square sails, they also appear on larger fore-and-aft rigged vessels to ...

(routes used to escape Germany) around the time of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.Transfer of Archives of Department 50 of the General Directorate of Investigations
– National Archives of Chile (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 May 2022. Some photographs were shown on

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

's investigative documentary series ''

Hunting Hitler ''Hunting Hitler'' is a History Channel television series based on the fringe theory that Adolf Hitler escaped from Berlin at the end of World War II in Europe, ostensibly by faking his death instead of committing suicide in Berlin in ...

''.

Location

The building housing the National Archives is located at 50 Miraflores Street, downtown

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. The building was built between 1915 and 1935 in the

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

, is attached to the building housing the

. The building occupies a blockfront between Avenida Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins and Moneda Street, and faces the

Santa Lucía Hill Santa Lucía Hill (), also known in Mapuche as Huelén Hill (), is a small hill in the centre of Santiago, Chile. It is situated between Alameda del Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins in the south, Santa Lucía Street in the west and Victoria Sube ...

. The building was originally designed to house the Chilean National History Museum, which was moved to its current location in 1982. Since that year the building has served as the home for the National Archives.

References

External links

National Archives of Chile (in Spanish only)
{{authority control

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Cultural organisations based in Chile Archives in Chile