The Regional State Archives in Oslo () is a regional state

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

s situated at

Sognsvann Sognsvann (or ''Sognsvannet'') is a 3.3 km circumference lake just north of Oslo, Norway. Lying just within the greenbelt around Oslo, the lake is a popular recreational area, used as a camping, picnicking and bathing destination for the re ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. Part of the

National Archival Services of Norway The National Archives of Norway () is a Norwegian government agency that is responsible for keeping state archives, conducts control of public archiving and works to preserve private archives. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Culture and Ch ...

, it is responsible for archiving documents from state institutions in the

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Akershus Akershus () is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akers ...

, Oslo and

Østfold Østfold () is a county in Eastern Norway, which from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023 was part of Viken. Østfold borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other ...

. The facility is jointly located with the

National Archives of Norway The National Archives of Norway (''Riksarkivet'') is the institution responsible for preserving archive material from Norway, Norwegian state institutions, as well as contributing to the preservation of private archives. It does this work in cooper ...

. The collection includes 19.2 shelf-kilometers of material. Norways national archive

The agency was created in 1914 as the Regional State Archives in Kristiania, and initially covered all of

Eastern Norway Eastern Norway (, ) is the geographical region of the south-eastern part of Norway. It consists of the counties Oslo, Akershus, Vestfold, Østfold, Buskerud, Telemark, and Innlandet. Eastern Norway is by far the most populous region of Norw ...

and

Agder Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...

. From 13 July 1917 the newly created

Regional State Archives in Hamar The Regional State Archives in Hamar () is a regional state archives situated in Hamar, Norway. Part of the National Archival Services of Norway, it is responsible for archiving documents from state institutions in the counties of Oppland and Hed ...

took over documents from

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The ...

and

Hedmark Hedmark () was a Counties of Norway, county in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmar ...

. The current name was adopted in 1924. With the opening of the

Regional State Archives in Kristiansand The Regional State Archives in Kristiansand () is a regional state archives situated in Kristiansand, Norway. Part of the National Archival Services of Norway, it is responsible for archiving documents from state institutions in the counties of No ...

in 1934, documents from Agder was moved there. The final demerger took place in 1994, when the

Regional State Archives in Kongsberg Regional State Archives in Kongsberg () is a regional state archives situated in Kongsberg, Norway. Part of the National Archival Services of Norway, it is responsible for archiving documents from state institutions in the counties of Buskerud, T ...

took over documents from

Buskerud Buskerud () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Innlandet, Vestland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardanger ...

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

and

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

References

{{Authority control National Archival Services of Norway Organisations based in Oslo 1914 establishments in Norway Government agencies established in 1914