Belgian State Archives
The Belgian State Archives ( French Archives de l'État ; Flemish Rijksarchief ) is a Belgian scientific institution of the Federal Public Programming Service (FÖP) Science Policy. The State Archives consists of the General State Archives in Brussels and the 18 State Archives departments across Belgium . Each department has a reading room in which the archives are made available to the public. There, readers can view written material on paper or in digital format, taking into account certain restrictions due to the private nature of certain information. As a knowledge center for historical information and archival science, the State Archive stores over 325 km of archival material and 25 km of books. Karel Velle , General Archivist of the Kingdom, is the General Director of the Belgian State Archives.
Administrative organization
The General State Archives and the State Archives in the Provinces consist of 4 departments:
Department I: Archives of the Brussels-Capital Region
- General State Archives (headquarters of the institution)
- General State Archives 2-depot Joseph Cuvelier
- Archives of the Royal Palace
- State Archives in Brussels
Department II: Archives in the Flemish Provinces
- State Archives in Leuven
- State Archives in Kortrijk
- State Archives in Antwerp-Beveren
- State Archives in Hasselt
- State Archives in Ghent
- State Archives in Brugge
Department III: Archives in the Walloon provinces and in the German-speaking Community
- State Archives in Eupen
- State Archives in Tournai
- State Archives in Saint-Hubert
- State Archives in Namur
- State Archives in Mons
- State Archives in Louvain-la-Neuve
- State Archives in Liège
- State Archives in Arlon
Department IV
- CegeSoma
An institution with diverse objectives
Storage and material preservation of the archival cultural heritage
The material preservation of the archive material is one of the main tasks of the State Archives. The archive material is stored for a long time in specially equipped magazines that meet the highest requirements in terms of temperature, humidity, fire and flood protection. The documents are stored in folders and acid-free archival boxes, which are provided with all the necessary identification features. Private archivists can purchase these acid-free archival boxes from the State Archives. Documents that have been gnawed by the ravages of time and have left damage are restored and reintegrated. In order to avoid damage to the frequently viewed documents ( church records , civil status registers , maps, plans and drawings, very old charters on parchment), these are copied on microfilm or, increasingly, digitized. The Belgian State Archives coordinates archive policy at the national level and strives for efficient cooperation at the international level.
Archives Supervision
The State Archives oversee the archives of the public authorities: Belgian courts, courts, public administrations and institutions. No archival document created by or received by a public authority may be destroyed without the permission of the archivist general or his deputy. This supervision of the public archives is entrusted on the one hand to the section “Archive supervision, statements and coordination of the collection and selection of archival material” of the State Archives and on the other hand to the archivists of the individual State Archives Services in the provinces. The former oversees the central services of the federal institutions, while the latter oversees the archives of the external services of the federal authorities, the courts and tribunals of the judiciary and the regional and local authorities. The State Archives ensure that the archival materials that are created and managed by the Belgian public services are properly stored. To this end, the State Archive issues guidelines, carries out inspection visits, organizes further training for civil servants and acts as a consultant in the construction and installation of magazines and in the organization of archive management for public services. The guidelines, advice and recommendations can be downloaded from the State Archives website.
Acquisition of public service archives and private archives
The State Archives acquires and preserves (after assessment) the archives that are more than 30 years old and come from courts and tribunals, notaries, and from the private sector and individuals (companies, politicians, associations and societies, influential families, etc., which played an important role in the social life of the country). It monitors the professional submission of the public archives in compliance with archival standards.
Public service
The State Archives make the archival material it stores available to the public, taking into account the private nature of certain information. For this purpose, the State Archives have reading rooms in each of its 19 offices. There, students, genealogists, historians, researchers, etc. can view the numerous archival documents in the original, in digital format or on microfilm. Various publications and aids to support the research (inventories, archive guides, etc.) are available in the reading room or can be purchased in the shop of the General State Archives. Another main task of the State Archives is to provide the public with as much information as possible via the Internet. Therefore, numerous publications can be downloaded free of charge from the State Archives website. For example the parish registers, many more than 100 years old registry office registers, the minutes of the Council of Ministers meetings from 1917 to 1979 etc. In order to bring the richness and diversity of its collections closer to the general public, the State Archives organize, among other things, regular exhibitions in its various offices. In these thematic exhibitions, archival materials are shown in their broader social and cultural context. An exhibition catalog, a scientific study or an information brochure is usually published as part of these events. The State Archives also organize study days, conferences, colloquiums and seminars for specific target groups. The State Archives also take part in various events (e.g .: Days of the Open Monument). The events are announced on the website as well as via the Facebook page and the newsletter of the State Archives.
Development of the archival genetic material
One of the most important tasks of the scientific staff of the State Archives is the indexing of the enormous amount of archival material stored in the facility with the help of scientific finding aids: guides, stock overviews, inventories, institutional studies. These publications are designed to enable researchers to find the information they are looking for accurately and in a timely manner.
The State Archives is a knowledge center for historical information and archival science. The scientific staff of the State Archives continuously conducts scientific research in the field of archival science, the preservation of holdings and the institutional history of the archive-building institutions, and this within the framework of the responsible execution of the above-mentioned tasks in terms of acquisition, maintenance, indexing and provision of the archives.
Scientific Research
As a scientific institution, the State Archive carries out scientific research in its specialist areas: archival studies, preservation of holdings and the institutional history of the archive-creating institutions. The above tasks (acquisition, maintenance, development and provision) cannot be carried out without ongoing scientific research. A considerable part of the scientific activities of the State Archives takes place in close cooperation with the universities of the state.
Digitization of archives
The State Archives recently started the extensive task of digitizing archives. For this purpose, all state archive services were equipped with digital reading rooms. Since August 2009, the state's digitized church records and registry office registers have been gradually made available to the public in the 19 reading rooms of the State Archives. Since January 2013, 27,000 church registers and a steadily increasing number of civil status registers can also be viewed free of charge on the State Archives' website. Other types of documents can also be consulted on the State Archives' website: minutes of the Councils of Ministers (1918–1979), Statistical Yearbook of Belgium (and the Belgian Congo) since 1870, over 38,000 cast seals, etc.
History of the General State Archives and the State Archives in the Provinces
Under Austrian rule (1714–1795)
The origins of the Belgian State Archives go back to Austrian times. In 1773 an archives office was set up in Brussels. It was a general and permanent repository for the most important archives in the Austrian Netherlands, which was initially intended to be used somewhat cautiously for an initial centralization of the archives of the public sector.
From French rule (1795-1814) to the Kingdom of the United Netherlands, (1815-1830)
The law of the 7th Messidor of the year II [25. June 1794] leads to the creation of a central archive depot for the entire republic. It also lays down the fundamental and revolutionary principle that the nation's archives are to be made available to the people. The decree of 5th Brumaire of the year V (October 26th 1796) ordered the establishment of an archival deposit for each department. Archive depots were created in all departments, with the exception of the Twee Neten department (province of Antwerp). From 1800 the depots were subordinated to the Secretary General of the prefecture. State-paid conservators were appointed first in Brussels and Liège, and later in Mons and Ghent. By royal decree of December 17, 1851, the state archives in the provinces were placed under the authority of the archivist general.
From the independence of Belgium to the present day (1830 – present)
After Belgium gained independence, state archival services were set up in the following provincial capitals: Bruges (1834), Namur (1849), Arlon (1851), Hasselt (1869), Antwerp (1896) and Tournai (from 1834 to 1895). Four district depots were established in 1964: in Huy (closed since February 2008), Kortrijk, Ronse (closed since September 2010) and Tournai. Secondary depots are opened in Saint-Hubert (1960) and Beveren (1964). The office of the State Archives in Eupen was created in 1988 as part of Belgium's second state reform. The state archives in Leuven (2001), Anderlecht (2002) and Louvain-la-Neuve (2009) are created through the division of the province of Brabant. The General State Archives 2 – depot Joseph Cuvelier will be inaugurated soon.
Significance of the office of archivist general
In 1773, Count Jean-Baptiste Goswin de Wynants (1726–1796) was appointed first general director of the Archives of the Netherlands in Brussels. The archivist general stayed in Brussels. The central archive service was also retained there after the departure of the Austrians and the arrival of the French and also gained importance during the time of the Kingdom of the United Netherlands. Towards the end of 1814, Pierre-Jean de l'Ortye was appointed “Archivarius” of the General State Archives in Brussels and was entrusted with the supervision of the safekeeping and administration of the archives created by the authorities. In 1831 Louis-Prosper Gachard , his deputy since 1826, succeeded him and became the kingdom's first true archivist general. Gachard held office from 1831 until his death on the eve of Christmas 1885.
The Belgian Archives Act
The State Archives are subject to the Archives Act of June 24, 1955, as amended by the Act of May 6, 2009. In 2009, the submission period for public archives was reduced from one hundred to thirty years. This measure was applied after a transitional period and is intended to meet the expectations of citizens who want to do historical or genealogical research. However, access to certain archive documents may be restricted due to legislation on the protection of privacy and legislation on the public of the registry office.
List of archivists general
- Pieter-Jan L'Ortye (1814–1831) (Secretary-Archivist)
- Louis-Prosper Gachard (1831–1885) (Secretary-Archivist from 1831 to 1859)
- Charles Piot (1886-1897)
- Alphonse Goovaerts (1898–1904)
- Arthur Gaillard (1904–1912) (on duty)
- Joseph Cuvelier (1912–1935) (on duty from 1912 to 1913)
- Dieudonné Brouwers (1936–1939)
- Camille Tihon (1939–1955)
- Etienne Sabbe (1955–1968)
- Maurits Vanhaegendoren (1968) (on duty)
- Lucienne Van Meerbeeck (1968) (on duty)
- Carlos Wyffels (1968–1987)
- Ernest Persoons (1987-2002)
- Daniel Van Overstraeten (2002–2003) (on duty)
- Herman Coppens (2004–2005) (on duty)
- Karel Velle (2005 to date)
bibliography
- A. Vanrie: Bruxelles: les archives centrales et le quartier de la Cour: exposition organisée à l'occasion du bicentenaire des Archives de l'État: Bruxelles: Archives générales du royaume, 24 octobre 1996-13 decembre 1996. (= Archives générales du Royaume et Archives de l'État dans les provinces. Service éducatif. Dossiers. Première série. Volume 16). Archives générales du Royaume, Bruxelles 1996, OCLC 497112017 .
- H. Coppens, R. Laurent (eds.): Les Archives de l'État en Belgique, 1796–1996, Historique de l'institution et répertoire bio-bibliographique des archivistes. (= Archives générales du Royaume. Publ. 2410). Bruxelles 1996, OCLC 1050001401 .