2350-2300 BCE
2000 BCE
2000-1600 BCE
1782-1759 BCE
1500-700 BCE
1400-1200 BCE
1259 BCE
1100-1000 BCE
509-493 BCE
454-404 BCE
400 BCE
20 Greek cities started an archeion, or records storehouse
390-370 BCE
300-200 BCE
Palace archives are started in China, including the ‘Palace of Documents with the Golden Door.’
240 BCE
206 BCE
78 BCE
ca. 0-2000 CE
ca. 50 CE
Central archives in Roman Egypt at Alexandria are split into two archives — the Hadrianeion and the Nanaion
50-80 CE
ca. 100 CE
115 CE One of the earliest reports on archival management is produced at Herakleides in Roman Egypt, upon the occasion of a public records hall which collapsed
192 CE
Records of the Palatine (imperial archive in Rome) are destroyed.
492 CE
550-1300 CE
593 CE
751-794 CE
800-900 CE
845-882 CE
900-1000 CE
900-1000 CE
1030-1460 CE
1086 CE
1100 CE
1100-1700 CE
Municipal archives of Lisbon are maintained at Casa de Santo-Antonio
1102-1147 CE
Ibn al-Sayrafi, head of Fatimid chancery, writes “Code of the State Chancery,” defining duties of archivist and registrar
1120 CE
Paper expands to Fez and Ceuta
1127 CE
Genoa establishes its muniment room (chartier)
1150 CE
Counts of Barcelona (modern-day Spain) develop an archive to demonstrate their rights and privileges
1184-1573 CE
1190-1209 CE
1198-1216 CE
1200-1838 CE
1204 CE
1257-1261 CE
Chanceries appear in Kraków and Wrocław in modern-day Poland
1262 CE
1278 CE
1280 CE
1286 CE
1304 CE
1307 CE
1318 CE
1320-1330 CE
1320-1370 CE
First recognizably modern inventories are made in England, Switzerland, France, and Italy
1322 CE
1322-1323 CE
1336 CE
1340-1348 CE
Possible first use of records for strictly historical research by Al-‘Umaria, secretary of Mamluk court, for production of an encyclopedia
1346 CE
1352-1378 CE
1353-1999 CE
1368-1644 CE
1392-1910 CE
1399 CE
Strasbourg in modern-day Germany builds a vaulted, fireproof room for the city’s documents and registers
1401 CE
Lausanne in modern-day Switzerland organizes its first archives
1411 CE
Oldest finding aid is located in the archives of Lausanne, in modern-day Switzerland
1419 CE
1436 CE
1450-1470 CE
1450-1941 CE
1471-1484 CE
1488 CE
1500-1600 CE
1500-1600 CE
1509 CE
1520 CE
1522 CE
Wilhelm Putsch, Secretary and Registrar of Upper Austria, reorganizes archives of German Holy Roman Empire, in Innsbruck and Vienna, in modern-day Austria
1532 CE
Catalogue of Portugal’s royal archives is drawn up in Lisbon, Portugal
1532-1533 CE
1534-1536 CE
1535 CE
1538 CE
1540-1544 CE
1540-1545 CE
1548-1571 CE
1550-1575 CE
Archives in Nantes, France, transitions slowly from cases and boxes to cupboards for storing records
1558-1574 CE
1559 CE
1561 CE
1569 CE
1569-1620 CE
ca. 1570 CE
1571 CE
1574-1585 CE
1578-1610 CE
1581 CE
1588 CE
First modern regulations for archival management, developed over two decades of work by Diego de Ayala in Philip II’s Spain
1588 CE
1588-1806 CE
The Prefect of Archives (Prefettura) controls work of notaries and archivists in over 500 notarial archives of the Catholic Church
1592 CE
1601 CE
1611-1612 CE
1611-1614 CE
1629 CE
1631 CE
1632 CE
1635 CE
Vatican archives gains independence from Vatican library, upon appointment of Felice Contelori as Prefect or Director of the Archives
1640 CE
1657 CE
1663-1676 CE
1664 CE
1680-1701 CE
1681 CE
1686-1688 CE
1690 CE
1700-1800 CE
In India, the kanungo (local recordkeeper) becomes a hereditary post, passed from father to son.
1713 CE
1714 CE
Archives of the Estates of Provence in Aix, modern-day France, are re-arranged in bags and labeled for ease of retrieval
1720 CE
A dedicated archives building for the Royal Archives (of Norway-Denmark) opens in Copenhagen, modern-day Denmark
1720s CE
Peter the Great of Russia defines a new administrative state and creates two central archives
1722-1789 CE
1731 CE
1731-1734 CE
1749 CE
1756 CE
1763 CE
State papers between King of France and government of New France are removed to France as part of Treaty of Paris
1764 CE
Collocation of two archives — Crown Archive and Archive of the Crown Register — in modern-day Warsaw, Poland
1765 CE
1766 CE
1770 CE
Census of France counts 5,700 repositories, including 1,700 landed estates
1773-1783 CE
The Bureau des Archives is established in the Netherlands as a central purpose-built repository for the government’s archives
1775-1800 CE
1777 CE
Diplomatics is offered as a course at University of Naples, in modern-day Italy
ca. 1778 CE
M. Mariée publishes Traité des archives, a major treatise with extensive detail on classification and equipment
1779 CE
1785 CE
1788 CE
1789-1790 CE
1790 CE
Governor of Quebec, Lord Dorchester, authorizes “Ordinance for the better preservation and due distribution of the ancient French records,” thereby giving the Governor authority to “make orders…touching the arrangement, removal, digesting, printing, publishing, distributing, preserving and disposing of” public records
1791 CE
1794 CE
1798 CE
1811 CE
1811-1813 CE
Banque de France, a public institution, introduces archival management and services
1812 CE
Request slips are introduced when researchers request documents in France’s National Archives
1821 CE
1821-1823 CE
1830-1885 CE
1831 CE
1832 CE
1838 CE
1840 CE
1840s CE
1842-1884 CE
Italian schools of archives (scuole di archivistica) open in Milan, Venice, Palermo, Florence, Genoa, Parma, Cagliari, Modena, Rome, and the Vatican
1849 CE
1854 CE
Austrian Institute of Historical Research is founded in Vienna, modern-day Austria
1856 CE
1861 CE
1867 CE
1871 CE
1874 CE
1876 CE
First journal to deal with archival profession, Archivalishes Zeitschrift, is published by State Archives of Bavaria, in modern-day Germany
1881 CE
Victor Hugo donates his literary manuscripts to the national library of France, perhaps the first time that a French author made a donation to the French state
1881-1884 CE
1887 CE
1892 CE
Fireproof archive building is constructed in Strasbourg, modern-day Germany
1894 CE
1910 CE
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