The Finnish National Archives Service preserves records belonging to the cultural heritage

The task of Finland’s National Archives Service is to ensure that records belonging to the national cultural heritage are preserved and to promote their use for research. Research and development in the sector is also part of its remit.

The National Archives Service is a government body under the Ministry of Education, and it comprises the National Archives and the seven Provincial Archives operating under it.

In order to ensure that valuable records from public administration are preserved, the National Archives Service oversees the records management and archives administration of the authorities, manages the general development of archives administration and the research and training it requires, and determines which records from state and local administration should be permanently preserved.

In order to perform these tasks, the National Archives Service has a statutory mandate to issue binding regulations to the authorities on issues such as the permanent preservation of records, archives facilities, materials and methods to be used when drawing up records, and the registration and cataloguing of records.

Over 180 kilometres of shelving for records in the National Archives Service

In accordance with the provisions of the Archives Act, the state authorities transfer records that are older than 40 years old, and which are to be permanently preserved, to the National Archives Service. The records of local and regional government authorities to be preserved permanently are kept in the unit of the National Archives Service responsible for the archive district in which the authority has operated. The archives of central government authorities are stored in the National Archives.

In addition to official records, many types of private archives are also preserved: the archives of private individuals and families, archives of organisations and associations, and archives of businesses.

Altogether, there are over 180 kilometres of shelving for records in the National Archives Service. The National Archives Service ensures the availability of records so that they can be used in the research rooms of the National Archives and Provincial Archives and to an increasing extent also online.

The National Archives and Provincial Archives are open to all and the use of the materials is free of charge.

Downloads

Annual report 2009 (pdf)

Contact us:

National Archives (main building)
Visiting address: Rauhankatu 17
Postal address: PO BOX 258, 00171 Helsinki
Tel: +358 9 228 521
Fax: + 358 9 176 302
E-mail: kansallisarkisto[at]narc.fi