About State Archives

The State Archives acquire, store, preserve historical sources and make them available for use – documents created from the Middle Ages until now.

The State Archives network has existed since 1919, but our oldest archive has operated without interruption for more than 200 years.

Our mission is to preserve historical sources and ensure that they are publicly available.

We are professionals. In our work, we adhere to high standards of preserving, processing and sharing documents. We handle records of the highest state authorities and those of private individuals with equal care. Our staff consists of highly skilled individuals, and we build new archival facilities to ensure that the most stringent standards of archival storage are met.

Drawing upon the past, we move with the times, boldly looking towards the future. We digitize our collections, and share information about our holdings as well as the digital copies of our archival materials as part of the Search the Archives website. We have also established the Electronic Documents Archive, a pioneering project aimed at accepting, collecting and sharing electronic records created especially by the Polish government and local government administration.

The historical sources we store are given new life. We make them accessible in the form of source publications, as well as displaying them as part of various exhibitions and popularization projects. We educate about archival science, history and genealogy through archival workshops and lessons.