General National Archive (Nicaragua)
Encyclopedia
The General National Archive is charged with conserving the documentary heritage of Nicaragua
, standardizing the national archival system, and promoting research and access to information.
José Santos Zelaya
decreed the creation of the General National Archive as the repository for the holdings of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government, as well as holding the archives of the municipalities
.
The earthquake of March 31, 1931
provoked a fire that destroyed the majority of the archives, including the Sección de Tierras, which included documents from the colonial era.
In October 1959, another decree was issued to regulate the operations of the archive. Until 1979, it was under the auspices of the Ministry of Governance, at which point in came under the control of the Ministry of Culture. With the administrative reforms of 1988, the archive came under the General Administration of Culture of the Ministry of Education. It was later ascribed to the Nicaraguan Historical Institute and since 1990 has been run by the Nicaraguan Institute of Culture.
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
, standardizing the national archival system, and promoting research and access to information.
History
A presidential decree of February 21, 1863 regulated the functions of the General Governmental Archive (Spanish: Archivo General del Gobierno), which was to be composed of the documents of the nascent institutions and supervised by the Minister of Finance. But it was not until July 7, 1896, that PresidentPresident of Nicaragua
The position of President of Nicaragua was created in the Constitution of 1854. From 1825 until the Constitution of 1838 the title of the position was known as Head of State and from 1838 to 1854 as Supreme Director .-Heads of State of Nicaragua within the Federal Republic of Central America...
José Santos Zelaya
José Santos Zelaya
José Santos Zelaya López was the President of Nicaragua from 25 July 1893 to 21 December 1909.-Early life:He was a son of José María Zelaya Irigoyen, born in Nicaragua, and mistress Juana López Ramírez...
decreed the creation of the General National Archive as the repository for the holdings of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government, as well as holding the archives of the municipalities
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
.
The earthquake of March 31, 1931
1931 Nicaragua earthquake
The 1931 Nicaragua earthquake devastated Managua, Nicaragua on 31 March 1931. It had a magnitude of 6.0, and killed 2000 people....
provoked a fire that destroyed the majority of the archives, including the Sección de Tierras, which included documents from the colonial era.
In October 1959, another decree was issued to regulate the operations of the archive. Until 1979, it was under the auspices of the Ministry of Governance, at which point in came under the control of the Ministry of Culture. With the administrative reforms of 1988, the archive came under the General Administration of Culture of the Ministry of Education. It was later ascribed to the Nicaraguan Historical Institute and since 1990 has been run by the Nicaraguan Institute of Culture.
Functions
The functions of the General National Archive include:- The collection, caretaking, and placing into public service the documents produced by public institutions,
- Caring for and conserving legal and private collections,
- and the dissemination, through printed publications and other media, of documents of historical interest.
Holdings
The archive holds approximately ten million documents, which are organized in the following collections:- Colonial Section (1526-1821): A collection of photocopies obtained from the National Archives of Costa RicaNational Archives of Costa RicaThe National Archives of Costa Rica are in San José. It holds 8,500 volumes....
, chronologically ordered. - Presidential Collection (1900-1979): Administrative archives, divided into sections for the Private Secretary, Presidential Secretary, Secretary of General Command, and Secretary of Information and the Press.
- Governance Collection (1925-1979): Archives of the Ministry of Governance and its attached bodies such as Justice, Police, and Charity.
- Education Collection (1900-1984): The most complete collection in regards to volume, documentary structure, and years covered. This collection is not completely processed, but are mostly in chronological order.
- Finance Collection (1931-1954): The ledgers of the Ministry of Finance. Consists of 731 books grouped by issued and ordered chronologically.
- Nicaraguan Railroad Collection (1912-1987): Accounting books and inventories of goods and services. A nearly-complete collection of the now-defunct Nicaraguan Railroad Company.
- Legislative Section (1943-1979): In numeric order, indexed.
- "Somoza García" Section (1923-1956): Documents related to the governmental activity of Anastasio Somoza GarcíaAnastasio Somoza GarcíaAnastasio Somoza García was officially the President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1937 to 1 May 1947 and from 21 May 1950 to 29 September 1956, but ruled effectively as dictator from 1936 until his assassination.-Biography:Somoza was born in San Marcos, Carazo Department in Nicaragua, the son of...
. Classified by provenance, chronologically ordered. - "José Dolores Gámez" Collection (1783-1923): Bulk 1894-1899. Includes a registry and maintained in numeric order.
- Mosquitia Collection (1894-1895): Hand-written books relating to the process of the incorporation of Mosquitia.
- "Sandino" Collection (1896-1935): Contains 133 documents relating to General Augusto César SandinoAugusto César SandinoAugusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino was a Nicaraguan revolutionary and leader of a rebellion against the U.S. military occupation of Nicaragua between 1927 and 1933...
, including 275 photocopies from the General National Archive of MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. - Archive of the Nicaraguan Consulate in France (1898-1937): Registers of consulary affairs.
- "Adolfo DíazAdolfo DíazAdolfo Díaz Recinos was the President of Nicaragua between 9 May 1911 and 1 January 1917 and between 14 November 1926 and 1 January 1929...
" Archive (1909-1976): Contains 3,800 documents relating to the private and business life of former president Díaz. - Fototeca (1893-1976): 1,200 photographs of people, places, buildings, highways, etc. from various presidential administrations.
- Mapoteca (1934-1976): Composed of 98 original maps of Nicaraguan populations.
- Planoteca (1912-1978): The utmost representation of the urban and rural populations in Nicaragua.
- Special CollectionsSpecial collectionsIn library science, special collections is the name applied to a specific repository or department, usually within a library, which stores materials of a "special" nature, including rare books, archives, and collected manuscripts...
: Divided into four sections: History of Nicaragua, National Periodical Publications, Archival, and Documentary Sources. Includes approximately 1,500 volumes.