Archives Fonds
The National Archives Center has a variety of archives fonds preserved on numerous mediums reflecting different historical eras, the oldest document goes back to the year 1505 AD containing the request to provide the ships participating in the campaign against North Africa with military equipments.
These archives fonds were classified according to a flexible classification scheme that can be enriched in order to use them according to the legislation and regulation in force, and to reach the highest levels of efficiency. The general framework of the classification scheme comes as follows:
- Historical archives:
– Archives of the period before 1830.
– Archives of the period after 1830.
- Contemporary archives.
- Cartographic archives.
- Ichnographic archives.
- Archives received in other ways (gifts, deposits, purchase…)
Fonds of the Ottoman Period 1516-1830
The archives of the Ottoman period contain registers and notebooks related to administrative and financial management, in addition to contracts and scrolls of Al Mahakim Alshari’a, peace and trade treaties, and a series of correspondences between the Sublime Porte and the Regency of Algiers.
Archives of the Colonial Period 1830-1962
These archives contain the archival fonds produced by the French administration during its colonization in Algeria, as well as the fonds of national institutions and movements, the majority of which were deported to France on the eve of independence and it remains an object of negotiations on which a decision has not yet been taken.
Archives of the Period after 1962
The archives of this period include a set of fonds produced by public institutions during the post-independent period; they were transferred or submitted for the National Archives Center out of obligation, for custody or communication purposes due to their historical importance.
Private Archives
Private archives consist of documents produced or originating from legal or natural persons such as families, businesses and non-public organizations, they have been collected by way of donation, bequests, purchase or by voluntary deposit at the Center for custody purposes, in accordance with the legislative and procedural provisions in force.
Plans and Maps Fonds
The cartographic archives are of great importance at the National Archives Center in historical research, particularly in the geostrategic field essentially oriented towards planning and teaching, the Center works for the growth, preservation and exploitation of this fonds within the limits permitted by legislations and regulations. These archives consist of an important collection of geographical maps, plans and atlases, dating back to the pre-Ottoman period.
Photographic Archives
The national Archives Center has a fonds of iconographic archives with a large and varied number of photos, souvenir cards, posters, engravings and drawings, the most important collection being that donated by private individuals.
This fonds covers the period from 1773 to 2016. It is considered (open archives) given its continued growth, including what it produced and developed by the photography laboratory at the Center to document various activities and cultural events organized by the Center.