The ''National Archives of Chile'' (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

: ) is a public organization of the Chilean state, created in 1927 with the goal to "''collect and conserve the archives of the Departments of State and all the documents and manucsrpits related to the

national history Historiography is the study of how history is written. One pervasive influence upon the writing of history has been nationalism, a set of beliefs about political legitimacy and cultural identity. Nationalism has provided a significant framework ...

, and to oversee their organization and use.''". It is treated as a dependent organization of the Dirección de Bibliotecas, Archivos y Museos (Direction of

Libraries A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

, Archives, and

Museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and th ...

s), which is administered by the Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes de Chile (National Council on Culture and the Arts).

History

The organization has its historical roots in several specialized archives created by different public organizations of the Chilean state. In its foundational form, it was an office attached to the General Archive of the Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas de Chile (National Institute of Statistics of Chile), created in 1847 under the auspices of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Manuel Bulnes Manuel Bulnes Prieto (; December 25, 1799 – October 18, 1866) was a Chilean military and political figure. He was twice President of Chile, from 1841 to 1846 and from 1846 to 1851. Born in Concepción, he served as the president of Chile bet ...

. The "''Ley Orgánica de Ministerios''" ("

Organic Law An organic law is a law, or system of laws, that form the foundation of a government, corporation or any other organization's body of rules. A constitution is a particular form of organic law for a sovereign state. By country France Under Articl ...

of Ministries") of 1887 ordered the creation of the ''Archivo General de Gobierno'' (General Archive of the Government), a dependent to the Ministerio de Justicia e Instrucción Pública de Chile (Ministry of Justice and Public Instruction of Chile), which, together with the department of

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced ...

s of the

Biblioteca Nacional de Chile The National Library of Chile () is the national library of Chile. It is located on the Avenida Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins in Santiago, in a building completed in 1925, though its history reaches to the early nineteenth century befor ...

(

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant w ...

of Chile) and the documents of the Archivo Judicial de Chile (Judicial Archive of Chile), was reorganized in to a single dependency called the Archivo Nacional de Chile. With the creation of the Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes, the administration of the dependency was not modified, and the Archive continued under the DIBAM. In reality, the Archivo Nacional was located beside the building of the Biblioteca Nacional, at the exit of the

Santiago Metro The Santiago Metro ( es, Metro de Santiago) is a rapid transit system serving the city of Santiago, the capital of Chile. It currently consists of seven lines (numbered 1-6 and 4A), 136 stations, and of revenue route. The system is managed by th ...

Santa Lucía station, on the street Miraflores. Nazi assembly in Chile

Collection

The collection includes extensive records on

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

activities in the country, related to spy operations and the

Ratlines Ratlines () are lengths of thin line tied between the shrouds of a sailing ship to form a ladder. Found on all square-rigged ships, whose crews must go aloft to stow the square sails, they also appear on larger fore-and-aft rigged vessels ...

(routes used to escape Germany) around the time of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

.Transfer of Archives of Department 50 of the General Directorate of Investigations
– National Archives of Chile (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 May 2022.

Location

The building housing the National Archives is located at 50 Miraflores Street, downtown

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, who ...

. The building was built between 1915 and 1935 in the

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

, is attached to the building housing the

. The building occupies a blockfront between Avenida Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins and Moneda Street, and faces the

Santa Lucía Hill Santa Lucía Hill ( es, Cerro Santa Lucía), also known in Mapuche as Huelén Hill ( es, Cerro Huelén), is a small hill in the centre of Santiago, Chile. It is situated between Alameda del Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins in the south, Santa Lu ...

. The building was originally designed to house the

Chilean National History Museum Chilean may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Chile, a country in South America * Chilean people * Chilean Spanish * Chilean culture * Chilean cuisine * Chilean Americans See also *List of Chileans This is a list of Chileans who ar ...

, which was moved to its current location in 1982. Since that year the building has served as the home for the National Archives.

References

External links

National Archives of Chile (in Spanish only)
{{authority control

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

Cultural organisations based in Chile Archives in Chile