National Archives of Egypt

The National Archives of Egypt are among the oldest in the world, for while the National Archives of France were established in 1794 and the Public Record Office, London, wasn't established until 1838, the National Archives were founded in Cairo in 1828. It dates, therefore, to the 19th century when Mohammed Ali Pasha constructed a place in the Cairo Citadel to preserve official records and named it Daftarkhana (House of Documentation). The main aim behind its construction was collecting written documentation of the state’s activities and maintaining it in one place; thus, it eventually turned to a storehouse of Egypt's national heritage. The first to head Daftarkhana was Ragheb Effendi; whereas, the first to set its internal rules of procedures was John, the expenditure clerk. The Egyptian House of Documentation (Daftarkhana) accumulated so many governmental documents after they were no longer needed that Mohammed Ali was forced to construct Archival Storehouse in governmental ministers and agencies in the capital as well as the provincial governorates.

The government called on a French expert, named Monsieur Rose’, to help it develop special legislation based on systems and bylaws used in the French Archives Nationales. The House of Documentation (Daftarkhana) continued to function under the system established by Mohammed Ali until Khedive Ismail came to power (1863–1879). He closed all the branches previously opened in the provincial governorates, and ordered that all the documents be stored in the original House of Documentation in the Citadel. During the reign of Abbas Helmi II (1892–1914), a new set of law consisting of 24 clauses was issued for the purpose of regulating the ways documents were to be delivered and received. Afterwards, the name of the archives was changed to the Public Records Office, while it remained housed at the Citadel. When King Fouad I came to the throne (1917–1936), some terms were changed: ‘Nezara’ became ‘Wezara’ (Ministry); moreover, the Public Records Office did not publish documents like other world archives. Henceforth, King Fouad entrusted a French orientalist named Jean Dény with the inspection and organization of the Turkish documents saved in the Public Records Office as a step towards rendering these documents accessible to researchers and historians.

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