NAVY HISTORICAL ARCHIVE
Although the Secretariat of State for Marine and Overseas Affairs was created by the Charter of 28 July 1736, the origins of the Archive actually date back to 1843, when the Decree of 15 February reorganised the Secretariat of State, establishing, in Article 11, an archive managed by an officer or amanuensis.
However, the frequent reforms that, starting with constitutionalism, remodelled the Ministry, the incorporation of funds into the National Library (1897) and the separation from the Ministry of Colonies meant that some of the Navy's collections were divided among different bodies, namely the Overseas Historical Archive (AHU).
It was only in the 1960s, following the creation of the Navy General Archive (AGM), which was open to the public (Decree-Law no. 42840, of 10 February 1960, replacing the former 'Arquivo da Marinha'), that part of this collection was returned to the Navy, where it was integrated.
The Navy Central Archive was created by Regulatory Decree no. 35/94, of 1 September, which simultaneously extinguished the former 'Arquivo Geral da Marinha'. It is a cultural entity, fully dependent, from the organisational point of view, on the Navy Central Library. It includes the Central Archive and the Historical Archive. In 1997/98, it was transferred from 'Quartel de Marinheiros', in Alcântara, to the building of the old 'Fábrica Nacional de Cordoaria', on Rua da Junqueira, Lisbon.
In turn, the Organic Law of the Navy published in 2009 (Decree-Law 233/2009, of 14 September) places the Central Archive under the Superintendence of Information Technology Services, with the name Centre for Documentation, Information and Central Archive of the Navy, while the Historical Archive remains under the Navy Central Library.
The documentary collection of the Historical Archive is not just a record of its memory regarding its multiple activities in different geographical areas, it is also a part of our History.
FUNDS/COLLECTIONS
The types of documents kept at the Navy Central Library - Historical Archive cover a wide variety of highly specialised items, obviously focused on Maritime History, and is divided into miscellaneous documentation, codices, bound documentation, photographs, films, cartography and ship plans, urban cartography plans and drawings, and electronic documentation.
Its collections allow studying subjects as diverse as health and the evolution of medicine, scientific development, new technologies, shipbuilding, fisheries, merchant and recreational navy, emigration, religion, international relations.
The documentation kept at the Historical Archive is further enriched by private archives, received by donation or deposit, from Navy personnel and their descendants.
Searches are made using the ARCHEEVO application and also through different indices.