We are thrilled to announce the accession of the National Archives of Latvia as a member of ICARUS! Welcome!!

The National Archives of Latvia (NAL) was established in 2011 and operates under the Ministry of Culture. It is formed of functional and territorial structural units, including:

• The Latvian State Historical Archives: contains more than six million documentary evidence of historical events, political processes, economic, social and cultural life in the territory of Latvia in the period from 1220 to 1945. It is the oldest of the Latvian archives and contains the oldest documents – a collection of parchments, materials for audits of manors and souls, church documents, etc. The latest documents stored in the State Historical Archive of Latvia cover the period of independence of the Republic of Latvia (1918-1940), as well as the period of German occupation (1941-1945).
• The Latvian State Archives (LVA): keeps documents of Latvian social democracy and communist organizations, starting from 1899, documents of the Latvian SSR State Security Committee on repressed persons, documents of the Latvian SSR 1940-1941, post-war period, documents of companies, as well as local government institutions.
  After the restoration of Latvia’s independence, the LVA accumulates and stores documents of the highest public administration institutions of the Republic of Latvia, Riga and Jurmala city local government institutions, as well as documents and collections of public organizations, associations, individuals. The State Archives of Latvia also has a wide range of documents of Latvian organizations in exile.
• The Latvian State Archive of Audiovisual Documents: ensures the accumulation, accounting, preservation and use of audiovisual, photo, sound and electronic documents to be included in the national documentary heritage.
• The State Archives of Personnel Documents: ensures the accumulation, availability and use of personnel documents of reorganized and liquidated state and municipal institutions, private legal entities in Riga and Jurmala for the period from 1944 to the present.
• and 11 regional archives.

The NAL has a vast compilation of digitised records, archival descriptions and register books as well as audiovisual, photographic and audio material available online in various databases, also closely cooperating with other European and international organisations and initiatives.

In addition to providing online access to its sources, the NAL regularly publishes scientific articles and papers. The latest publication being the 2nd issue of the magazine “Latvijas Arhīvi” (Archives of Latvia) including 6 source-based articles (in Latvian, with abstracts and summaries in English), a summary of the extensive activities celebrating the anniversary year of 2024 (105th anniversary of the Latvian State Historical Archives, 60th anniversary of the Regional State Archives, and the 30th anniversary of the State Archives of Personnel Documents) and a view beyond the borders, including an article by our ICARUS president Birgit Kibal on online services and the challenges and achievements of digitalization in Estonia and another contribution from the by Emese Kún, senior archivist at the Budapest City Archives, giving an overview of the thematic sites of the Budapest City Archives.

We are very happy that the National Archives of Latvia is now part of the ICARUS network and we are excited to work together in the future!