Държавен архив - Габрово

The Gabrovo State Archive is a division within the Regional State Archives of Veliko Tarnovo Directorate. It manages the selection, acquisition, registration, processing, preservation and provision for use of the documents identified for permanent storage, which stem from the district administration, the municipalities of the Gabrovo region, the territorial structures of the state bodies and other state and municipal institutions, organisations and important figures of local significance; as well as the scientific and methodological guidance and control of the organisation, preservation and use of documents in the archival services.

The Archive was created in 1959 as a division of the County directorate of the Ministry of Interior, Gabrovo. After 1961 it was subordinate to the People’s County Council of Gabrovo and in 1988 it was incorporated within the structure of the Municipality of Gabrovo. In 1992 it passed under the direct administration of the General Department of Archives at the Council of Ministers. In 1978 it received the status of a directorate, but in 2010 it was reformed into a division.

Through the years the Archive was headed by: Mladen Radkov (1960– 1991) Rumyana Dencheva (1991–1997), Donka Boteva (1997–1999), Yulia Barzakova (1999–2000). Georgi Tzanev was the first employee appointed on 1 Oct. 1959.

A reading room, a library and a restoration lab are operative at the Archive. There are 1471 volumes of vocational literature on history, archivology and other fields of science; dictionaries, encyclopedias, directories, finding aids, guides, catalogs, documentary editions and periodicals.

Since1992 the Archives has been located in a building at 17, Chardafon Str.

As of the 1st Jan. 2012 the fonds of the Archive amount to 2734.25 linear meters of 2509 archival fonds (public 2336 and private 173) with 334 708 archival units; 1409 partial accessions and 1409 memoirs. The Security fonds consists of 737 968 frames of negatives.