Archives are a fundamental source for (academic) research about history. Researchers in other disciplines (art history, geology, literature, exact sciences) as well as students, who are in fact the researchers of the future, use archives for their work.

The search for reliable information sources is a central issue for historical research, and a very labour-intensive and time-consuming one. Every source confronts the researcher with a number of  constraints. Thorough preparation is thus indispensable. The State Archives has authored a brochure (Dutch/French) in which you are advised step-by-step about how to improve your chances of finding the documents you are searching for within the kilometres and kilometres of archive stacks conserved at the State Archives.

Research questions most frequently asked to our archivists and reading room personnel have been gathered in a series of FAQ’s (available in Dutch/French).