Historical Background

© Copyright 2007 @  Department of Archives & Libraries, Bangladesh

 

 

Dr. K. M. Karim First Director

The construction of the National  Library Building was completed by 1985 in which the National Archives was also temporarily housed. The new National Archives Building has now been constructed next to the National Library Building .The two most important national institutions of the country are now situated side by side.

Soon after  it was  resolved to build new premises for these two national institutions of the country and accordingly  proposals were included in the Five Year Plan of the Government. Following the decision an area comprising nearly 6 acres of land was purchased for the National Library and the National Archives Building at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Agargaon, Dhaka.

After the emergence of Bangladesh the Government felt the need to have a National Library suitable to the country’s newly gained importance as a sovereign and independent  state. Thus in 1973 a National Library of Bangladesh was established in Dhaka under the Directorate of Archives and Libraries.

In 1951 when the Directorate of Archives and Libraries was established in Pakistan, a National Library of Pakistan was also established. But no similar institution was created in the then East Bengal or East Pakistan . Only an office was established in Dhaka to collect books and periodicals under the copyright laws. Though some public libraries were established in the 1960s.

After the Liberation of Bangladesh from the Pakistani domination in 1971 the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh founded the National Archives of Bangladesh in 1973 in Dhaka under the Directorate of Archives and Libraries. Eventually, all the historical records and documents which were kept in the Secretariat record room were transferred to the newly founded National Archives building.

After the Partition of India in 1947 the National Archives of Pakistan was established in Karachi in 1951 under the Directorate of Archives and Libraries. As a part of the agreement governing the Partition many documents and records pertaining to present-day Bangladesh were handed over to the then Government of East Bengal and were preserved in the Secretariat Record Room in Dhaka.

After the foundation of British Rule in the subcontinent in the 1750s the secretariat administration with all its paraphernalia began to develop. New ministries started functioning resulting in the establishment of new departments and offices. With the increase of secretariat files and records it was keenly felt to sort them out by transferring the important ones to a central repository and destroying the useless ones. Hence the Imperial Records Department was established in Kolkata in 1891, which was later on transferred to Delhi to be named as National Archives of India .

The National Archives of Bangladesh has a long history. Archives in one form or other existed in the South Asian subcontinent from time immemorial. In the middle ages they were known as Mohafez Khana or Record Room.

Present Director

National Library Built in 1985

National Archives Building Under Completion