The Public Archives of Greece

Abstract

establishment of a national archives system in Greece resulted from the initiative of a gifted amateur historian, Giannes Vlachogiannes (i 867-1 945), and from the sympathetic support of the brilliant statesman, Elef therios Venizelos, who, when he was out of office late in life, used his leisure to translate Thucydides. The General State Archives (Genika Archeia tou Kratous) began to function in Athens in temporary quarters in 191 5, and Vlachogiannes, the first director, remained in charge until 1936. Despite a pitifully small budget and grossly inadequate space and staff, the General Archives has managed to collect and preserve a considerable quantity of historical papers, both public and private. The revolutionary governments of Greece and the administration of Count Kapodistrias (1 821-31) kept their accumulating papers in excellent state. But during the reign of the first King of the Hellenes,'* the Bavarian prince Otho (1832-62), while current records were preserved, the older archives were confided to the care of the Audit Department {Elengtikon Synedrion), which either neglected or dispersed them. Moreover, the mass of manuscripts and documents which Otho's government obtained from the many monasteries it dissolved suffered a like fate at the Ministry of Public Instruction, to whose care they had been entrusted. The governmental authorities during the long reign of George I (186319 13) were generally indifferent to the need of preserving past collections or establishing a national archives service. Nor did the learned societies show any greater concern. In 1893 the Audit Department, in need of space, decided to sell the revolutionary archives and other materials as waste paper at public auction. A quantity of paper estimated at between twenty and thirty thousand okas