The National Archives and Library of Ethiopia, located in Addis Ababa, is the national library and archives of the country. The library was inaugurated in 1944 by Emperor Haile Selassie and began service with books donated by the emperor.
Overview In 1976, proclamation No. 50/76 gave the library the legal right to collect three copies of every material published in the country. In 1999, the library was reestablished by proclamation no. 179.1999 as a national institution, which resulted in structural changes and the mission to be one of the top five national libraries and archives in Africa by 2020. It is currently a unit of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The archives was established in 1979, and its collection includes ancient and historical manuscripts written from as early as the 14th and 15th centuries. Hryc´ko, K. An outline of the National Archives and Library of Ethiopia. Aethiopica 2007, 10, 92–105. It started functioning with archives from the Ministry of the Grand Palace, Palace of the Crown Prince, and others. The archive includes letters written by several kings, empresses, and princes.
See also Ethiopian historiography Unesco Memory of the World Register – Africa List of national archives
Notes
References
HRYÚKO, Katarzyna. 2007. An Outline of the National Archives and Library of Ethiopia. Aethiopica Vol. 10: 92–105. WION, Anaïs, "The National Archives and Library of Ethiopia: six years of Ethio-French cooperation (2001-2006)", available on Open Archive Repository HAL-SHS and to be published in the Acts of the Enno Littmann Conference, Aksum, Dec. 2005.
Bibliography (Includes information about the national library)
External links Official website