NAT: The National Archives of Thailand

The National Archives of Thailand (NAT) is a Thai government agency under the Fine Arts Department of the Ministry of Culture. It was established in 1916 (B.E. 2459) as a section of the Royal Vajirayana Library, then officially became the National Archives of Thailand on 18 August 1952. According to the National Archives Act, B.E. 2556, the National Archives of Thailand is responsible for acquiring, collecting, accessioning, and preserving public records and other historical records and making them available to the public. Another responsibility is to advise government agencies on record management and record preservation. A unique function of the National Archives of Thailand is to record the royal occasion, special royal occasion, royal ceremony, or significant and special event of the nation as historical records. The National Archives of Thailand is managed by a director of the National Archives of Thailand, who reports to the director-general of the Fine Arts Department. It is divided into a group and five divisions, as follows:

  1. Records Management Division
  2. Archives and Services Division
  3. Preservation and Conservation Division
  4. Contemporary Records Division
  5. National Archives in Honor of His Majesty King Bhumipol Adulyadej
  6. Administration group

Also, there are nine National Archives branches located in different provinces all over Thailand. In 2013, the Archives Promotion Fund was established to financially support the National Archives of Thailand and the National Archives branches.