Historical background
The Belarusian Research Institute of Records Management and Archival Studies
(BelNIIDAD) is the first research institution in Belarus that conducts research in the
field of records management and archive science.
BelNIIDAD dates its origin from December 11, 1991, when the Belarusian Research Centre for
Records Management and Retrospective Information was established in Minsk on the basis of
the former Institute of Party History at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of
Belarus (from October 1990, the Institute of Historical and Political Research of the
Communist Party of Belarus).
In January 1994, due to the extension of research activities, the Institute was renamed the Belarusian Research Centre for Records Management, Archaeography and Archival Studies. In January 1996, the Institute assumed its present name.
Since October 1999, a post-graduate course of study has been organized in two specializations: "Documentation, Records Management, and Archival Studies", and "Historiography, Source Studies, and Historical Research Methods".
In October 1999, the Institute became a basic organization of the Commission for Archaeography (Archival Publications) newly created within the central governing body in the field of archives--the State Committee for Archives and Records Management of the Republic of Belarus (from May 2006, the Department of Archives and Records Management under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus).
Since its foundation, the Institute has conducted over a hundred research studies, prepared and published many instructions, standards, regulations, procedural guidelines, and a number of directories and guides related to its basic activities.