Masaryk Institute and Archives of the CAS, v. v. i.

The institution was established as of January 1, 1953 as Archives of the CSAS. In 1954, it was merged with the Commission for the Study and Cataloguing of Manuscripts. As of January 1, 1966, its name was temporarily changed to Central Archives of the CSAS, the original name was reinstated as of January 1, 1993. As of January 1, 2006, the Archives were merged with Masaryk Institute of the CAS and the name changed to Masaryk Institute – Archives of the CAS. As of January 1, 2007, the Institute became a public research institution within the meaning of Act No. 341/2005 Coll.

The Archives of the CAS scientific division collects and processes files of the Academy of Sciences, archival collections of former scientific institutions and documentary estates of scientists working in our territory. It is also in charge of pre-archival care and shredding supervision. It draws on its collections in order to provide information to the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and bodies of state administration, and makes archives and collections accessible to the scholarly public. Its own scientific endeavors focus on the history of scientific institutions, life and work of important scientists and the scientific community in the Czech environment in particular, and further, on codicology, cataloguing and study of manuscripts.

The Masaryk Institute of the CAS scientific division takes care of the ideological legacy of T. G. Masaryk, studies his life and work in a broader context of Czech – or Czechoslovak and European – history, in particular its importance for the democratic Czech statehood, and researches his social legacy. The division manages the Archives of the Masaryk Institute and a part of Masaryk Library.