GOVERNMENT Archives or public papers have existed from the very first hours of French landing and settlement. East India Company officials, rulers of the Mascarenes, were required to record all important events in the colonies and transmit them to the Directors in France (1721-1767).

Recorders ? clerks, secretaries, notaries and book-keepers ? were thus appointed as the Company affairs expanded. Soon the pile of minutes, deeds, correspondence and other documents grew and was moved from office desks to a cabinet and later to a whole room in the Government office.

Public papers of the first decade of French colonization (1721-1731) were at the lodge at Vieux- Grand-Port. They moved with the Headquarters to Port-Louis where records were kept in the Provincial Council at the Rue du Vieux-Conseil (Toussaint 1965). The precarious state of wooden buildings in those years did not preserve even government papers from ruin and damage and thus many records were lost in the 1731 cyclone. When Labourdonnais built Government House (where it stands today), papers were transferred to the new building where they remained secure throughout French administration.

The Archives consisted of current administrative, judicial and domanial records, copies of which were regularly sent to France where Colonial Archives were reorganized in 1776 when the Dépôt des Chartes des Colonies was founded and installed at Versailles. When the British conquered the island in 1810, the Archives were not even mentioned in the Capitulation Act. Before he left , General Decaen, the last French Governor, entrusted the papers to a French officer called Marrou who carried them to his private domain at Beau-Bassin.

But the British did not ignore the papers for long. As soon as the VersaillesTreaty was signed in 1814 ending the Anglo-French wars and ratifying their occupation of Mauritius, they required Marrou to return the Archives to the authorities and the papers were transferred a second time to Government House, close to the Colonial Secretary?s Office. When the bulk of papers increased with the setting up of the Civil Service, Archives were moved to a historic building at the corner of Desforges and Church streets, which they occupied until 1976.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the Archives went through many ups and downs during colonial rule and after. Its status waxed and waned according to the whims of rulers and officers. First British Governor Farquhar appointed Baron Antoine Marrier d?Unienville as Colonial Archivist. His major assignment was not to classify documents but to write a statistical and historical account of the island, the first of its kind published in 1838. A tradition was set. Research and publication became an important activity of archivists.

After d?Unienville, another archivist, Théophile Bonnefoy, drew up a list of judicial enactments published in 1853 and 1859. However, Farquhar was responsible for the first important transfer of documents: 17 cases of documents were shipped to England, never to return to Mauritius, according to Toussaint. 41 cases of documents were handed over by Farquhar to Lord Glenelg, which he proposed to return to Mauritius, according to another source. What the papers were and whether they were ever returned is yet unknown.

Official birth in December 1893

The second and third quarters of the 19th century witnessed a period of confusion. In 1826, Royal Commissioners Colebrooke and Blair further diminished the Archives status. The post of Colonial Archivist was abolished and, for years, Archives remained attached to the Registration and Mortgage Department until the arrival of Governor Pope Hennessy who initiated important changes.

The long awaited separation became a reality on 29 December 1893 (Ordinance 23 of 1893). The Secretary of State for the Colonies wrote 110 years ago, on 6 February 1894: ?Her Majesty will not be advised to disallow?, the said Ordinance. This was notified in the Government Gazette on 31 March 1894 and Archives became separate from other departments.

In the meantime it lost its autonomy again until it was restored on 1 January 1950 through the instigation of Dr A. Toussaint, Chief Archivist (1945-71). During the latter?s administration the best part of classification was carried out which gave the Archives their present structure. But the magnus opus of his administration was an exhaustive guide to primary and secondary sources: Bibliography of Mauritius, 1502 to 1954.

This gigantic assignment was carried out by Drs Toussaint, Adolphe and staff. On his proposal, an International Association for the study of the Indian Ocean and a Mauritius Geographical and Historical Association were founded. In spite of several constraints of the pre-independence period, a publication programme was set, the Mauritius Archives Publication Fund in 1957 which helped in the dissemination of research and the promotion of social sciences.

Apart from being a very busy archivist, Dr Toussaint was also a prolific historian. After his departure in 1971, his spirit survived. Preservation, classification of records and publication continued with his successors, Drs Adolphe, Sooprayen and Mr Suneechur.

Among the important achievements of the recent years are microfilming and the restoration of damaged documents. These should remain the priorities of a rich record centre nearly three centuries old. The Department has always been the backbone of all historical research in Mauritius. It plays an important role in the preservation of the common heritage of all Mauritians.