History 

After the unification of Italy, the need to safeguard the documentary heritage of the various past Italian political institutions is increasingly felt at the national state level. The newly formed province of Benevento meets this requirement with difficulty due largely to its anomalous constitution. In fact, unlike the other provinces, it was born with a “decree” of Garibaldi. This condition will lead it to a precarious situation, always in the process of being abolished. Added to this are other problems: lack of funds, structures, civic traditions, brigandage, widespread economic-social poverty, marginalization from national life, absolute prevalence of ecclesiastical property, disputes with neighboring provinces, municipalities that refuse the imposed annexation. 

Provincial historical archive 

The historical documents are collected and deposited in different places while waiting for the creation of an archive which is slow to happen. At the beginning of the twentieth century, state legislation provided for a state archive, under the Ministero dell’Interno, in each provincial capital, which had to cover a large part of the expenses for its operation. Unfortunately, the Province of Benevento had not managed to create the institute for fifty years and therefore decided to create a provincial historical archive of which it could autonomously decide on the structure, staff and director. 

Establishment of the State Archive 

The Archivio di Stato di Benevento were established, initially as an archive section, by decree of the Ministro dell’Interno of 10 April 1954, implementing the 1939 law on the new organization of the State Archive. Only one hundred years after its establishment can the province of Benevento finally have the Institute responsible for the conservation of the territory’s documentary sources. 

Even though this goal had been achieved, the Provincial Historical Archive would also continue to exist as a separate entity until its suppression, decided by the Province in 1973, which assigned the documentation to the museum. 

Due to this delay in the establishment of the Archive, even today many documents pertaining to the state are dispersed or improperly stored by different institutes and bodies, others have been destroyed, and for still others a laborious recovery work is underway. 

The State Archives today 

The documentation preserved in the State Archive reflects the changing territorial jurisdictions over time: the history of the city of Benevento, for long time a papal enclave within the kingdom of Naples, means that part of the documentation relating to the municipalities of the province is correctly kept and can be consulted at the State Archive of Rome, Naples, Avellino, Caserta, Campobasso and Foggia. 

However, a work of recovery of the missing material was also undertaken, starting from the reconstruction of the historical-institutional paths of the documents. For example, it was possible to return to Benevento, in 2008, the 237 volumes and registers of the suppressed monasteries (15th-19th century) which, in 1950, had been transferred to the Archive of Naples. 

Shelving project for the archive to be established (Provincial Administration of Sannio, b 1)

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