Historical Archives
The historical archives at ELIA mainly cover the period of the last two centuries, while some of them include documents of the 18th or even the 17th centuries.
 A large number of the archives concern the Greek War of Independence of 1821. Especially important is the archive of the Kolokotronis family, containing documents by the famous hero of the War of Independence, Theodore Kolokotronis of the years before the war, correspondence of the period of the war as well as documents of the Capodistrian and early Ottonian periods. Correspondence of freedom fighters, political, economical and administrative documents of the Revolution are also included in the archives of the Roma family, Giannoulis Nakos, in the collections of laws and documents of the Revolution and in other smaller archives. The archive of the vice admiral George Sachtouris from Hydra covers the period 1822-1840 and contains unique evidence for the naval battles during the Revolution; the archive of the French consul at Smyrna Pierre Etienne David contains rare documents concerning the islands of the Archipelago and the philhellenes. Of interest for this period is the archive of the Stephanou family as well, which contains the whole of the correspondence concerning the history of the harems of Hoursit Pasha at Tripolis.
 The evolution of the Greek state during the Capodistrian and Ottonian periods is mainly reflected in the transactions of the Regency, in the archives of Spyridon Trikoupis and the Drakos family as well as in the collection of registers and appearance books of the court of king Otto. Significant, in terms of its volume and contents, is the archive of the general Vassos Mavrovouniotis which covers the period 1821-1847 and contains plenty of evidence for the political relations of the time and the incorporation of Revolution veterans into the newly founded state.
Another important category is formed by the archives of politicians who played a leading role in Modern  Greek public life. The archives of two great politicians who deeply influenced the history of modern Greece deserve special mention, for obvious reasons: the archives of Charilaos Trikoupis and Eleftherios Venizelos. The archive of Charilaos Trikoupis contains some 8,000 documents and covers a large part of his political career. One should note Trikoupis’ correspondence with King George I, with Greek and foreign diplomats, his personal correspondence with companions and esteemed figures of his times as well as a large number of memoranda and administrative documents on the foreign and financial policy of the country. The Eleftherios Venizelos archive refers mainly to the period 1910-1920 with documents for the “Rectification” policy, the Balkan Wars and the National Schism. The archives of George Strait, Stephen Skouloudis, Andreas Michalakopoulos, Dimitrios Gounaris, Spyridon Simos among others also provide important information on the political and diplomatic history of modern Greece.
  The archives of the Delighiorghis and Megapanos-Mavrommatis families from Aetoloakarnania, the Valaoritis and Geroulanos families from the Ionian islands and of the Boudouris family from Hydra (a branch of which moved to Euboea) cover the whole of the 19th and early 20th centuries as they contain archival material of family members who belonged to different generations.
Quite rich is the material covering the period of the Metaxas regime, the German occupation, the civil war and the post-war period; this kind of material attracts more and more the interests of younger researchers. The Metaxas period (1936-1940) is reflected in the archives of Aristidis Dimitratos, Costas Kotzias, Theologos Nikoloudis, Agis Tambakopoulos. Aspects of the German occupation and the Resistance are glimpsed through the archives of Elias Papastergiopoulos (the National Liberation Front [NLF]/Greek Popular Liberation Army in the western Peloponnesus, NLF at Palama, Karditsa, the Bulgarian occupation of Macedonia and Thrace) and Plato Hatzimichalis. The archives of George Aegialidis and Elias Lagakos provide important information on the National Unity government of George Papandreou. The post-war period is reflected in the archives of Tryfon Triantafyllakos, George Vichos, Napoleon Zervas etc.
Worth mentioning are also the archives concerning the military history of Greece, with reference both to the army and navy. Material concerning the Greek-Turkish war of 1897 is contained in the Timoleon Vassos and Peter Lykoudis archives. The Leonidas Paraskevopoulos archives as well as journals of militaries provide useful information on army land operations during the Balkan Wars, while naval operations are covered by the archives of Sophocles Dousmanis and Ioannis Damianos. The archives of Ioannis Papadimas, the Independent Division, Oikonomos Gouras, Sotiris Anagnostopoulos etc contain evidence for the operations during the campaign in Asia Minor. The 1940 war is covered by the archives of Emmanuel Vazaios, Alexander Voultzos, Vassilios Kyris, Miltiades Iatridis etc.
You may visit the catalogue of E.L.I.A.'s archives in Greek, here. |