The history of the Warsaw Archives is closely tied to the history of the city of Warsaw and its municipal administration. The latest research shows that Warsaw was probably founded near the estate of the Prince of Masovia in Jazdów between the 13th and 14th century. Unfortunately the original foundation charter was not preserved to our times. We may be sure, however, that it existed and that it was the first document in the Archives of the capital city of Warsaw. The oldest existing original document preserved to our times is the privilege founding a town bath in Warsaw, issued by the Prince of Masovia, Janusz Starszy on August 26th, 1376.
One may assume that like in other medieval towns the most precious documents of Warsaw were kept in wooden trunks with metal fittings or in leather boxes.
The oldest known description of the interior of the Warsaw Archives is included in the versified guide to Warsaw "Gościniec abo krótkie opisanie Warszawy" by Adam Jastrzębski, published in 1643. While describing the City Hall building the author also mentions the Archives, which at that time were called "the treasure-house".

The turning-point in the history of the city of Warsaw and the city Archives was included in the Polish Constitution of May 3rd, 1791. It was the law of crown towns and cities in the Polish Kingdom. The General City Archives of Warsaw were established in April 1792. The new institution was to preserve all municipal administration records. Hipolit Lemański was the first General Archivist in Warsaw. Though records were collected at an impressive pace the whole action was stopped by the events going on at that time - following the Targowica Confederation in 1792 the jurisdiction offices began to reclaim their records. The General City Archives of Warsaw and the position of the General Archivist existed for a few months only.

JABŁONOWSKICH PALLACE - City Hall Postcard printed before 1904 by Stanisław Winiarski in Warsaw. In this postcard the City Hall is seen as if from the gate of a townhouse which in fact does not exist. It was probably the editor's idea.

In 1810 the Prince of Warsaw issued an edict which moved the oldest municipal records (c.a. 1800 vol.) to the Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw. In 1817 the remaining records were moved to the new City Hall building in the old Jabłonowski Family Palace located at today's Theater Square, close to the Old Town. The old, medieval building of the City Hall was demolished.
In October 1863, in the time of the partition of Poland, during the so-called January Upraising, Polish military troops burned the City Hall in order to destroy the records which could be dangerous when in hands of the Russian Tsar Administration suppressing the citizens of Warsaw. The building of the City Hall and a large part of the Archives was burned. Fortunately the oldest records were partly rescued by archivists who threw them out through the windows on the backyard. When the City Hall was reconstructed in 1864-1869, the Archives were moved to the Namiestnikowski Palace (now the Polish Presidential Palace in Warsaw). In the reconstructed City Hall a special archival repository with 330 square meters of space was assigned. In 1893 the Archive preserved ca. 40 thousand volumes of records.

Just before Poland regained independence new regulations for Warsaw municipal administration have been approved. In 1917 on the basis of these regulations the Main Archive of the Warsaw Municipal Administration was established. In 1925 the City Council established a special archival committee responsible for reforming the Archives, nevertheless no improvement was noted. However, due to the pressure of historians interested in the 19th century holdings a professional historian was employed in the Archive - Eugeniusz Szwankowski. Together with another archivist, Adam Słomczyński, they began to process archival holdings (c.a. 300 000 records) coming from from 1780-1934.

Another turning point in the history of the Archives was the year 1935, when major Adam W. Englert from the Military Historical Office of the Polish Army was appointed the Director of the Warsaw City Archives. The new director, with the support of the President of Warsaw, Stefan Starzyński, took over the Old Arsenal building at Długa 52nd Street and reconstructed the building for archival purposes. The ceremonial opening of the new Archive took place on November 29th, 1938. The Warsaw City Archives have finally acquired a building in which all historical records of the city of Warsaw could be kept. Unfortunately one year later World War II began. The records were not damaged in the siege of Warsaw in 1939 and the German occupation. The most damage to the holdings was done during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. The records survived heavy fights, the majority of the holdings was saved, however just after the fighting was over the Nazi troops methodically burnt down all archival records kept in the Arsenal.

Krzywe Kolo 3-11, 1:500

In the April 1945, after Warsaw was liberated, the Warsaw City Archives were brought back to life by the President of Warsaw. In the beginning the Archives occupied a few rooms at 8th Marszałkowska Street. In 1955 the Archives received three reconstructed townhouses (7th and 9th Krzywe Koło Street and 12th Nowomiejska Street). For almost half a century now these buildings have been the main seat of the Archives. In June 1951 the Warsaw City Archives were incorporated in the structure of the state archives and received a new name - Voivodship State Archive. The scope of activity of the Archive changed, too, as it was now to cover the whole Warsaw Voivodship (Masovia region).