Editing State papers

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2008}}

The term '''state papers''' is used in Britain and [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] to refer to [[government]] archives and records. Such papers used to be kept separate from non-governmental papers, with state papers kept in the State Paper Office and general public records kept in the [[Public Record Office]]. When they were written, they were regarded as the personal papers of the government officials writing them, but in 1702, the State Papers Office was established and requisitioned them.

==Ireland==
{{See also|Public Record Office of Northern Ireland}}

In Ireland, these records were held in a single repository, the Public Record Office. In 1922, this was in two locations, the Bermingham Tower of [[Dublin Castle]] and the [[Four Courts]] on [[Dublin]]'s quays. However, the vast majority of records, particularly before 1790, were held in the Four Courts. When the Four Courts was occupied by [[Anglo-Irish Treaty|anti-Treaty]] forces of the [[Irish Republican Army]] in April 1922, the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty|pro-Treaty]] forces came under pressure to remove them. Following the assassination of the British Field Marshal, [[Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet|Henry Hughes Wilson]] by anti-Treaty forces on 22 June, the British 
government pressed the [[Provisional Government of Ireland (1922)|Provisional Government]] to take action or else British forces, still occupying Ireland, would intervene. On 27 June, [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]], leader of the pro-Treaty IRA, gave the order to attack the occupying force in what is widely regarded as the opening shot of the [[Irish Civil War]]. In the process, [[Battle of Dublin#Public Record Office explosion|whether by external artillery or internal sabotage]], most of these records were destroyed.

The Irish State Paper Office contains papers from the offices of:
* [[President of Ireland]]
* [[Taoiseach]]
* [[Oireachtas]], i.e. [[Dáil Éireann]] and [[Seanad Éireann]]
* [[Department of state (Ireland)|Departments of State]]

There are papers also from former offices of state, including:
* [[King of Ireland]]
* [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland relating to Ireland]]
* [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]]
* [[Chief Secretary for Ireland]]
* [[Under Secretary for Ireland]]
* [[Irish House of Commons]] & [[Irish House of Lords]]
* [[House of Commons of Southern Ireland]]
* [[Attorney-General for Ireland]]
* [[Governor-General of the Irish Free State]]

The Irish State Paper Office was formerly located in [[Dublin Castle]], while the Irish Public Records Office was located at the [[Four Courts]]. In the late 1980s the distinction was abolished and both archives merged and moved to a new [[National Archives of Ireland]] in Bishop Street in Dublin.<ref>[http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1017/macgiollacoilleb.html Death of former State archivist] RTÉ News, 2006-10-17.</ref>

==United Kingdom<span class="anchor" id="SP DOM"></span>==
[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]] of the United Kingdom is located in [[Kew]], near [[London]]. The [[Royal Archives]] are kept separately at [[Windsor Castle]].

There are separate national archives for [[Scotland]] (the [[National Records of Scotland]]) and [[Northern Ireland]] (the [[Public Record Office of Northern Ireland]]).

==See also==
* [[Thirty Year Rule]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==

===Calendar of state papers relating to Ireland===
* [https://archive.org/details/calendarireland01greauoft  CSPI 1509–1573]
* [https://archive.org/details/calendarireland02greauoft CSPI 1574–1585]
* [https://archive.org/details/1887calendarofstatep03greauoft CSPI 1586 – July 1588]
* [https://archive.org/stream/calendarofstatep04greauoft#page/n5/mode/2up CSPI Aug 1588 – Sep 1592]
* [https://archive.org/details/1890calendarofstatep05greauoft CSPI Oct 1592 – June 1596]
* [https://archive.org/details/calendarireland06greauoft CSPI July 1596 – December 1597]
* [https://archive.org/details/1895calendarofstatep07greauoft  CSPI Jan 1598 – March 1599]
* [https://archive.org/details/calendarireland08greauoft  CSPI April 1599 – Feb 1600]
* [https://archive.org/details/1903calendarofstatep09greauoft  CSPI Mar 1600 – Oct 1600]
* [https://archive.org/details/1905calendarofstatep10greauoft CSPI 1 Nov 1600 – 31 July 1601]
* [https://archive.org/details/1912calendarofstatep11greauoft CSPI 1601–1603]
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924091770812   CSPI 1603–1606]
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924091770820  CSPI 1606–1608]
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924091770838  CSPI 1608–1610]
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924091770846  CSPI 1611–1614]
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924091770853  CSPI 1615–1625]
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924091770879  CSPI 1625–1632]
* [https://archive.org/stream/calendarofstatep02grea#page/n3/mode/2up CSPI 1633–1647]
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924091770895  CSPI Adventurers for Land 1642–1659]
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924091770861  CSPI 1647–1660]
* [https://archive.org/details/calendarstatepa00mahagoog  CSPI 1660–1662]
* [https://archive.org/details/calendarstatepa12offigoog  CSPI 1663–1665]
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924091769590  CSPI Sep 1669 – Dec 1670]

[[Category:Politics of the Republic of Ireland]]
[[Category:Collection of the National Archives (United Kingdom)]]