The City Archives of Bergen were founded in 1979. They include both municipal and private archives. Most of the records held here date from 1702 to 2005, although a few date back as far as 1550 and as recently as 2020. The archives cover the city of Bergen as it is today (the former Bergen city/county) and the parts that belonged to Arna (inc. Haus), Fana, Laksevåg (and parts of Askøy), Årstad, Åsane and the old ‘Landsokn’ (two rural districts that were the nearest to Bergen). Some of the private archives hold documents from the county of Hordaland, others from all of Western Norway.
The most important archives in this collection are those of St. Jørgens Hospital, the oldest institution for people affected by leprosy in Norway, which operated from before 1411 until 1946. Holdings regarding this hospital include: minutes of proceedings (1896-1995); correspondence for the hospital (1821-1923) and for inspections (1825-1896); journals for the hospital (1821-1947) and for inspections (1825-1968); correspondence between the hospital superintendent, diocese and magistrate regarding economy, running of the hospital and patients (1751-1867); documents relating to land owned by the hospital; end of year financial reports (1969-1973); letters from monarchs (1651-1749) – Frederik III, Kristian VI, Frederik V; diverse correspondence (1749-1977) regarding various matters such as financial statements, insurance, title deeds, grant applications, and an article on the opening of Lyster Sanatorium.
Entry updated October 2022