Metadata: Ministry of National Education and culture. Archives I (19th and 20th centuries)
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- National Archives of Belgium
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archives Générales du Royaume
- Postal address:
- Ruisbroekstraat 2-6 / Rue de Ruysbroeck 2-6, 1000 Brussel
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)2 513 76 80
- Web address:
- http://www.arch.be/
- Email:
- archives.generales@arch.be
- Reference number:
- NAB-Brussels-510-III.0039
- Title:
- Ministry of National Education and culture. Archives I (19th and 20th centuries)
- Title (official language):
- Ministère de l’Éducation nationale et de la culture. Archives I (19ème et 20ème siècles)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Ministerie van Nationale Opvoeding en Cultuur; Ministère de l’Éducation nationale et de la Culture
- Date(s):
- 1830/1970
- Extent:
- 66 linear metres
- Scope and content:
- At present no complete inventory exists for this large fonds. Several series however have been described and arranged. We notably find a series from the Conseil culturel francophone and a second one related to the organisation of education. The following files are relevant for this guide: CC120, no. 8 (“Jewish students (December 1941-June 1942)”, consisting of correspondence and ordinances) and MAN 118 (notes and proposed decree concerning the inspection of the courses of Protestant and Jewish religion, 1956).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- From Belgian independence until 1878, education, science, literature and fine arts were almost uninterruptedly competences of the Ministry of the Interior. An independent Ministry of Education created in 1878 was dismantled again in 1884, its competences distributed to the Ministry of the Interior and Agriculture, Business and Public Works. In 1907, the competences regarding culture and education were centralised at the newly created Ministry of Science and Arts, although the policy regarding specialised education (e.g. technical and agriculture education) was not part of its tasks. A Ministry of Public Education was created in 1932 and was now also entrusted with (administrative) competences related to technical and agricultural education. In 1946, almost all education-related competences were transferred to this ministry, although matters regarding school infrastructure partially remained the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Works. The entanglement of competences was the result of long-lasting political struggles between Catholics on the one hand and liberals and socialists on the other hand, and remained unsolved. By changing the name to Ministry of National Education and Culture (1960), more emphasis was placed on the cultural domain. The cultural division of the ministry according to linguistic regimes gradually took place from the 1960s onwards. In 1969, two separate ministries were created: The Ministerie van Nationale Opvoeding en Nederlandse Cultuur, and the Ministère de l’Éducation nationale et de la Culture française. From 1970, following the first constitutional reform, cultural matters were progressively transferred to the ‘cultural councils’ of the Communities; education initially remained a federal competence. With the constitutional reform of 1988 and the official transfer in 1989, virtually the entire set of competences was now held by the Communities. Since then, the federal government only remains responsible for determining compulsory education, the minimum requirements for diplomas and the pensions of the teaching staff. (J. Tyssens, “Het voormalige Ministerie van Onderwijs en Cultuur”, in P. van den Eeckhout & G. Vanthemsche (ed.), Bronnen voor de studie van het hedendaagse België 19e – 21e eeuw. Tweede herziene en uitgebreide uitgave, Brussel, Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis / Commission Royale d’Histoire, 2009, pp. 489-495.)
- Access, restrictions:
- The fonds is closed.
- Finding aids:
- There is no complete inventory. An inventory (made by M. Roeges) exists for certain series.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
