Mission
The National Archives is responsible for collecting and preserving public and other historical records and making them available to the public. It also advises government agencies on records management and records preservation. As a general rule, government records are transferred to the National Archives when they are 30 years old under the Prime Minister's Regulation on Records Keeping issued in 1983 (B.E.2526 and second and additional version, B.E.2548). The archive collects about seven percent of all government documents (2018). ==Collection==
Collection
The National Archives' collection consists of over one million historical government and public records, including paper and palm leaf documents, photographs, posters, maps, videos tapes, and sound recordings dating from the reign of King Rama IV to the present. Thailand's archives hold few materials relating to foreign countries. For example, it has no materials about Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos, but does have a number of Chinese documents. According to Thai culture researcher Phuthorn Bhumadhon, when he wants to search the history of the Ayutthaya period, he has to go to archives in France. ==Researcher access==