Archives du Maroc? The official and alternative national archives of Morocco

Abstract

ABSTRACT The 2004 Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that investigated human rights abuses in Morocco under King Hassan II cited the ‘deplorable state of national archives’ as a major obstacle to its work. In 2013, in accordance with the findings of the TRC, the National Archives of Morocco opened with a colonial fonds, primarily holding records from the period of French colonisation (1912–56). This article seeks to understand the late establishment of a national archives, positing that part of the delay was caused by the focus of Moroccan nationalists on the location of indigenous records and their rejection of colonial archives and historiography.