Until 1918, Slovakia never was an independent state or an autonomous administrative unit free of Hungarian control. Thus it was impossible to refer to any central or national Slovak archives. However, Slovakia was a country with rich archival materials, preserved in municipal, county, church and family archives which, according to the criteria of that period, could form the core of central archives.

With the creation of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918, the question of the organisation and management of archives and archive studies in Slovakia emerged. Unfortunately, none of the suggested proposals succeeded.

In 1928 the dissolution of the old county structure and the re-organisation of public administration resulted in the establishment of the provincial system in Slovakia. Slovakia became a province of Czechoslovakia, a political and administrative subject represented by the Provincial Office and presided over by the Provincial President. Pursuant to the Decree 19355 issued by Presidium of the Provincial Office on 28 September 1928, the Provincial Archives was established. It took custody of the archival fonds of the former counties which remained stored in their former physical location, non-current records of the former Minister of the Czechoslovak Republic with Full Authorisation for Administration of Slovakia, branch offices of ministries then functioning within the territory of Slovakia, and the newly created registry of the Provincial Office.

The Provincial Archives was abolished on 31 December 1939. Its responsibilities and managing of Bratislava and Komárno county archives were temporarily taken over by the department of the Presidium of the Ministry of the Interior called the Archives of the Ministry of the Interior, and based on the premises of the former County Headquarters in Bratislava.

The Archives of the Ministry of the Interior co-operated with the archives in Vienna and Budapest with the aim to propose a bill for the establishment of a central state archives in Slovakia.

In 1945, without any possibility of relying on legislative act, the Archives of the Ministry of the Interior was transferred to the administration of Presidium of the Commission of the Interior and continued in activity as the Archives of the Commission of the Interior. It was housed in temporary conditions in the former County Headquarters, which significantly affected its activities. A partial improvement occurred in 1951, when the state regional archives were established under regional national committees in accordance with Decree 368/3-29/9-1949-P2 passed by the Commission of the Interior. In spite of its efforts, the Archives of the Commission of the Interior did not manage to accomplish the tasks of archival management in Slovakia. A positive step, however, was the creation of regional archives and the establishment of the Slovak Archives Board.

By a government decision of 9 January 1951, the State Archives Board was established under the Ministry of the Interior. The board’s Slovak members represented the Slovak Archives Board. At its first session, the board discussed proposals for the constitution of the Slovak Central Archives and its organisational structure. Pursuant to Decree of the Board of Commissioners of 20 May 1952, the Slovak Central Archives was constituted. Its organisational structure and activities were determined by the Commissioner of the Interior on 29 December 1952. In addition to its primary aim -- to acquire and facilitate the most effective use of the records of national-wide importance - the Archives was required to manage, control, and offer methodological guidance to all regional, district, and municipal archives in Slovakia. Archives temporarily took over the function of the executive body of the Slovak Archives Board.

A government Decree on Archives of 7 May 1954, the first legislative regulation with the power of an act, was an important turning point in the process of establishing an organisational structure of archives in Slovakia. Based on this government Decree, the Central Slovak State Archives, as the successor of the Slovak Central Archives, was established on 1 October 1954. In accordance with a government Decree, the Slovak Archives Administration was constituted as well, and took over tasks related to the organisation and management of archives in Slovakia. In this way, the Central Slovak State Archives focused its attention on collecting of archival materials of nation-wide importance at its storage areas at Červený Kameň Castle and in Bratislava. In 1955, the Archives acquired its own building in Križkova Street in Bratislava.

Since 1 January 1956, the Central Slovak State Archives undertook the administration of the archival fonds of the Agricultural Archives, originally established in 1947 under the Commission of Agriculture and Land Reform. At the Central Slovak State Archives, the department of so-called agriculture and forestry fonds was established, which was later transformed into the Department of the History of Feudalism. During 1958, the Archives undertook the administration of the archival fonds of the so-called credible locations (loca credibilia) as archives of historical public legal institutions of nation-wide importance: Hronský Beňadik, Jasov, Leles, as well as the Bratislava Chapter. At the same time, it acquired the private archives of the Bratislava Chapter, including its valuable library. Since 1 August 1958, on the initiative of the Ministry of Metallurgy and Mining Industries, the Central Mining Archives for Slovakia in Banská Štiavnica was incorporated into the Central Slovak State Archives as its branch repository.

In 1959, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Education and Culture signed an agreement on the delimitation of archival documents preserved in museums. In accordance with Resolution 92/1959 of the Board of Commissioners, starting from 1 January 1960, the Archives of the Slovak National Museum in Martin was abolished and its collections were transferred to the administration of the Central Slovak State Archives. With this step the first stage of formation of modern nation-wide central archival institution in Slovakia was completed.

In connection with the growing number of archival fonds, the request for a new archives building re-appeared. Already in April of 1957, the Commissioner of the Interior submitted a report on the present situation and perspectives of archives administration in Slovakia, which included the intention to build a new purpose-built promises for the Central Slovak State Archives. The Decision 94/57 of the Board of Commissioners of 2 April 1957, thus became the charter of the new archives building, but unfortunately the construction was postponed for more than two decades. At the same time the idea of the creation of the Slovak National Archives was proposed again. A proposal suggested by the Slovak Archives Administration in 1958 was not put into practice due to the dissolution of Slovak executive bodies.

Due to the abolition of the Board of Commissioners of the Slovak National Council and all commissioners in 1960, the Central Slovak State Archives had to store an enormous amount of semi-current records from their offices. On the other hand it acquired the entire registries of the Slovak central state legislative and executive bodies of the period from 1945 to 1960. In 1963, the situation was reviewed by the Vice-chairman of the Slovak National Council, who issued a new status for the Archives and enacted its internal organisational structure by creating four departments: a) the Department of the History of Feudalism; b) the Department of the History of Capitalism; c) the Department of the History of Socialism; d) the Department of Economic Fonds (on 1 January 1969 this department was transformed into the independent State Central Mining Archives based in Banská Štiavnica), and three sections: search room, library and microfilm collections; photo-laboratories and restoration and conservatory workshops. The new organisational structure of the Archives enabled its personnel to specialise to different historical periods. Already in 1964, the Central Slovak State Archives published a two-volume guide to its holdings.

The organisational changes in archives administration caused by the federalisation of the ČSSR in 1969, as well as the analysis of the present situation and achievements, signalled the necessity for the regulation of the status of the archives by act. Alongside with the legislative regulation, at the same time there re-appeared a chance to solve the problem of the institutionalisation of the archives as specialised scientific research centre.

The Act of the Slovak National Council No 149/1975 Coll. on Archives completed the efforts aimed at creation an organised archival structure. The Central Slovak State Archives was re-named the Central State Archives of the Slovak Socialist Republic. The Act considered the Central State Archives of the SSR the main scientific research institute in archive studies. The Archives was integrated into the state research planning system in co-ordination with the Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Science.

From 1 January 1978, as a budgetary organisation, the Archives acquired full independence guaranteed by Act when, in 1979, its new status was issued, and its organisational structure changed as well. The departments of pre-archival care, collection of microfilms, laboratories, reference services and the economic-technical department were established alongside the already existing ones.

The political and social changes after 1989 were reflected also in the archival legislation and resulted in the amendment of Slovak National Council Act on Archives by Act 571/1991 (full worded under No. 332/1992), codified the re-naming of the Central State Archives of the SSR into the Slovak National Archives. The efforts of archivists, striving for decades to constitute a central archival institution with nation-wide importance and title, were thus achieved.

On May 17th, 2002 the new Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 395/2002 Coll. on archives and registries has been passed.