In recent years archivists and historians have been pondering the importance of '1800' inthe history of archives and historiography: did the turn of that century mark the start of'modern' archival organisation, focused on historical research? Even though the accessibilityof Belgian archives was unsurpassed in nineteenth-century Europe, the archival historyof that country has been neglected thus far. By looking at the National Archives inBrussels and the city archives of Ghent, new light can be shed on the Belgian archivallandscape around 1800. As it turns out, 1814 was an important turning point. The politicalchange ftom the French Empire to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was used bysome historians to secure an appointment as archivist. At the same time, the new nationalgovernment actively remodelled archives into historiographical institutions.
