In 2003, Indonesia introduced a joint submission to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register with the Netherlands, South Africa, and Sri Lanka for their archival collections related to the VOC.

The National Archives collection traces its origins to the work of Jacob Anne van der Chijs, who was appointed the first archivist of the Dutch East Indies in 1892 by the colonial government.

[1] In 1860, Jacob Anne van der Chijs and Henry David Levyssohn Norman were commissioned to investigate the existing archives.

In 1925, the collection was moved to the former country estate of Governor-General Reynier de Klerck, where it remained undamaged during the period of Japanese occupation.

[6] In 2003, a joint nomination to include the combined archives of the Dutch East India Company in the Memory of the World International Register with the Netherlands, South Africa, and Sri Lanka was submitted to and approved by UNESCO.