Corporate entry: Solomon Islands National Archives
- Alternative Names
- Archives
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The archives of the Western Pacific High Commission (WPHC) (q.v.) began in 1877 and continued until 1978. They have always been the major source of primary documents used by historians on the British Pacific territories. The archives were located in Fiji and combined the archives of the Colony of Fiji with those of the WPHC. In 1952, when the posts of High Commissioner and Governor of Fiji were separated the earlier records remained in Fiji. Other files accumulated in each of the Pacific territories and in 1966 six thousand BSIP registry files were transferred to Fiji. In 1970, the Fiji files were transferred to the newly independent government of Fiji. Once the WPHC was defunct, a plan was put in place to return the territory files to each nation. The central files were sent to England for storage. A building to house the BSIP archives was built on Hibiscus Avenue in Honiara and was opened on 2 March 1981 by Neil Marten, the U.K. Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and Minister for Overseas Development.
The central WPHC archives were given into the custody of the Special Collections section of the University of Auckland Library in the 1980s and in 2002 became available for public use. The central files contain copies of many documents no longer available in the BSIP archives in Honiara.
The Solomon Islands National Archives also contain the archives of the nation after 1978. The Church of Melanesia deposited the Melanesian Mission/Diocese of Melanesia archive in the Solomon Islands National Archives in 1980. The Church of Melanesia archives contain correspondence, publications, journals, periodicals, photographs and films from 1850 to 1975.