Estonian archival science considers 1920 to be the start of its history, when for the first time, work began on formulating the kind of archival manage­ment necessary for an independent country. The archival system and services are particularly important for a small country with a complicated history, and archives as governmental institutions have fulfilled their tasks both as the preservers of historical sources and the facilitators of the changes and reforms that have taken place in the country. This article considers archives, most of which have by now been combined into a single national archive, in parallel with other changes that have taken place in the system of governmental institutions in Estonia both as an independent state and during its 50-year-long occupation. There have been times when new archives have been established in Estonian archives en masse, but also times of contraction. Their collections have been the foundation for the restoration of civic rights. Every Estonian family received at least one archival notification during the period of reforms in the 1990s. The development of the National Archives has been rapid with the arrival of the digital age. The archives received their first computers significantly later than elsewhere in the world, yet now the National Archives are in the forefront in the digital sphere as well. Advancement is also continuing in its financing.