Based on archival records, it was during the British Military Administration (BMA) from August 1945 until 15th July 1946, who found and preserved pre-war archival that survived. Brigadier General Charles Frederick Cunningham Macaskie gave the orders to search, acquire and preserve North Borneo archival records including those of Sarawak and Brunei records.
As a result, it is believed that the British Crown Colony who took over North Borneo from the British Military Administration on 15th July 1946 realized the establishment of a North Borneo Central Archives.
Picture: L. W. Jone-Jones officer-in-charge of NBCA
On 22nd November, 1957, the British Crown Colony Secretariat issued a circular to all residents, heads of department, district officers and asst. district officers informing the setting up of the North Borneo Central Archives (NBCA), at the Secretariat Office, Jesselton and to transfer and centralize all records created during the British North Borneo Chartered Company and Colonial Period at NBCA.
After independence, in 1965, the Sabah Museum was held responsible for administering NBCA. Access to the records was granted by the State Secretary. The NBCA achieved a breakthrough when the Sabah State Archives Department was formally established in 1980 after the State Archives Enactment was passed and subsequently gazetted on 1st January, 1985.
Records stored at the NBCA were then transferred to the present building (previously meant for the Sabah Museum Gallery) in 1980 at KM 4. Penampang road, Kota Kinabalu.
In 1984, The Sabah State Archives merged with Sabah Museum and became known as the Department of Sabah Museum and State Archives under the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. In 1992, The Sabah State Archives Department functioned independently under the Chief Minister’s Department till to date.
The Sabah State Archives is the fifth oldest archives established in 1946 in Southeast Asia after Indonesia (1811), Cambodia (1911), Laos (1917) and Vietnam (1945). At the international level, ANS is a member of The International Council on Archives (ICA) elevated from Category C to Category A in 2010 until to date. ANS is also a member of the Southeast Asian Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (SARBICA).