The forerunner to Tamil Nadu Archives earlier known as Madras Record Office was a small repository of records in the Council Room set up by Lord William Bentinck. He centralized all the Secretariat records spread across various departments and appointed a record keeper to arrange and issue the records on requisition. Tamil Nadu Archives is headquartered in Egmore, Chennai.

There are six District Record Centres functioning at Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli, Salem, Thanjavur, Cuddalore and Madurai. The District Record Centres preserve permanent records of more than 30 year’s old which are historically and administratively important transferred from the Collectorate and other Government Offices in the respective districts.

Tamil Nadu Archives comprises an Administrative unit,9 Record Stacks, Research Hall, Preservation section, Gazetteer wing and Archival library.

The major activities of the Archives are to centralize all the permanent records, to store as per the archival policy, to preserve record for future generation by adopting prescribed archival management methods, to throw them open to historical research, to publish records regularly which are of historical and administrative interest and make them promptly and readily available for officials reference in carrying out the day-to-day administration of the Government.

The services the Tamil Nadu Archives facilities to the public:

Sl.No	Description	Whom to Contact
1.	Issue of certified extracts of Tamil Nadu Government Gazette.	Assistant Commissioner, Tamil Nadu Archives,   Egmore, Chennai – 8.
2.	Issue of copies of Government Orders, Old Settlement Registers, FMB sketches,   Inam Fair Registers, Standing Orders of Board of Revenue, Voter List, etc., under   RTI Act 2005	Public Information Officer , Tamil Nadu Archives, Egmore, Chennai- 8.
3.	Sale of Archival Publications	Research Officer (Publication), Tamil Nadu Archives, Egmore,   Chennai- 8.
4.	Sale of District Gazetteers	Editor, Tamil Nadu Archives, Egmore, Chennai – 8.
5.	Conducting Endowment lectures.	Research Officer (Regional Committee for Survey of Historical   Records), Tamil   Nadu Archives, Egmore, Chennai - 8.
6.	Facilitating Bonafide Scholars	Research Officer (Research Hall), Tamil Nadu Archives,  Egmore, Chennai - 8.
7.	Tracing the family tree and other ancestral details	Assistant Commissioner,   Tamil Nadu Archives, Egmore, Chennai - 8.

•	A request for obtaining information under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act shall be made in writing or through electronic means either in person or by post to the Public Information Officer and must be accompanied by an application fee of Rs.10/- by cash (at APIO counter) or by demand draft or bankers cheque or a Court fee stamp or Treasury Challan.
•	For providing information under section 6(1) of the RTI Act the copy fees are as below: - (i) Rupees two for each page (A4 or A3 size paper) Photocopied. (ii) for inspection of records, no fees for the first hour and a fee Rs.5/- for every one hour (or Fraction thereof) thereafter. (iii) for information provided in printed form, at the price fixed for such publication or rupees two for extracts from the publication.
•	Mode of payment (Whichever is convenient for the applicant) given below: 1. Cash In person at APIO counter of Tamil Nadu Archives. 2. Demand Draft Assistant Commissioner, Tamil Nadu Archives, Egmore, Chennai – 8. 3. Banker’s Cheque Assistant Commissioner, Tamil Nadu Archives, Egmore, Chennai – 8. 4. Treasury Challan “0070 –Other Administrative Services 60 –Other Service 118 – Receipts under Right to information Act, 2005.  AA –Collection of Fees under Right to information (Fees) Rules 2005/227 Non – Taxation Fees – 39 Translation and Printing Fees” (IFHRMS DPC  0070 60 118 AA 22739)
•	Persons below the poverty line are exempted from the payment of fees for seeking information under the Right to Information Act, 2005 and necessary BPL certificate has to be attached.
•	The required information, if available, will be furnished within the prescribed period .