At the beginning of the 20th century the old archives of Leiden University were transferred from the Academy Building to the University Library: first the archives of the Senate and of the Board of Governors; some years later those of the Faculties followed. In the 1930s finding aids of these archives (running up to 1877) were compiled in the State Archives in The Hague. In later years various other archives and documentation created by Leiden University were transferred to the University Library. Their contents were listed and described in 2000-2001 by the Centrale Archief Selectiedienst (Central Archives Selection Service), Winchoten. Below is an overview of all University archives.

• Archives of the Governors – Executive Board – University Council
  — Archives of the Governors, 1574-1815, 1815-1877, 1878-1953
  — Archives of the Governors – Board of Directors, 1952-1989
  — Documents regarding events during the Nazi-occupation in World War II, 1940-1951 and 1971
  — Matriculation registers of the students, 1877-1977 (1987)
  — Archives of the University Council, (1967) 1971-1989
• Archives of the Senate — Board of Deans — Rector
  — Archives of the Senate and Faculties, 1575-1877
  — Archives of the Rector and the Senate, 1875-1972
  — Archives of the Board of Deans and the Rector, 1971-1989
• Archives of the Faculties: 
  — Archives of the Senate and the Faculties, 1575-1877
  — Archives of the Faculty of Theology, 1815-1968
  — Archives of the Faculty of Law, (1773-)  1850-1979
  — Archives of the Faculty of Arts & Philosophy, 1856-1952
  — Archives of the Faculty of Arts, 1948-1984
  — Archives of the United Faculties of Law and Arts & Philosophy, 1883-1958
  — Archives of the Faculty of Medicine, 1847-1958 (1965)
  — Archives of the Laboratory of Medical Chemistry, 1926-1955
  — Archives of the Faculty of Mathematics & Physics, (1835-), 1899-1955
  — Archives of the Zootomical (later Zoological) Laboratory, 1868-1954 and of C.J. van der Klaauw, professor of zoology, 1934-1959
• Archives of Leiden University Library, 1595-1869 (-1974)
• Archives of institutes connected with Leiden University, 1828-1994

The online catalogue contains links to collection guides for all University archives, with detailed (electronic) inventories with the possibility to directly request items for consultation in the Special Collections Reading Room.

Since 1909, 25 inventories of the Leiden University archives have been published. See for bibliographical data: Catalogues of the Holdings of Leiden University Libraries, section Q. The digitized finding aids in the Collection guides (see above) contain the same data and are now the most important point of entrance.

The most important source for finding out whether someone studied in Leiden, prior to 1876, are the volumina inscriptionum, kept in the Archives of the Senate of Leiden University (ASF 7-19). Notes were made of the date of registration, the name of the student, country and place of origin, age and the chosen faculty. For the years 1575-1875 these data have been published in W.N. du Rieu, Album studiosorum Academiae Lugduno Batavae MDLXXV-MDCCCLXXV. Den Haag 1875.

• Step 1: Search for the student’s last name in the index of the published registrations of 1575-1875, page 1441 and further (starting on page 401 in the slide bar underneath the image). Please note that it contains references to columns and not pages, and take into account different spelling variations.
• Step 2: Find the student in the correct column of the published registrations of 1575-1875 (starting on page 41 in the slide bar underneath the image). The top of the page shows the year, and the column shows the month and day of first registration. For each student the name is given, as well as country and place of origin, age and the chosen faculty. Any used abbreviations are explained in the notarum explicatio.

In most cases this is sufficient information; it will tell you when a student started his studies, with all the information mentioned above. It does not tell you where the student lived in the city of Leiden. That information is only given in the scanned original documents.

• Step 3: Consult the scanned original volumina inscriptionum using the registration date given in the published registrations of 1575-1875. Start with finding the right volume (i.e. range of years); per volume the registrations are arranged by year, month and day.

The steps above will direct you to the student’s first registration. All students were obliged to have their names reviewed every year, the so called ‘recensie’. The lists of these ‘recensies’ are present in the Archives of the Senate and the Faculties (ASF 22-252). Tracing a student in the recension lists will tell you how long someone studied at Leiden University.

• Step 4: Consult the scanned original recension lists using the registration date given in the published registrations of 1575-1875. Start with finding the right list (i.e. specific year); up to 1753 the registrations per list are arranged alphabetically on students’ first names, after 1753 on last names. Again, information is given about country and place of origin, age, chosen faculty and address in Leiden. Note that the student was only actually registered when the student’s name is marked with an asterisk (*) or R (for ‘Recension’). Check subsequent years to establish the study duration.

Please check the subject guide Sources of Leiden University’s History to find out more.