National Archives store materials relating to the history of a nation, usually operated by the government of that nation. This is the first ever comprehensive source of information about national archives around the world covers the national archives of all 195 countries recognized by the United Nations (the 193 member states and the 2 that non-member observer states: The Holy See and the State of Palestine) as well as Taiwan (Republic of China). Of the 196 countries, 54 are in Africa, 49 in Asia, 44 in Europe, 33 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 14 in Oceania, and 2 in Northern America. All countries maintain a repository for government and historical records; whether all allow public access will be determined through research for this work. The National Archives of all 196 countries will be included in this work (see Appendix A). Each entry contains: general information about the archive and when it is open to researchers (if applicable), historical information about the institution and how it developed, information about the archives today (its mission, functions, organization, services, and a description of its physical and digital infrastructures), and a current focus section spotlighting one part of the collection’s holdings.

This issue of the Portuguese Studies Review presents essays by Leandro Alves Teodoro, Martin M. Elbl and Ivana Elbl, Isabel dos Guimarães Sá and Hélder Carvalhal, Christian Fausto Moraes dos Santos, Gisele Cristina da Conceição, and Fabiano Bracht, Sandrina Berthault Moreira, and Luís Miguel Pereira Farinha. The topics covered range from the history of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Portuguese synods to the material culture of late fifteenth century Portuguese nobility, epistolary perspectives on Portuguese interaction with Italy and with the Roman Curia in the fifteenth century, the use and benefits of seafood in early Portuguese settlements in Brazil, a legal overview of the administrative frameworks for Portuguese road-building in the early twentieth century, and the comparative use of econometric indices of development to modelling Portuguese data. The issue also contains shorter pieces by Douglas L. Wheeler and Michel Cahen.