Accumulation and preservation of archival material in the Manuscript Department commences with the actual founding of Matica Srpska in 1826. The core of the Manuscript Department was created from the first statute that regulates the activities of Matica Srpska, documents created by several decades of work of Matica Srpska both in Pest and in Novi Sad, manuscripts submitted to be published in the Journal of Matica Srpska or to literary competitions of Matica Srpska, minutes of meetings of management boards, correspondence between significant leading names in Serbian literature and cultural political history of the 19th and 20th century, purchases and numerous gifts. Several phases of it’s the development can be observed: from 1826–1847 there was no special form of organized activity, from 1847 to 1945 operates as Srbsko-narodna sbirka (Serbian – National Collection) that accumulated, among other old written documents: letters, books and manuscripts of famous Serbs. From 1945 to 1958 it operated as Department of Archival Material and Manuscripts as part of the Library of Matica Srpska, from 1958 to 1961 the Department operated under the management of the Literary Department of Matica Srpska. It emerged as an independent department in 1961 and in the 60s the Department received offices, a larger depot, and a reading room for work with researchers. The full time employment of a number of archivists made the beginning of systematic work on archival material possible.

The Manuscript Department is a unique archival institution; the only real archival holdings are in the Archive of Matica Srpska. That archival material came into existence during the rich and diverse history of Matica Srpska. Records of the Management Board, Department of Literature and the Board as well as minutes of the annual assembly meetings from 1826 to 1945 are kept here. Apart from 284 boxes with more than 100000 documents, 158 books of records and register deeds of Matica Srpska are preserved.

The rest of the archival material is sorted into three collections – Collection of Manuscripts, Collection of Letters and Collection of Photographs. The Collection of Manuscripts contains 20,000 processed documents and several thousand copies of important archival material. This archival material was created from the 18th to the 20th century. It was mostly written in Serbian, German, Latin and Church Slavonic language. The Collection of Letters contains exceptionally valuable letters of most esteemed Serbs. 61,150 letters have been processed until now, whereas several thousands of letters acquired through donations and purchases are still waiting to be processed. The Collection of Photographs has close to 25,000 photographs, negatives and albums, daguerreotypes and images created by means of modern digital equipment. From 1967 to 2001 the Editorship of Bibliographical Editions operated as a part of the Manuscript Department of Matica Srpska. Today, computer programs are used for the processing of archivalia whereas the most significant archival material is scanned and uploaded to appropriate data bearing media.

The Manuscript Department is an unavoidable source of precious archival material. It is impossible to learn about the most important people and key events in the cultural and political history of Serbs since the 18th century up to now without it.

The Department operates under the management of the Director and the Board of the Manuscript Department. Since the founding of the Department the following Secretary Generals have been appointed: Živojin Boškov (1963–1983), Academician Čedomir Popov (1983–1991), Professor Nikola Gaćeša, PhD (1991–1999), Branko Bešlin, MA (1999–2008), Pavle Stanojević (2008–2011), Sonja Bob (2011–2012), Professor Milivoj Nenin, PhD (2012–2013), Professor Aleksandra Vraneš, PhD (2013–2020), Professor Zorica Hadžić Radović, PhD (2020–)

Director of the Manuscript Department:
Professor Zorica Hadžić Radović, PhD, Full Professor (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad)
е-mail: zorica_hadzic@ff.uns.ac.rs

Associate:
Aleksandra Jovanović
е-mail: ajovanovic@maticasrpska.org.rs
Telephone: 021 420 199, extension: 133; 021 528 917 and 021 63 36 987

THE BOARD OF THE MANUSCRIPT DEPARTMENT

Members:

Zora Bojić, PhD (Institute for Literature and Arts, Belgrade)
Professor Goran Vasin, PhD (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad)
Jugoslav Veljkovski (Historical Archives of Novi Sad City)
Jovana Vojvodić, MA (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad)
Professor Dušan Ivanić, PhD (Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade)
Dejan Jakšić (Archives of Vojvodina, Novi Sad)
Aleksandra Jovanović, MA (Manuscript Department of Matica Srpska, Novi Sad)
Professor Milivoj Nenin, PhD Corresponding member of SASA (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad)
Professor Srđan Orsić, PhD (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad)
Aleksandar Pejčić, PhD (Institute for Literature and Arts, Belgrade)
Gordana Petković, PhD (City Museum of Novi Sad)
Isidora Popović, PhD (Manuscript Department of Matica Srpska, Novi Sad)
Radovan Popović (publicist, Belgrade)
Radomir Popović, PhD (Institute of History Belgrade)
Professor Gorana Raičević, PhD Corresponding member of SASA (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad)
Mile Stanić (SASA Archives, Belgrade)
Milica Ćuković, PhD (Institute for Literature and Arts, Belgrade)
Professor Uroš Stanković, PhD (Faculty of Law, University of Novi Sad)

Editor-in-Chief of the Document Edition:

Professor Zorica Hadžić Radović, PhD (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad)

Members of the Editorial Board:

Aleksandra Jovanović, (Manuscript Department of Matica Srpska, Novi Sad)
Professor Milivoj Nenin, PhD Corresponding member of SASA (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad)
Professor Srđan Orsić, PhD (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad)
Isidora Popović, PhD (Manuscript Department of Matica Srpska, Novi Sad)

Editor-in-Chief of the Facsimile Edition:

Professor Zorica Hadžić Radović, PhD (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad)

Members of the Editorial Board:

Jovana Vojvodić, MA (Faculty of Philosophy Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad)
Branislav Karanović (Manuscript Department of Matica Srpska, Novi Sad)

Publishing:

The books of Document Edition:

O Crnjanskom; arhivalije, edited by Stojan Trećakov and Radovan Šovljanski for the 100th anniversary of the authors death in 1993.

Veljko Petrović: Pisma: 1904–1967, edited by Sonja Bob, Stojan Trećakov and Vladimir Šovljanski in 1997.

Portreti prema živim modelima, edited by Stojan Trećakov and Vladimir Šovljanski in 1998.

Milan Jovanović Stoimirović: Dnevnik 1936–1941, edited by Stojan Trećakov and Vladimir Šovljanski in 2000.

Sudari Milete Jakšića, prepiska, edited by Milivoj Nenin and Zorica Hadžić in 2005.

Laza Kostić, Prepiska I, edited by Mladen Leskovac, Dušan Ivanić and Milica Bujas in 2005.

Knjiga Sterijinih rukopisa, edited by Isidora Popović in 2008.

Milenko Nikitović: Zla vremena, edited by Vladimir Davidović in 2014.

Radovan Popović: Aristokrat duha (Dokumentarna biografija Milana Kašanina), published in 2016.

Vasa Stajić: Prilozi za autobiografiju, edited by Zorica Hadžić in 2016.

Laza Kostić, Prepiska II, edited by Mladen Leskovac, Dušan Ivanić and Milica Bujas in 2017.

Radovan Popović: Veliki gospodin Mladen Leskovac – njim samim, published in 2017.

Radovan Popović: Blagodat novog jutra Boško Petrović – njim samim, published in 2018.

Milan Lazarević: Subote i nedelje, edited by Gordana Đilas in 2018.

Tima Dimitrijević: Krvava okupacija Bačke – dnevnik jednog posmatrača (1941–1944), edited by Drago Njegovan and Aleksandar Horvat in 2018.

Milan Jovanović Stoimirović: Okupacijski dnevnik (jun–decembar 1941), edited by Aleksandra Vraneš and Bojan Đorđević in 2019.

Radovan Popović: Parne piščeve duše. Tišma – njim samim, published in 2019.

Laza Kostić, Prepiska III, edited by Mladen Leskovac, Dušan Ivanić and Milica Bujas in 2020.

Milan Kašanin: Pisma, susreti, Tragovi, I–III, edited by Zorica Hadžić in 2020.

Radovan Popović: Poslednji barokni Srbin, Stojan D. Vujičić – njim samim, published in 2021.

Ilija Vučetić: Dnevnici (Segedin, Novi Sad, Pešta) 1861–1864, edited by Zorica Hadžić in 2021.

Milan Kašanin: Dnevnik (Kanada, Amerika, Francuska), edited by Zorica Hadžić in 2021.

Svetislav Predić: Iz moga života, edited by Gordana Đilas in 2021.

Osam rukopisa o Revoluciji 1848, edited by Uroš Stanković in 2021.

Jovan Milekić: Življenje prošlosti (autobiografija i prepiska), edited by Jovana Vojvodić in 2021.

Mileta Jakšić: Parohijski dnevnik, edited by Zorica Hadžić and Srđan Miljković in 2021.

Pisma Borivoju Marinkoviću, edited by Milivoj Nenin in 2022.

Tihomir Ostojić: Moj dnevnik, edited by Aleksandra Jovanović in 2022.

Predsednici Matice srpske, edited by Miloš Jevtić in 2022.

Pisma Mladenu Leskovcu (Vasa Stajić and Veljko Petrović), edited by Jovana Vojvodić in 2023.

Prepiska Savke Subotić, edited by Nataša Katić in 2023.

Milan Kašanin: Priviđenja i „nova” priviđenja, edited by Zorica Hadžić in 2023.

Uroš Predić: Pisma porodici Milutinović, edited by Jana Bogdanović in 2025.

The books of Facsimile Edition:

Laza Kostić: Dnevnik snova i Santa Maria della Salute, edited by Srđan Orsić in 2023.

Branko Radičević: Izabrani rukopisi, edited and commented by Nenad Nikolić in 2024.