The Diocesan Historical Archives was established by Archbishop Salvatore Isgrò on June 21, 1984. It brought together material from the historic parishes of the diocese (Quinque Libri Fund), that of the Archiepiscopal Curia (Archiepiscopal Fund), that of the Chapter Archives (Chapter Fund), that of the lawsuits (Tribunal Fund), and a valuable collection of about 300 parchments, mostly papal documents dating from 1441 to 1950.
The most notable deposit in terms of number and cultural historical value was that of the Quinque Libri, or records of baptismal acts, marriages, deaths, confirmations, and states of souls made by parish priests from the late 1500s to the early 1900s of the 33 historic parishes of the Diocese.
The primary need has been for the reorganization, inventorying, protection and enhancement of the material so that it can be used by scholars and users. To preserve the originals, it was necessary at first to microfilm them and then type them. This resulted in 1,107 reels with a total of 167,527 frames, 52,976 of which concern the five parishes of Sassari.
Digitization involved the Five Books and currently some substantial series of the Chapter and Archbishop’s Fund. They can be consulted on two microfilm readers and twelve computer stations in the headquarters at Cathedral Square no. 3.
