The university archives is the repository of the university's records. The records of large European universities with a history of several centuries were initially kept by the bureaus of the university, the rector’s, the chancellor’s and the deans’ offices, and later by the university libraries in general. As a result of the rapid development at the beginning of the 19th century, the organization, literacy, and administration of universities also changed: the amount of records created by the university, which had to be preserved, processed, and researched, increased exponentially.