Summarizing analysis of development of the archive system in Slovakia is carried out. The author outlines basic steps of formation of Slovakia archive business. He considers formation of archival institutions and the activities of the State Inspectorate of Archives and Libraries in Slovakia during the interwar period. The active organizational function of the archival services did not stop during the Second World War, and the authorities of the Slovak state were especially patronizing the church archives. The post-war communist Czechoslovakia government paid a great deal of attention to the archival affair. The legislative base of its functioning is found out. Bibliographic systematization of archival documents is started and the basic laws (1975, 2002) about the regulation of archival affair are accepted in the second half of the 20th century. This article examines the main archive institutions of the Slovak Republic on the modern stage. The author schematically described the function of the Slovak National Archives, the Archives of the Institute of National Memory, the State Archives in Prešov. The basic rules of access to the archive materials in Slovakia archives repository for researcher are reflected. The author touched on the modern Slovak projects of the digitization of archival documents and their application in the Internet. He also clearly identified the main problems in the development of the Slovak archival affair at the present stage, including reducing the staff of archivists, insufficient funding, and a sharp increase in the volume of documents arriving in the archives.
The author of the article revealed the historical conditions of the appearance of the Czech-Slovak declaration, signed by representatives of the Czech and Slovak emigration in the USA in May 1918 in Pittsburgh. He did a detail textual analysis of the document, indicated some differences between the Czech-language project and the Slovak-language original. The author researched discussions among the scientists about the use of terms and different approaches in the normative-legal interpretation of certain paragraphs of the document. Distribution of state power between the Czech and Slovak authorities in the common state did not fix in the declaration. The principles of the functioning of the Slovak Sejm was not clear defined. The author considered the use of the Pittsburg Declaration in the internal political struggle between the authorities of the Czechoslovak Republic and the autonomous opposition. He found out the reasons why the Slovak politicians agreed in 1920 with Constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic, although its provisions fixed the centralized state system and contradicted the content of the Pittsburgh Declaration. Author analyzed the arguments and counterarguments of those antagonists about the interpretation of the content and the political significance of the declaration. In particular, he traced the evolution by the president of the Czechoslovak Republic T.G. Masaryk in the estimates of the document, what aroused resentment in the Slovak autonomous politicians, who accused the president in hypocrisy and utilitarianism. He also reviewed comments and opinions about the Pittsburg Declaration on the international scene, where the enemies of Czechoslovakia tried to use the Czech-Slovak contradictions in their advantage. The author formulated his own judgments about role and significance of the document in Slovak national-state life.