The work on arranging the field archeological documentation of the Institute practically started in the first years after its establishment. According to the reports produced by previous documentarians, it can be said that the documentation of the Institute on the territory of Serbia represents the most extensive archaeological material of its kind, collected and cataloged in one place. Today, the central filing cabinet contains around 1,400 files with data on localities in the former Yugoslavia (SFRJ), all of which were researched by the Institute’s experts.

The Institute’s reading room houses a photo library (over 150,000 photographs and around 7,000 negatives), while the slides are kept in the documentation office (over 19,000), together with registers. In the hall of the Institute there are metal cabinets in whose drawers are kept around 12,000 technical plans. Throughout each year, the associates of the Institute submit material from field research to the documentarian, which, according to the Rulebook, consists of: diaries, reports, photographs (sometimes negatives), inventory forms, technical drawings, etc. Newly arrived documentation is certified with a stamp, inventoried, and stored in the appropriate location.

For more information on the history of documentation, see the attached paper of MA Milan Milovanović.