This volume includes most of the presentations made at the first National Records Conference, hosted by the National Museum of Denmark during May 1991, in Copenhagen. The three day meeting was attended by representatives of 60 countries. This collection brings together revised versions of 19 of the papers presented at the conference. With the exception of two presentations about national records in Poland and one from the United States, all the papers describe systems or initiatives in Western European countries, including six from the United Kingdom.