Civil Service Examinations in the Second Constitutional Period: Key Traits and Characteristics Sought in Records Managers

Abstract

Records management and records managers in the Ottoman State were as important as they are today. In the Ottoman bureaucratic system, records managers with a variety of titles known as mülâzım, evrak memuru, mübeyyiz were required to have obtained professional recognition. In the Second Constitutional Period, for instance, official tests were devised to assess the candidates’ professional competence. In this study, the questions of a civil service exam held in August 1911 and the answers given to these questions are to be evaluated in terms of document management processes. In the light of these questions and answers, the study seeks to reveal what key traits and qualities were looked for in the records managers a century ago.

This study aims to reveal the qualifications sought in records managers through the examination documents in the Ottoman State. Documentary screening method was used in the study. The documents found in the catalog of the Ottoman Archives of the Prime Ministry were transcribed and the data obtained were analyzed in terms of records management.