The fonds consists of the archives of the ministerial departments responsible for Algeria between 1945 and 1964. However, there are a few older files or documents, dating back to the 1870s. In some cases, these are old regulatory documents taken up to deal with a case. In other cases, entire files which, although never transferred to the National Archives, must have been kept in the services themselves, not having known the fate of many of the archives produced at the beginning of the 20th century and which have disappeared. These files are mainly related to the Franco-Moroccan and Franco-Tripolitan borders of Algeria at the beginning of the 20th century and the situation in the Hedjaz from 1916 to 1940. Most of the collection consists of the archives of the services that operated after 1945. A certain number of files relate to general policy in Algeria and come from the deputy directors and directors of Algeria, then from the cabinets of the ministers and senior officials who succeeded each other from 1956 to 1964.
The majority of the files, however, come from the administrative services responsible for political, legal and administrative, financial and economic affairs. Given the stability of the competences of the ministerial services and the relative stability of the men, the funds show a certain continuity in the action of the administration throughout the period.
The collection of the Ministry of Algerian Affairs provides a global view of Algerian civil affairs during the period 1945-1964 and makes up for the shortcomings of the local collections transferred to France in 1962. There are files devoted to the investigation of the events of May 1945 as well as to the period of the Algerian War.
This collection includes only the archives of the central administration of the Ministry of Algeria. The services that depended on it were then attached in various ways, which explains why their collections are now generally kept at the Centre historique des archives nationales or the Centre des archives contemporaines.