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The holdings of the Tamil Nadu Archives include the records of various departments of the Secretariat of Tamil Nadu (erstwhile Board of Revenue) and of a few heads of department, records of defunct departments, pre-mutiny (1857) records of various departments (such as Collectorate and District Courts), records in Dutch, Persian, Danish and Modi/Marathi, and other non-Secretariat records.

The holdings include non-current and semi-current records (the latter are only accessible to the department they originate from). Thirty years after their creation, records are transferred from the "Interim Repository" to the regular stacks, where the archives are kept that are open to the public. The records are made up of approximately 4,886,000 files; 747,000 volumes and 2160 bundles (in 1997).

Archives Week Celebrations (Chennai 1997)
Bes, Lennart, 'Hundreds of Rosetta Stones and Other Patient Papers. The Dutch Records at the Tamil Nadu Archives, Chennai (Madras)', Itinerario, 26, 1 (2003)
Catalogus van Hollandsche handschriften, brieven, en officieele stukken (List of Dutch Manuscripts, Letters, and Official Documents) (Selections from the Records of the Madras Government. Dutch Records No. 6. Number in Press List, 1629), ed. P. Groot (Madras 1909)
Dodwell, H., Report on the Madras Records (n.p. 1916)
Ghose, S., Archives in India. History and Assets (Calcutta 1963)
A Guide to the Records Preserved in the Madras Record Office (n.p. 1936)
Heyligers, A.J.M., Press List of Ancient Dutch Records from 1657 to 1825 (Beschrijvende catalogus van de hele Hollandsche massa te Madras) (Madras n.d.)
Kan, J. van, Compagniesbescheiden en aanverwante archivalia in Britsch-Indië en op Ceylon (Batavia 1931)
List of Volumes of Dutch and Danish Records Preserved in the Madras Record Office (Madras 1916)
Low, D.A., J.C. Iltis and M.D. Wainwright, Government Archives in South Asia. A Guide to National and State Archives in Ceylon, India and Pakistan (Cambridge 1969)
Meilink-Roelofsz, M.A.P., R. Raben and H. Spijkerman (ed.), De archieven van de Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie. The Archives of the Dutch East India Company (1602-1795) (The Hague 1992)
Supplementary Catalogue of Dutch Records (ed. J. Fruytier) (Madras 1952
Talboys Wheeler, J., Handbook to the Madras Records (n.p. 1907)

In 1801 the whole of Madras Presidency had come into the hands of the British East India Company. The past decades had witnessed a great increase in Government records. Therefore, in 1805 Lord William Bentinck, Governor at Fort St. George at Madras (present-day Chennai), ordered for the centralization and preservation of the Secretariat records. A special establishment with its own office was set up on the north side of the Fort Square. Muthiah, the principal native servant in the Political and Military Department, was appointed Record Keeper. In 1823 the records were moved into several rooms on the first floor of the Secretariat. Later on, the office was shifted to the "Pillar-godown", and in 1888 it moved to the ground floor of the Secretariat building. Thus, the record administration continued to function as a section of the Secretariat under the immediate charge of an officer, who was either designated as Record Keeper or Superintendent of the Central Record Department.

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