Our historical knowledge is based on historians’ research of written documents. These written historical documents are preserved by archives. The biggest of our country’s public collections is the National Archives of Hungary which was established in 2012 by merging the national and county acrhives. For many decades the Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County Archives have collected the administrative documents of the county’s settlements. Various offices, courts, schools and state-owned companies are required by law to submit their records of historical value to the archives after fifteen years. However individuals, associations and parties are not required by law to pass on their private records or photographs to any of the archives. In addition to the official sources the private documents can also provide a number of valuable insights for a more detailed presentation and understanding of history. This bried study shows the changes of private records gifting in JNSZ County, the reasons behind the change, what documents were offered to them and are they important for archival research.