The archive holds documents from the many different governments which ruled Ithaca over the last centuries. They begin with the records made by the governors under Venetian rule (including correspondence, judicial records, and proclamations) and continue into the 19th century, through French, Russo-Turkish, and British rule. The administrative documents mainly use Italian, though some types of documents are in Greek. Since the interpretation of these documents requires specialised expertise, these are of most interest to professional historians.

Notaries were required to copy their acts into registers, which provide detailed information about society and the economy. The acts include dowries and marriage agreements, contracts for the sale of land or the cultivation of vines, and wills. The earliest of the notarial documents in Ithaca date to the late 1500s. The notarial records are all in Greek, and are relatively accessible documents providing detailed and useful data.

The civil registry documents (called ‘Ληξιαρχικά’) contain data like births, deaths, and marriages. Before the mid-19th century, this information is only held in the church records, which extend into the 18th century.