This article analyses archivists’ and historians’ experiences of archival absence innineteenth-century Europe. It takes off in well-known processes of centralisation,nationalisation and dislocations of archives to discuss how experiences of missingdocuments and holdings have shaped historiographical practice and thought. Drawingon theorisations of archival silences, imagined records and materiality, the articleargues that although ideas about the past are immaterial, archivists’ and historians’perceptions of history relied on archival materiality. This is illustrated by twocase studies of fragmented, supranational holdings: the establishment of the CentralArchive of the Teutonic Order in Habsburg Vienna, and lost archives in the Balticprovinces of Romanov Russia. The article shows how practices such as mappings ofholdings, negotiations of restitutions and provenance, and publications of source editionsmaterialised absence. Enquiries into absence certainly generated new knowledgeabout archives, past dislocations and loss. However, the article also demonstratesthat investigations of absence have produced ignorance and further absences.In conclusion, the article argues the benefits of absence studies. The cases illuminatethat absence was a material issue with an intricate relationship to imagineddocuments and holdings. Moreover, the article recognises a long history of archivalsilences, which may take different forms and affect different groups throughout history.Lastly, the article addresses the issue of representation and argues the valueof disregarding the nation when historicising theoretically pressing issues such asarchival absence and its materiality.