diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3e1ebd4..06c4ce1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@
 - global availability (in drop down list) gets restored after reconnection
 - status icon in active chat changes when presence of the pen pal changes
 
+### Improvements
+- slightly reduced the traffic on the startup by not requesting history of all MUCs
+
 
 ## Squawk 0.1.5 (Jul 29, 2020)
 ### Bug fixes
diff --git a/core/archive.cpp b/core/archive.cpp
index 628723d..a1f8b76 100644
--- a/core/archive.cpp
+++ b/core/archive.cpp
@@ -214,6 +214,26 @@ Shared::Message Core::Archive::getElement(const QString& id) const
     }
 }
 
+bool Core::Archive::hasElement(const QString& id) const
+{
+    if (!opened) {
+        throw Closed("hasElement", jid.toStdString());
+    }
+    
+    MDB_txn *txn;
+    mdb_txn_begin(environment, NULL, MDB_RDONLY, &txn);
+    
+    bool has;
+    MDB_val lmdbKey, lmdbData;
+    lmdbKey.mv_size = id.size();
+    lmdbKey.mv_data = (char*)id.toStdString().c_str();
+    int rc = mdb_get(txn, main, &lmdbKey, &lmdbData);
+    has = rc == 0;
+    mdb_txn_abort(txn);
+    
+    return has;
+}
+
 Shared::Message Core::Archive::getMessage(const std::string& id, MDB_txn* txn) const
 {
     MDB_val lmdbKey, lmdbData;
diff --git a/core/archive.h b/core/archive.h
index b71a8be..dd7a167 100644
--- a/core/archive.h
+++ b/core/archive.h
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ public:
     bool addElement(const Shared::Message& message);
     unsigned int addElements(const std::list<Shared::Message>& messages);
     Shared::Message getElement(const QString& id) const;
+    bool hasElement(const QString& id) const;
     void changeMessage(const QString& id, const QMap<QString, QVariant>& data);
     Shared::Message oldest();
     QString oldestId();
diff --git a/core/rosteritem.cpp b/core/rosteritem.cpp
index 5275993..32b70f4 100644
--- a/core/rosteritem.cpp
+++ b/core/rosteritem.cpp
@@ -248,18 +248,22 @@ void Core::RosterItem::appendMessageToArchive(const Shared::Message& msg)
                     }
                     break;
                 case beginning:
-                    appendCache.push_back(msg);
-                    if (!syncronizing) {
-                        requestHistory(-1, getId(msg));
+                    if (!archive->hasElement(msg.getId())) {
+                        appendCache.push_back(msg);
+                        if (!syncronizing) {
+                            requestHistory(-1, getId(msg));
+                        }
                     }
                     break;
                 case end:
                     archive->addElement(msg);
                     break;
                 case chunk:
-                    appendCache.push_back(msg);
-                    if (!syncronizing) {
-                        requestHistory(-1, getId(msg));
+                    if (!archive->hasElement(msg.getId())) {
+                        appendCache.push_back(msg);
+                        if (!syncronizing) {
+                            requestHistory(-1, getId(msg));
+                        }
                     }
                     break;
                 case complete: