National archives

Last updated

National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention.

Contents

Conceptual development

"Although the most basic and essential task of a national archives is to serve the interests of the government itself, and to preserve and make available evidence protecting the rights of citizens, it has other responsibilities of far-reaching importance. Foremost among these is its role as a source of enlightenment an improvement for all segments of society." A corridor of files at The National Archives.jpg
"Although the most basic and essential task of a national archives is to serve the interests of the government itself, and to preserve and make available evidence protecting the rights of citizens, it has other responsibilities of far-reaching importance. Foremost among these is its role as a source of enlightenment an improvement for all segments of society."

From the Middle Ages into the Early modern period archives generated by royal and clerical institutions retained proofs of political and genealogical claims as a "bastion of authenticity." [2] The emerging Enlightenment concept of studying history as a science rather than as literature was influenced by Leopold von Ranke and brought archives into the limelight of serious historical study. [3] In the late 18th century, the storage of old records was divided. Business records in the archives courantes went the way of records management while documents of cultural import in the archives historiques formed the core of Western-conceived archives. [4] As the popularity of archives increased as a function of substantiating historical narratives, national archives were purposed towards telling their respective nation's story. [5] For example, the National Historical Archive of Spain as created excluded contemporary records in favor of documenting defunct institutions as a matter of national heritage. [6] Historian Nicholas Dirks has said that national archives are the "primary site of state monumentality." [7]

The 19th-century centralization of archives, precursor to the 20th century's nationalism, has been opposed by some. Historian Craig Robertson posits that "archives do not neutrally store documents; rather, objects captured through archival practices are transformed into knowledge." [8] He goes on to say that the "historicization of state archives can make explicit how archives create national narratives and, more importantly, national characters, prioritizing and privileging specific stories and peoples." [9] The concept of the archivist as a custodian of records originated in the late 19th century and was championed by Hilary Jenkinson. His concept, that "the Archivist is not and ought not be an Historian" and that the archivist "is the servant of his Archives first and afterwards of the student Public" [10] reflect the idea that archivists should primarily serve as objective custodians of records. This contrasted with the prior practice of archives serving to embellish the histories of politicians and other wealthy patrons. The retention of records in a national archive would then become a universal bureaucratic norm rather than the retention of a select few records for a predetermined purpose. [11] Jenkinson also specified that rather than holding source documents piecemeal, that the integrity of an organic archive group must be maintained. [12]

Political impact on the administration of archives has been common in both dictatorships and democracies. [13]

By region/country

Canada

"Canadian Archives are the foundation of Canadian Studies."

Thomas Symons [14]

The Dominion Archives were created in 1872. Having been created so soon after confederation, the new nation had few records to archive since most colonial records had been taken back to Europe. The first Dominion Archivist, Douglas Brymner, and his successor, Arthur Doughty, practiced the 'total archives' concept collecting all manner of Canadiana in contrast to Hilary Jenkinson's 'organic whole' concept. [15] The mandate of the archive shifted from pure documentation toward social memory. [16] Canada's National Archive (then called the Public Archives) was not created until 1912. The national library was created in 1952 and became a component of the archives with the Library and Archives of Canada Act in 2004. [17] Regardless of the relative newness of the archive, Canadians reacted to the 1945 disappearance of papers from the archives about Igor Gouzenko as if it were a disturbing case of collective memory-loss. Public response to reportage from The Halifax Herald indicated that the archives were already seen as both a matter of government accountability and as an element of national identity. [18]

France

Since its creation, the Archives Nationales has been purposed to making records available to the people. Archives-Nationales-01.jpg
Since its creation, the Archives Nationales has been purposed to making records available to the people.

The National Archives of France was created informally on July 29, 1789 by the Revolutionaries to document the prior Ancien Régime . [4] The crown's Treasury of Charters as well as private records from the clergy were collected for historical value as those parties were deemed irrelevant to French society. Separately, as of September 9, 1790, the new regime collected contemporaneous documents as "the depository of all acts that establish the constitution of the kingdom, the rights of its public, its laws" [20] ( ergo a new public record). [6] Thus the National Archives served to house practical documents from the First Republic onwards while the National Library of France became the center of historical study. [21] The changing view of the 19th Century began merging the two concepts of the "historically important" records and the "bureaucratic transactional" records. Archivists trained at the French National School of Paleography and Archival Studies were charged with maintaining records as a factor of accountability to the public. [22] Jenkinson, a luminary of British archival practice, specifically criticized the French and Belgian accessions of isolated private documents into national archives, saying "we cannot think that a stray paper from some dispersed family collection... is a fit inmate for a National Archive Establishment." [23] He characterized the combination like a melange of the Manuscripts Commission and the Public Record Office, a merger which would happen in the UK some 90 years later.

Latin America

Bernardino Rivadavia said the "conservation of the archives of a country assures without doubt for history the most accurate materials and documents relating to it." TT CMZ-AF-GT E 2-1 8 39 - Alfandega. Arquivo.jpg
Bernardino Rivadavia said the "conservation of the archives of a country assures without doubt for history the most accurate materials and documents relating to it."

The various national archives of Latin American countries were founded in the 19th and 20th centuries. Much of those archives benefited from the Spanish and Portuguese colonial practice of keeping a record on hand of outgoing correspondence. Copies of orders from the monarchy were kept in the General Archive of the Indies or the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino while the message itself would be sent to the New World and then archived by the respective viceroy in the Americas. The colonial offices would likewise keep a copy of their outgoing message locally while sending the original note to the home office in Europe. [25] [26] Roscoe R. Hill opined in 1945 that although very old records had been kept in Latin American archives, the archives themselves were mismanaged and the climate damaged many documents. [27] The retention of records by so many government agencies as well as provincial offices has resulted, in Hill's words, that "in no country is the national archive really national in scope." [28]

New Zealand

The national archives of New Zealand and its sister organization, the National Library of New Zealand, reflect the 20th-century influence of biculturalism on the interpretation of much older archival material for the purposes of legitimating the nation in view of shared Anglo-Māori history. Although the imperial records donated by Alexander Turnbull were not originally collected to write a national history they have been reinterpreted to explain cultural conflicts in an era of empire-building. [29] Anecdotes from former Soviet Republics such as Uzbekistan evince this mentality of politicization of national archives; that the archives may contain dangerous truth the regime must contain. [30]

United Kingdom

The National Archives were formed in 2003, as a merger of the much older Public Record Office (created in 1838) and the Historical Manuscripts Commission. [31] The records of England originate in the Chancery Archives and the tax accounting records of the Pipe rolls, the Memoranda Rolls of the Exchequer, and the feet of fines dating back to 1163. [32] Without the funding to archive this mass of records, many were destroyed in the early 19th century. [33] The English Public Record Office Act 1877 specified the arbitrary date of 1715, for records too old to be discarded thereby describing contemporaneous constructions of historical importance. [34] The Office of Public Sector Information (successor to Her Majesty's Stationery Office) was merged into the archives in 2006. [31]

In addition, archives relating exclusively to Scotland (both historically as a sovereign state and since 1707 as a constituent part of the United Kingdom) are held in the National Archives of Scotland, established under its present name in 1999, but with roots dating back to the 13th century. Similarly archives relating exclusively to Northern Ireland are held in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, established in 1923. There is no national archives as such for Wales, but some important series of records relating exclusively to the government of Wales (for example, those of the Court of Great Sessions) have been transferred to the custody of the National Library of Wales.

United States

Although the U.S. National Archives Establishment was not created until 1934, it was preceded by numerous private and state archives, including the Massachusetts Historical Society, the first organized collection of American records created in 1791. The value of United States state archives centered on the provenance of their records while driven by the local narratives of their benefactors. [35] The 11th United States Congress investigated the state of government records in 1810, finding the records on hand were "in a state of great disorder and exposure; and in a situation neither safe nor convenient nor honorable to the nation." [36] The committee recommended fireproofing and safe storage only four years before the Burning of Washington. Although the reconstruction after the fire did not include the creation of a national archive, an archive at the State Department's passport office had been in existence as early as the 1820s. [37] There was no serious interest in establishing a national "hall of records" until the late 19th Century and despite some 43 fires in various federal buildings between 1880 and 1915, legislation to create such an archive could not pass Congress. [38] Since its founding in 1884, the American Historical Association (AHA) voiced concern over the lack of a national archive, especially in light of continued losses of records. [39] Led by J. Franklin Jameson, the AHA's goal in the establishment of a national archives was the collection of germane documents to substantiate conceptions of national history. [40] After a series of further delays, the National Archives Act of 1934 was passed by the 73rd United States Congress just as the construction of the National Archives Building (started in 1931) was nearing completion. [41] The National Archives and Records Administration has been advertised as an agency of narrative; the archives' façade claims "The Glory and Romance of Our History are Here Preserved." [42] Allen Weinstein said in 2005 that archive employees are "the designated custodians of America's national memory." [42]

Citations

  1. ↑ Rhoads 1983, p. 21.
  2. ↑ Daston, Lorraine (2012). "The Sciences of the Archive". Osiris . History of Science Society. 27 (1): 171. doi:10.1086/667826. hdl: 21.11116/0000-0003-659D-B . JSTOR   10.1086/667826. S2CID   144791480.
  3. ↑ Blouin & Rosenberg 2011, pp. 23–24.
  4. 1 2 Millar 2010, pp. viii–ix.
  5. ↑ Blouin & Rosenberg 2011, pp. 152–153.
  6. 1 2 Blouin & Rosenberg 2011, p. 21.
  7. ↑ Blouin & Rosenberg 2011, p. 124.
  8. ↑ Burton 2005, p. 70.
  9. ↑ Burton 2005, p. 71.
  10. ↑ Jenkinson 1922, pp. 106–107.
  11. ↑ Blouin & Rosenberg 2011, pp. 37–39.
  12. ↑ Jenkinson 1922, p. 84.
  13. ↑ Blouin & Rosenberg 2011, pp. 163–164.
  14. ↑ Taylor, Hugh A. (Winter 1982). "The Collective Memory: Archives and Libraries As Heritage". Archivaria (15): 128. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-23. Retrieved 2014-09-29.
  15. ↑ Millar 2010, pp. 30–31.
  16. ↑ Blouin & Rosenberg 2011, p. 144.
  17. ↑ Taylor, Hugh A. (Winter 1982). "The Collective Memory: Archives and Libraries As Heritage". Archivaria (15): 130. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-23. Retrieved 2014-09-29.
  18. ↑ Cox, Richard J.; Wallace, David A., eds. (2002). Archives and the Public Good: Accountability and Records in Modern Society. Quorum Books. pp. 37–38. ISBN   9781567204698. LCCN   2001057863.
  19. ↑ Blouin & Rosenberg 2011, p. 166.
  20. ↑ Burton 2005, p. 161.
  21. ↑ Burton 2005, p. 162.
  22. ↑ Blouin & Rosenberg 2011, p. 22.
  23. ↑ Jenkinson 1922, p. 44.
  24. ↑ Hill 1945, p. 1.
  25. ↑ Hill 1945, p. xi.
  26. ↑ Hill 1945, pp. xiv–xv.
  27. ↑ Hill 1945, pp. xi–xii.
  28. ↑ Hill 1945, p. xiv.
  29. ↑ Burton 2005, pp. 100–104.
  30. ↑ Burton 2005, pp. 54–55.
  31. 1 2 Millar 2010, p. 34.
  32. ↑ Jenkinson 1922, p. 24.
  33. ↑ Jenkinson 1922, p. 115.
  34. ↑ Blouin & Rosenberg 2011, pp. 21–22.
  35. ↑ Blouin & Rosenberg 2011, pp. 32–35.
  36. ↑ Report of the Committee, appointed to inquire into the State of the Ancient Public Records and Archives of the United States, March 27th, 1810. Washington D.C.: R. C. Weightman. 1810. p. 1.
  37. ↑ Burton 2005, pp. 72–73.
  38. ↑ Jones 1969, p. 6.
  39. ↑ Burton 2005, pp. 74–75.
  40. ↑ Blouin & Rosenberg 2011, p. 37.
  41. ↑ Jones 1969, pp. 10–14.
  42. 1 2 Blouin & Rosenberg 2011, p. 98.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Archives and Records Administration</span> United States government agency

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also tasked with increasing public access to those documents that make up the National Archives. NARA is officially responsible for maintaining and publishing the legally authentic and authoritative copies of acts of Congress, presidential directives, and federal regulations. NARA also transmits votes of the Electoral College to Congress. It also examines Electoral College and constitutional amendment ratification documents for prima facie legal sufficiency and an authenticating signature.

Archives New Zealand is New Zealand's national archive and the official guardian of its public archives. As the government's recordkeeping authority, it administers the Public Records Act 2005 and promotes good information management throughout government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public Record Office</span> National archive service of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003

The Public Record Office, Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was merged with the Historical Manuscripts Commission to form The National Archives, based in Kew. It was under the control of the Master of the Rolls, a senior judge. The Public Record Office still exists as a legal entity, as the enabling legislation has not been modified.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archive</span> Accumulation of historical records

An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located.

The Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan is an arms-length government agency with offices in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The archives holds public and private records which include audio tapes, video, photographs, maps, publications and other material.

Records management, also known as records and information management, is an organizational function devoted to the management of information in an organization throughout its life cycle, from the time of creation or receipt to its eventual disposition. This includes identifying, classifying, storing, securing, retrieving, tracking and destroying or permanently preserving records. The ISO 15489-1: 2001 standard defines records management as "[the] field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Information Security Oversight Office</span> Office of the National Archives of the United States

The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) is responsible to the President for policy and oversight of the government-wide security classification system and the National Industrial Security Program in the United States. The ISOO is a component of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and receives policy and program guidance from the National Security Council (NSC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archival science</span> Science of storage, registration and preservation of historical data

Archival science, or archival studies, is the study and theory of building and curating archives, which are collections of documents, recordings, photographs and various other materials in physical or digital formats.

The NSW State Archives Collection archives and manages the records of the history of the Government of New South Wales in Australia, and is a part of Museums of History NSW. Prior to 2022, it was a standalone authority known as the State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales. It can trace its history back to the establishment of the office of Colonial Secretary and Registrar of the Records of New South Wales in 1821. However, in the early years of the Colony's history, little attention was paid to the management and preservation of non-current public records. This was mainly because the government of the day was fully focussed on the administration of the convict system, law and order, immigration and land settlement. Documents which were not required for the day-to-day running of the government were usually neglected or were destroyed.

In archival science and archive administration, appraisal is a process usually conducted by members of the record-holding institution in which a body of records is examined to determine its value for that institution. It also involves determining how long this value will last. The activity is one of the central tasks of an archivist, to determine the archival value of specific records. When it occurs prior to acquisition, the appraisal process involves assessing records for inclusion in the archives. In connection with an institution's collecting policy, appraisal "represents a doorway into the archives through which all records must pass". Some considerations when conducting appraisal include how to meet the record-granting body's organizational needs, how to uphold requirements of organizational accountability, and how to meet the expectations of the record-using community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts</span>

The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, was a United Kingdom Royal Commission established in 1869 to survey and report on privately owned and privately held archival records of general historical interest. Its brief was "to make inquiry as to the places in which such Manuscripts and Papers were deposited", and to report on their contents. It remained in existence until 2003, when it merged with the Public Record Office to form The National Archives. Although it technically survives as a legal entity, its work is now entirely subsumed into that of The National Archives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Local history</span> Study of history in a geographically local context

Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history. Local history is not merely national history writ small but a study of past events in a given geographical area which is based on a wide variety of documentary evidence and placed in a comparative context that is both regional and national. Historic plaques are one form of documentation of significant occurrences in the past and oral histories are another.

Margaret Cross Norton served as the first State Archivist of Illinois from 1922 to 1957 and co-founded the Society of American Archivists in 1936, where she served as the first vice president from 1936 to 1937 and president from 1943 to 1945. She also served as editor of the American Archivist from 1946 to 1949. Norton was posthumously recognized in the December 1999 American Libraries article naming "100 of the most important leaders we had in the 20th century" for her influence on the archival profession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Archives of Japan</span>

The Independent Administrative Institution National Archives of Japan preserve Japanese government documents and historical records and make them available to the public. Although Japan's reverence for its unique history and art is well documented and illustrated by collections of art and documents, there is almost no archivist tradition. Before the creation of the National Archives, there was a scarcity of available public documents which preserve "grey-area" records, such as internal sources to show a process which informs the formation of a specific policy or the proceedings of various committee meetings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archival research</span> Type of research using evidence from archival records

Archival research is a type of research which involves seeking out and extracting evidence from archival records. These records may be held either in collecting institutions, such as libraries and museums, or in the custody of the organization that originally generated or accumulated them, or in that of a successor body. Archival research can be contrasted with (1) secondary research, which involves identifying and consulting secondary sources relating to the topic of enquiry; and (2) with other types of primary research and empirical investigation such as fieldwork and experiment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Records Association</span>

The British Records Association is a British learned society founded in 1932 to promote the preservation, understanding, accessibility and study of historic records and archives. It is a registered charity. It issues a journal, Archives, and other publications; hosts conferences and seminars; and undertakes other activities to promote the care and preservation of archives and the interests of archive users at a national level. Membership is open to all, and the association therefore plays a particular role as a forum which brings together owners of archives, academic and amateur documentary researchers, archivists and librarians, and institutions and societies concerned with archives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilary Jenkinson</span>

Sir Charles Hilary Jenkinson was a British archivist and archival theorist, regarded as the figure most responsible for bringing continental European concepts of archival theory to the English-speaking world.

Respect des fonds, or le respect pour les fonds, is a principle in archival theory that proposes to group collections of archival records according to their fonds. It is one of several principles stemming from provenance that have guided archival arrangement and description from the late 19th century until the present day. It is similar to archival integrity, which dictates that "a body of records resulting from the same activity must be preserved as a group." It is also closely related to the idea of original order – the idea that archivists ought to maintain records using the creator's organizational system. However, respect des fonds differs from that other foundational sub-principle of provenance in its concern with the integrity of the collection or record group as a whole rather than the organization of materials within that collection or record group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. R. Schellenberg</span>

Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg was an American archivist and archival theorist. Schellenberg's publications and ideas are part of the foundation for archival theory and practice in the United States. In particular, Schellenberg is known for pioneering American archival ideas about appraisal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania</span> Lithuanian policy official agency

The Office of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania is a government agency in Lithuania, which participates in the shaping of national policy in the field of management and use of documents and archives, as well as implements this policy, supports the Chief Archivist of Lithuania in the carrying-out of state administration of the field of documents and archives.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.