historyof

archivesadministration

LIS170Tolentino, Gian; Ko, Stephen; Cortez, Nicolai;

Baroma, Claud; Necesario, Roy

Ancient archives

4000

B.C.

•Clay tablets were impressed with

cuneiforms or wedge-shaped characters.

•Mesopotamian rulers and priests

were in-charge of maintaining records in property, offering, taxes

and exchanges.

•In China, the earliest records were

made of bones and tortoise shells 2000 B.C.

700 b.c.•China’s archival materials were

changed in bamboo slips, silk and stone tablets

•In Persia, records were made of

clay, leather (royal skins), papyrus, and rolls called Daybrooks.

•Alexander the Great initiated the

use of daily journals to record court and empire events.

539

B.C.•Justinian was able to preserve the

archives of his empire and compiled the “Body of Civil Law”530 B.C.

•Rome’s first public archives, the

Aerarium509 B.C.

500

B.C.

•In Egypt, information were recorded

on leather, wooden tablets and papyrus.

•Extensive archival system was

developed in the 2nd and 3rd millenia

•City-state records were housed

inside the Metroon 410 B.C.

•Alexander the Great’s records were

burnt but were reconstructed. 330 B.C.

•Plant fibre papers were invented in

China

•When the Aerarium was destroyed

by fire, it was replaced by the Tabularium

•Han Dynasty established the Bureau

of Historiography

200 B.C.

83 B.C.

a.d. 50

The

dark and

middle

ages

•Business transactions in

and between the feudal communities were usually

exchanges made in kind.

•Government procedures

were conducted orally

and rituals and ceremonies served as

substitutes for written

records

•The new German

kingdoms of the West maintained records but

most other secular

entities did not.

•Parchment was scarce

and expensive.

6th-13th century

•The few existing

archives were used for the traditional and

administrative, religious,

legal and historical purposes.

•Charlemagne used older records to develop

his codes of law in the

8th century.

•Venerable Bede, the

noted histories, relied heavily on archival

material to write

England’s church history.

Middle ages (1066-1484)•Growth in ecclesiastical

and secular archives as more records were

created and preserved.

•Laws were codified, and

by the end of the 13th

century, evidences unsupported by written

documents were found

unacceptable.

•As the residences of the

monarchs became fixed and the scope of their

administration expanded,

secular archives grew.

•Philip II of England

created the Tresor des Chartes in Paris.

1305 1320 1400•The King of England

sent a collection of papal priveleges to the Tower

of London for

safekeeping.

•Records of the

Treasury, the Exquecher, and the Wardrobe, were

also sent to the Tower.

•The Tower of London

housed all of Britain’s Chancery records

•By the end of the Middle

Ages, archival records began to be viewed as

state properties, not as the

individual possession of an individual ruler.

From the

Renaissanceto the

French revolution

1500

•A renaissance of learning took

placed accelerated by the invention of the printing press.

•This resulted in the creation of

more libraries, manuscript collections and archival repositories.

•Archives became important sources

of historical and geographical information.

•Monarchs began to create their

own royal archival repositories.•The Sincamas repository of

Charles I of Spain became the first

well-defined distinct European archives facility. Other nations

followed suit.

1543

•The Reformation and Counter-

reformation provided stimulus to churches to collect and maintain

documents to demonstrate the

historical validity of their positions.1600

•Archives came to be regarded as

tools to legitimize claims of authority, territory and ownership.

•Nations began to centralize and consolidate their records and erect

special buildings as proof of their

country’s importance and commitment to history.

•The first guidelines for archival

administration were formulated

•Axel Oxentierna of Sweden

prepared a set of rules for Sweden

•Baldassare Bonifacio’s De Archives

discussed the history and importance of archives and provided guidelines

on how to use them.

1618

1632

•Despite these developments,

archives were still poorly organized and rules of administration were not

developed well. Access to archival

materials was restricted.

The

French REVOLUTIONand the

19th century

•French ideals of

nationalism spread through Europe due to

the French Revolution,

and led to the creation of nationwide public

archives.

•Archives were viewed

as important in order to preserve and administer

a nation’s heritage and

were made legally open to citizens.

•The French National

Assembly established the Archives Nationale for

parliamentary records

•Archives Nationale as

France’s national repository with

jurisdiction over

records of government agencies, communes,

churches, hospitals,

and universities.

•Archives Nationale

gained control over records held in districts

creating the first centrally-

directed, state-wide archives systems.

1789 1794 1796

•The Archives

Nationale

•Napoleon tried to

centralize all archives of Europe in Paris by

seizing all official and

historical records of territory

•Ideals of nationalism and

a search for national identity spread throughout

Europe and in turn,

archives flourished.

•Records were

centralized though national archives.

Nations in other

continents followed suit.

1810-

1814

•Western Europe started

developing regional archives due to the growing

number of archival

materials. In France, they were called as “Archives

Departmentales.”

•Establishment of

Historical Manuscripts Commission in England

•In the US, the American

Historical Association established the Historical

Manuscripts Commission

and the Public Archives Commission.

•Their mission was to locate and publish

historically valuable

documents.

1895

1899

•Originally, records were

arranged by subject to satisfy the needs of

scholars and

researchers.

•The French introduced

the Principle of “Respect des fonds,” meaning that

groups of documents

created by one office should be treated as a

single, unique unit and

should be preserved as such.

•The Prussian Doctrine

of “Provenance” was introduced. This means

that records should not

only be maintained according to the original

order they were created

or used as by their respective office.

1840 1890

•The first modern

archives manual containing the two

principles

aforementioned.

•Escole des Chartes

was founded in Paris

•The Institute for

Austrian Historical Research was

established in Vienna,

Austria.

•Russia began training

archivists at the St. Petersburg

Archaeological Institute.

1821 1854 1877

MODERN ARCHIVES

•Vladimir Lenin signed a decree

providing for a reorganization of Russia’s records under the

Bolshevik regime, in turn creating

the most highly centralized archival system in the world.

July 1,

1918

•The United States National

Archives was established. 1934

•Israel State Archives was

established, just one year after the formation of the country.

•National archives were formed in Uganda, Malysia, Sudan, Thailand,

and Vietnam soon after (1950s-

1960s)

1949

•The International Council on Archives was established to promote

the scholarly use of archival records

and their effective administration.1950

•The US National Archives

established regional archives branches across the country to

house federal records with primarily

regional content and interest.

•By this time, almost all 50 states of

the US had developed state archival systems, many of which are active.

1968

•ICA and UNESCO initiated a long-

term Records and Archives Management Program (RAMP) to

promote through publications the

more effective management and use of archives, particularly in

developing countries.1979