According to historical records, before the Ming Dynasty, there was no difference between the titles of archives and documents, including canon, volume, policy, bamboo slips, documents, book, case file, volume and case slip. The word "archives" began in Qing Dynasty, which was recorded in Fu Zhi in the 19th year of Kangxi (1680), and explained in A Brief Introduction to Liu Bian written by Vencent Yang in the 46th year of Kangxi. According to the original meaning of Chinese characters, a file is a crossbar frame, which refers to a shelf for storing things; A case is like a small table, which is extended to a case file to handle an event. Archives, that is, documents stored on shelves, still have their image and internal significance, and are endowed with new scientific significance. Loanwords in archives, all European and American languages come from Greek and Latin archivum, and their characters and pronunciations are very similar. Their original meaning is the location of administrative organs, and then refers to the place where official documents or other documents are stored, and then refers to the files stored in these places. It is a polysemous word, which can be interpreted as archives, archives, archives, etc., so it often needs to be limited or explained when used.
When archives first came into being, there were always different views, among which the more representative views were the theory of class social products and the theory of primitive social products (or social products). The former thinks that the appearance of words and state organs becomes the necessary condition for the emergence of archives; The latter believes that archives originated from the primitive social period before the formation of the country. Judging from the known historical facts and research results, archives are not produced at the beginning of mankind, but are the product of civilization when human society develops to a certain stage. The earliest files found around the world to record people's practical activities in writing system are mostly historical relics after the emergence of the country, such as the files on Oracle bones or tortoise shells in China, the clay tablets in the two river basins, and the papyrus files in Egypt. Whether the original forms of non-verbal notes before the invention of writing (such as knotting and engraving) have the nature of archives remains to be further investigated and studied.
Characteristic archives are different from general historical relics or historical documents. (1) It is an original historical record transformed from documents used in reality, which is different from ordinary historical relics because of its documentary and original characteristics. ② It is a group of records accumulated by various organs, organizations and individuals in their specific social activities, and there is an inevitable historical connection between files. Therefore, archives management must respect the internal relationship between the sources and contents of archives, maintain the historical features of archives system, and play the unique role of archives information system. (3) Because archives are original historical records, and most of them are original orphans, they are more reliable and particularly precious, which puts forward special requirements for the protection and utilization of archives. ④ The types and forms of archives are rich and varied, and the scope is quite extensive. Some archives with a long history, special nature or carrier often have a certain transformation relationship or partial overlapping relationship with cultural relics and books, so they are collected in museums, libraries, memorial halls and other units.
For a long time, scholars from all over the world have different views on the characteristics and definitions of archives. As far as the connotation and elements of the concept of archives are concerned, there are basically two viewpoints: ① emphasizing that historical documents with permanent preservation value and kept in specific places such as archives are archives. For example, the Dictionary of Archives Terminology (1984) compiled under the auspices of the International Council on Archives defines archives as "selected or unselected inactive documents for the personal use of their founders or their functional successors, or kept by appropriate archives because of their archival value". ② Historical documents with certain preservation value, no matter where they are kept, are archives, regardless of factors such as permanent preservation value and place of preservation. For example, the French Archives Law (1979) stipulates: "Any natural person or legal person, any state organ or organization, or any private institution or department, regardless of its formation date, formation method and materials, is an archive." According to China's regulations, all kinds of historical documents that need short-term, long-term or permanent preservation belong to archives, whether they are kept in government archives or national archives or in personal hands. As far as the affiliation of the concept of archives is concerned, there are three kinds of definitions of archives: ① Historical records or original records are affiliation concepts, which have become more common in China; (2) The concept of document is relatively common internationally; (3) Taking information or information materials and information carriers as general concepts, there is a development trend in recent years.