Origins of Records and Archives

Read the text and say what the difference between records and archives is.

Records and archives have been in existence since mankind acquired the ability to record information in writing. The earliest keeping of records and archives can be traced to the Ancient Civilizations when records of birth, property, law, money’ tax and official and private transactions began to be kept to facilitate the conduct of government business, and for education, religion and family purposes. The medium on which this information was recorded differed from society to society as well as from age to age ranging from the clay tablets of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires of the third millennium to the wooden tablets that found their way into Greece, the papyrus scrolls of Egypt and the parchment and vellum of Medieval Europe.

The reasons why records and archives were kept were very much clear. To prove your right to the possession of a certain piece of land you needed title deeds; to determine the size of population being governed and therefore the taxes that should be collected you required records of birth and death; to enforce government laws and regulations it was necessary to keep a record of the laws, decrees and edicts. The keeping of records and archives was therefore not a luxury but a necessity on which depended one’s ability to continue to rule and to have rights and privileges. The records and archives were also preserved in order to prove the rights and privileges of those who were being governed. In Roman Egypt, for instance, every provincial capital had a central record office known as a “demosia bibliotheke” where officials were required to deposit certain records relating to census, tax, land and other official transactions. These record offices were open to the public who could come and inspect the records.

The growth and development of records and archives has however not been uniform throughout the world. As with most other things some societies gained certain capabilities earlier than others. In respect to records and archives those societies that developed their organizational structures earlier often developed comparative recording infrastructures to document their activities. The capability to keep records and archives was thus attained first by those societies that learnt to write and record. While these societies did not develop in isolation as is evidence by the record keeping practices in Roman Egypt which had borrowed elements from the Roman and Asian Empires, nevertheless the nature of the records and archives ensured that to a large extent each society had its own record and archive keeping practices that were uniquely different from those of other societies.

The distinctions that today we make between records and archives have not always existed nor can they be said to have universal applicability and acceptability. There is a wide variety of views as to what constitutes information, records and archives. The word “archives” has its origins in ancient Greece where as “archeion” it was used to refer to government records belonging to an office. Usage has however changed over the centuries and it is nowadays generally used to designate a building or a unit within a building where archives are stored, an agency or administrative unit responsible for administering archives and to refer to information that through various processes and qualifications has been identified as constituting archives.

It is however very difficult at times to distinguish between records and archives. In the United Kingdom and in several countries that at one time or other were under British colonial domination, records is used to refer to what in such countries as the United States would be known as archives. Thus in the United Kingdom the main institution in which central government archives are kept was known as the Public Records Office till February 2003. In 2003 it was renamed into National Archives. In the United States on the other hand the comparative institution is known as the National Archives and Records Administration, and this is similar to many countries that have what are known as National Archives.

In this study records will be used to denote that information which is of current and semi-current use while archives will refer to those records which through some appraisal mechanism have been identified as having a permanent and enduring value and therefore meriting permanent retention. It should be noted that archives are not synonymous with non-current records as the latter refers both to archives and to other records with shorter term value that will after a period of time be disposed of.

In response to the question that asked for what purposes the records and archives were used, the following usages were sighted by the custodians of records and archives:

• verification of facts

• compilation of reports and studies

• research

• finding of precedent

• collection of statistical data

• policy formulation, planning and implementation

• handling of legal claims

• project planning and evaluation

• litigation

• administration

• protection of national interests

• documenting of departmental histories

• restoration of buildings