Editing Archive (section)

==History==
The practice of keeping official documents is very old.<ref>Yeo Geoffrey. 2021. ''Record-Making and Record-Keeping in Early Societies.'' Abingdon Oxon: Routledge.</ref> Archaeologists have discovered archives of hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of clay tablets dating back to the third and second millennia BC in sites like [[Ebla]], [[Mari, Syria|Mari]], [[Amarna]], [[Hattusas]], [[Ugarit]], and [[Pylos]]. These discoveries have been fundamental to learning about ancient alphabets, languages, literature, and politics.{{Cn|date=November 2023}}

Oral literature, such as [[Palestinian hikaye]], can also have archival functions for communities.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=From martial arts to the majlis: Seven Middle Eastern customs listed by Unesco |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/middle-east-customs-seven-unesco-protected |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=Middle East Eye |language=en}}</ref>

Archives were well developed by the ancient Chinese, the ancient Greeks, and the ancient Romans (who called them ''[[Tabularium|Tabularia]]''). The idea that a society would designate a place to preserve records is integral to the Justinian Code (which set Roman law).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Duranti |first=Luciana |date=1996-11-01 |title=Archives as place |url=https://publications.archivists.org.au/index.php/asa/article/view/8579 |journal=Archives & Manuscripts |language=en |pages=242–255 |issn=2164-6058}}</ref>

England, after 1066, developed archives and archival access methods.<ref>Michael T. Clanchy, ''From Memory to Written Record: England 1066–1307'' (Blackwell, 1979).</ref> The Swiss developed archival systems after 1450.<ref>Randolph Head, "Knowing Like a State: The Transformation of Political Knowledge in Swiss Archives, 1450–1770", ''Journal of Modern History'', 75 (2003), pp. 745–82. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/383353 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216031222/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/383353 |date=16 December 2018 }}</ref>
[[File: Archivistica2.pdf|thumb|right|The earliest archival manuals: Jacob von Rammingen, ''Von der Registratur'' (1571), Baldassarre Bonifacio, ''De Archivis'' (1632).]]
The first predecessors of archival science in the West are Jacob von Rammingen's manuals of 1571.<ref>The earliest predecessors of archival science - Jacob von Rammingen's two manuals of the registry and archival management, printed in 1571, translated by JBLD Strömberg. Lund: Wallin & Dalholm, Lundaboken, 2010</ref> and [[Baldassarre Bonifacio]]'s ''De Archivis libris singularis'' of 1632.<ref>L. Sandri, 'Il "De Archivis" di Baldassare Bonifacio', ''Notizie delle Archive di Stato'', Roma, 1950, p. 95-111.</ref>

Modern archival thinking has some roots dating back to the [[French Revolution]]. The [[French National Archives]], which possess perhaps the largest archival collection in the world (with records going as far back as 625 A.D.), was created in 1790 during the Revolution from various government, religious, and private archives seized by the revolutionaries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.answers.com/topic/archive |title=archive: Definition, Synonyms from |publisher=Answers.com |access-date=1 June 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523111412/http://www.answers.com/topic/archive |archive-date=23 May 2010}}</ref>

In 1883, French archivist Gabriel Richou published the first Western text on archival theory, entitled ''Traité théorique et pratique des archives publiques'' (''Treaty of Theory and Practice of the Public Archives''), in which he systematized the archival theory of the ''[[respect des fonds]]'', first published by [[Natalis de Wailly]] in 1841.<ref>F. Hildesheimer, "Les Premières publications des Archives", ''Histoires de France, historiens de la France'', Paris, 1994, p. 280-299.</ref>