National archives

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.

"[9] The concept of the archivist as a custodian of records originated in the late 19th century and was championed by Hilary Jenkinson.

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] 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.

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.

"[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.

Much of those archives benefited from the Spanish and Portuguese colonial practice of keeping a record on hand of outgoing correspondence.

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.

[30] 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.

[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.