The Development And Enlightenment Of British Local Archives

Local archives are the foundation of the national archives business.Under the system of local archives at provincial,municipal,and county level in China,local archives are numerous and large in size.Under the impetus of the construction,of public archives,the development of local archives is crucial for advancing the development of the national public archives.British archives starts early and establishes the first public archives in the world.As a country with a decentralized archives management system,British local archives have developed a mode of autonomous development in the absence of a central custodian institution,and local archives have gradually developed.At present,Chinese research on British local archives is relatively inadequate.This article attempts to increase the understanding of the development history and current situation of British local archives by systematically studying the local archives in British.Besides,it hopes to provide references for the construction of local archives in China and promote the development of public archives.This article takes British local archives as the research object.Based on the historical development perspective,it divides the development of British local archives into three phases:theoretical construction period,practice development period,and crisis transition period.After further summing up,it sorts out the evolution path of British local archives that is the multi-institutional decentralized mode-the county record office mode-local research centers mode.Through analyzing political,economic,and cultural factors,it excavates the driving factors for the development and change of British local archives.Finally,it puts forward the development strategies that our local archives can draw upon.On the basis of using the literature research method and the comparative research method,this article uses the case demonstration method extensi-vely.It strengthens the interpretation of different development modes through rich and varied examples,and enhances the reliability and authenticity of the article argumentation.The establishment of the National Archives in 2003 provides unified policy and professional leadership support for the development of British local archives,and at the same time it demonstrates that the central government has gradually strengthened the centralized management of local archives.Under the leadership of Chinese National Archives,our local archives should gradually explore the best mode for local development and appropriately increase the freedom,in addition to drawing on the development experience of British local archives in terms of collections,services,and cooperation,...