1. files are directly formed historical records. "Direct formation" means that the file inherits the originality of the file, and "historical record" means that the file inherits the record of the file at the same time, which is the original file that reproduces the true face of history. It is precisely because archives inherit the original records of documents and have historical reproducibility that archives have the important attribute of voucher value, which is different from books, information materials and cultural relics.
2. The creator of the file. Archives are formed by official institutions, semi-official institutions, unofficial institutions and some individuals, families and clans.
3. The file comes from a document. Archives are conditionally transformed from documents. The "document" here refers to documents in a broad sense, that is, various materials formed in the form of words, charts, audio-visual images, etc. Archives and documents are different forms of the same thing in different value stages, which have homology and stage characteristics, as well as personality differences such as effectiveness, functionality and clutch. From file to file is a dialectical movement process of critical inheritance. From the content and form of information, the two are exactly the same, but from the perspective of timeliness, value and systematicness, archives are the constant sublation of documents. The first is the criticism of timeliness, and the file is a processed file; Secondly, the value criticism, the file is the part of the completed document with preservation value; Finally, it is systematic criticism. Archives are information units organized by scattered files according to certain logical laws. Therefore, the file is the predecessor of the file and the file is the destination of the file; Documents are the basis of archives, and archives are the essence of documents; Files are the materials of files, and files are the combination of files. ?
4. There are many forms of archives. The forms of archives include carriers, means of production and ways of expression. From the carrier, there are Oracle bones, epigraphy, silk books, simple books, paper, rubber magnets and so on; From the production methods, there are knife engraving, pen writing, printing, copying, photography, audio recording, video recording and so on. From the way of expression, there are words, charts, audio-visual and so on.
5. The essential attribute of archives. Archives have the characteristics of historical reproducibility, knowledge, information, politics, culture, sociality, education and value, among which historical reproducibility is its essential attribute and other characteristics are its general attributes. Therefore, the definition of archives can be simply expressed as: archives are the original documents that reproduce the true face of history.