• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
• /
• no.80
• /
• pp.43-88
• /
• 2024

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is a relatively quiet latecomer to the traditional archives of the Western world. Although the United States lacks a long history of organized public records·archives management, it has developed a modern system optimized for the American historical context. This system focuses on the systematic management and preservation of the vast amount of modern records produced and collected during the tumultuous 20th century. As a result, NARA has established a modern archival system that is optimized for the American historical context. The U.S. public records·archives management system is based on the principle that records·archives are the property of the American people and belong to the public. This concept originated during the British colonial era when records were used to safeguard the rights of the colonies as self-governing citizens. For Americans, records and archives have long been a symbol of the nation's identity, serving as a means of protecting individual freedoms, rights, and democracy throughout the country's history. It is natural, therefore, that American life and history should be documented, and that the recorded past should be managed and preserved for the nation's present and future. The public records·archives management system in the United States is the result of a convergence of theories, practices, lessons learned, and ideas that have been shaped by the country's history, philosophies, and values about records, and its unique experience with records management. This paper traces the origins of records and archives in the United States in a historical context to understand the organic relationship between American life and records. It examines the process of forming a modern public records management system that is both uniquely American and universal to the American context without falling into the two forms of traditions that reflect the uniqueness of American history.