HISTORIAN AND MODERN ARCHIVE

Introduction. The field of work and research of the historian, as a scientist, represents, in the simplest terms, the past of people or human society. There are many attempts to define history as a science, and no single definition is universally accepted. The Slovenian historian Bogo Grafenauer defined history in the following way: History is a science that studies, in a spatial and temporal framework, the development of human society in the past and looks for the causes and discovers the laws of a certain economic and social order. [1] An interesting attempt to define history is represented by Otara Dal's definition: The field of historical research consists of socially relevant human behavior and such extra-human circumstances which are relevant to human behavior. [2] Andrej Mitrović figuratively defined history as a river that is stopped before flowing into the underworld of death and oblivion. [3]

If we take into account the interpretations of the contemporary European philosophy of science, the German philosopher Helmut Seiffert writes that the object of research of historical science is "non-declaratively paraphrased as a product of humanity". Thus, it would include not only the events of political history, in the sense of traditional learning - understood as the works of great men, but also, for example: institutions such as the state, the church, legal and economic systems, as well as the various languages that have become historical , all kinds of records, such as diplomas, deeds, accounts, notes, diaries, letters, buildings, works of art of all genres, various literary and scientific manifestations - including things that are not "products of mankind" but so-called "nature". Seifert particularly illustratively compares the methods of studying history with the work of detectives from crime novels. Therefore, the perpetrator does not talk about what he did, at best he defends himself by remaining silent. In an unfavorable case, he tries to divert his pursuers from the right path: with false statements and fabricated clues. The detective's task consists in gradually reconstructing the course of the crime from the smallest signposts, traces, signs and clues - always aware that someone wants to cozen him. Seifert emphasizes that the historian works similarly. His task is to successfully discover facts from the past, even when historical witnesses did not directly present them to him. Namely, he examines his material on such problems, the answers to which are not subject to the purpose of the material in advance. [4]

History, as a science, encompasses the human experience of every place and every period. No part of the human past, nor any aspect of human activity can be skipped under the pretext that it does not belong to the right field of historical knowledge, but to what extent something will become the subject of historical research depends on the accessibility of historical evidence, which we also call historical sources. [5] A distinction should be made between remains and sources. Remains are all that is left of the past, but they only become resources when we use them to answer questions. [6] Historical sources include every type of evidence that people have left behind through their past activities – the written word, landscape form and material artefact, fine art, photography and film.

In order to write history based on the most reliable evidence, we need to know what remains of the past exist and where they are located. Each historical epoch is characterized by different historical sources. For the study of modern history, the sources created by the inclusion of modern technical means in communication between people occupy an important place, and they are usually called acoustic sources. These acoustic sources contain important testimonies about certain events (recordings of various sessions, congresses, parliaments, demonstrations, speeches, etc.). Written sources are the most numerous and most important type of source in historical research. Material remains appear in the form of objects, so we call them object sources, and they are most often used to supplement the picture we create with the help of written sources. Their use requires special knowledge and methods that are different from those used in working with written sources. Such sources are most often found by excavation, and the science that deals with this is called archaeology. This type of source also includes villages, towns, bridges, fortresses, moats, towers, trenches. Secular and church buildings also belong to them^[7].

Oral sources or oral tradition have a certain importance for historical science. Oral sources can be divided into memories, which are memories of one's own experiences, and traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. ^[8]

            The basic source of historical facts is primarily the written legacy. This means the remains and testimonies created during various activities of authorities, institutions, collectives, organizations and individuals (families). Institutions whose primary purpose is to collect, process, preserve and make available written material to historians and other cultural workers are archives. To a lesser extent, written material can still be found in museums, libraries, scientific institutions and individuals. [9]

From all of the above, it follows that the work of historians on studying the past of human society is unthinkable without archives, and that knowledge of the rules of work in modern archives makes the work of historians much easier.

Origin and development of archives. The word archive comes from the Greek word archeion. Originally, this word meant a building (archo). The word archive has several meanings. It is very often used for the archive building, this term is also used for the office's archive, ie. the area where the material is placed and stored after the completed items have been archived. Personal archives are materials created from the activities of individuals. The French bourgeois revolution played a decisive role in the development of the archive as an independent state institution. It also brought about changes in the relationship of the state and society towards the social sciences, and thus also historiography. The changed attitude towards historiography also changes the attitude towards archival materials. Thus, the archive, which for a long time was a "storehouse of documents" of legal evidentiary value and importance, is growing into an archive as a state institution that takes care of documents of importance for science, history, culture and other social needs. [10] In 1964, the Committee of the International Council on Archives gave the following definition of an archive: "An archive is a collection of documents issued or received by natural or legal persons, public or legal, and which, due to its nature, is determined to be kept by that same person." [11]

Searching for the genesis of the archive and its establishment as an institution are two different things. The fact that some documentation, in ancient or medieval times, was kept by a state or religious institution or state building is not the same as the existence of an archive as a state institution. in the ancient and middle ages, the reason why documents were kept was pragmatic in nature, not the needs of science, and that is why it was accessible only to its owners and the state and the so-called court historians, who were engaged in writing about the rulers, their dynasties and their power. Those preserved documents primarily served to protect the rights of rulers, the state, class privileges, etc. Bearing in mind what the modern definition of the term archive implies, it is not possible to accept the opinion that there was an archive in ancient Greece and Rome. [12]

The time after the French bourgeois revolution is the time of development of social sciences, especially history, stimulated by the romanticism movement. Archival documents gain priority importance as sources of scientific knowledge, which has influenced laws and other regulations to regulate issues related to the protection and creation of conditions for the scientific use of archival material. This is how the archive was created as an independent state institution. This process can be followed in many European countries, which had an impact on the development of the archive service in our country. The first regulation on the protection of the materials of state bodies in Russia was passed by Peter the Great in 1720, and in 1905 a plan was drawn up on the organization of the archive service, which was interrupted by the First World War. Already in 1918 and 1919, Lenin introduced a fundamental reorganization of the archive service by decree, which will be the basis for its reconstruction in the USSR. The first archive created by law was the National Archives of France in 1790. In Italy, all state and private archives were subordinated to state supervision only in 1919. The development of the modern archival service in England begins with the act of 1838, which created the central archive. In the United States of America, the issue of protection of materials and archival service was regulated only in 1934 by the law establishing the National Archives, which was given broad authorizations. [13]

For a long time, history relied almost exclusively on direct historiographical sources (eg chronicles, annals, etc.). In the first half of the 19th century, historiography began to show a greater interest in active construction. Romanticism increased interest in history, fully taking into account the realization that historical sources should be used critically. Then the word archive took on a new meaning, the meaning of a treasury for history. The arrangement of the old archives was taken over by historians, and the existing archival institutions began to employ their employees from the ranks of historians, and in fact historians initiated the establishment of new archives. After the Second World War, there was an increased interest in the study of the latest era, including young archival material. No less important is the fact that rapid social development resulted in a rapid growth of archival material, incomparable to earlier periods. Technical development resulted in the emergence of a new type of archival material: photography, film, phonographic material, audio tapes and video tapes, computer records and optical discs. This is how the field of archival materials progressively expanded and the concept of archival materials gained its current breadth, and taking into account the current technological development, it is most likely not concluded yet. Since the middle of the twentieth century, non-historians began to use archival materials more intensively, so archives began to be interested in the needs of other researchers as well. [14]

The functions and responsibilities of archives can be classified into three basic groups: administrative, cultural and scientific. The status of the administrative body enables the archives to perform expert supervision in terms of archiving, storage, professional maintenance of registry material, determination and selection of archival material from registry material and retrieval of archival material due for handover. Cultural functions and responsibilities are contained in the acquisition, placement and storage of archival material, professional processing of archival material of funds and collections, creation of general and special means of records on archival material and registry material outside the archive and in the archive. The scientific functions and responsibilities include: content evaluation of registry material and selection of archival material based on the list of categories of registry material with retention periods; creation of preliminary historical notes with a classification plan and methodological instructions for arranging funds and collections; creation of scientific information resources of funds and collections; research and recording for the purpose of completing archival material; publication of archival materials and information resources; construction of the information system and determination of its standards; preparation of exhibitions, lectures and more. [15]

Contemporary archival material can be divided according to several criteria. Based on office business, documentary material consists of: document, act, attachment, subject, file, original, copy and concept. The division based on the substrate on which the text was written is significant because it determines the type and time of creation of the material. According to the functional basis, archival material can be roughly divided into two basic groups: the first, which includes documents of a normative character that are binding for all institutions or for institutions of a certain social activity; the second, which includes documents created by the work of institutions. On an archival basis, the basic units of archival material in the archive are the fund and the collection, exceptionally, and the document when it has the property of rarity. [16]

From the above, it is clear that the task of the historian is made much easier by the archival service. However, many documents from the past were preserved under fortunate circumstances, as many of them were preserved in impossible conditions. A historian can start his research with a permit issued by the manager of the archive, or another authorized person, based on a request that states the purpose for which the document is being taken. Researcher ie. the historian counts the documents upon collection and return with an authorized person. During work, he must not put any notes in the archive material, he must not even put his paper over the material, so as not to damage it. However, nowhere do historians have complete freedom of access to public archives. [17] Historians are not allowed to examine documents as soon as they are retired from regular use. If it were allowed, materials several years old would be read. Since people are usually not aware that they possess material that may have historical significance, historians should not wait for someone to bring them documents, but should advertise and start searching. [18] Some will say that there is a clear division between historians and archivists, with the historian using the material that the archivist discovers. These examples show us that in practice the historian cannot leave the job of discovering documents to someone else. [19]

            Scientific functions of archives. The valorization of archival material is the first and essential step in the competence of the archive, which is of great importance for the historian. The valorization of archival material implies the evaluation of documents in registry material, which have permanent value and are of special importance for science, culture and other social needs. The subject of valorization is registration material that is created in the work of institutions and social associations. Historical valorization, as a rule, comes after archival. [20]

Valorization, i.e. determining whether a certain act meets the conditions for permanent storage, or whether it will be separated from the fund as worthless registry material after a shorter or longer storage period, is the most important part of the process of organizing and processing archival materials. How a certain document will be evaluated, as we have already mentioned, depends on several criteria. There are three criteria for valorization:

1. the content value of documents, which includes "the place, position and social influence of the creator of archival materials; status and scope of the creator of archival materials; the position and place of the creator of archival material in the hierarchical - social and political structure; competence, functions and tasks of the creator of archival material; degree and importance of new information and data in documents; information and data about new socio-political processes in documents; chronological and topographic content value of documents; the importance of information and data about prominent social, political and other figures; longer-term operational needs of the creator of the structure and society.“[21]

2. historical-social circumstances and conditions in which the documents were created, which includes "the degree of document preservation and specific historical-social circumstances and conditions in which the documents were created”.

3. External and other characteristics of documents, which include: "authenticity of documents; diplomatic value of documents; types of documents; originality of documents; completeness of external features of documents; reproducibility of documents; manuscript value of documents; language, script, material and format of documents (paleographic values); text and artistic symbols, stamps and seals on documents (sphragistic and heraldic values).“^[22]

Of the other scientific functions of the archive, which we have listed, in this paper we will emphasize the challenges faced by the modern archive in accordance with the development of information technologies in the function of informing interested users, especially historians, about archival materials.

The aim of the modern archival information system is to provide the most favorable, rational and efficient conditions for the use of archival materials for scientific, cultural, educational, operational and other needs. The information system represents the appropriate unity of electronic equipment, databases and information and personnel capable of using this equipment. The emergence of computers in 1950 marked a new era in the development of technology. The rapid development of electronics has brought such novelties to human society that even more complex human activities without the use of computers are unthinkable today. [23]

In order to respond to the challenges of the times, archives, like other cultural, educational and informational institutions, are increasingly turning to new technologies in all areas of their activities: collection, protection, arrangement, and also in the use of archival material. The ultimate goal of this process should be that archival materials must be more accessible to a wider range of users, including historians. Modern information technologies are among the most important factors in the development of the archive service, and the archives themselves are one of the key information services in society, and the effectiveness of the archive service directly depends on the extent to which it will adapt to the requirements of the modern information environment and be able to improve and adapt its services to the requirements users on the one hand and technological imperatives on the other. [24]

In the 1990s, there was an increased interest in archives at the international level, which is explained by the following reasons: the archival service, which continues the trend of attracting new users beyond the usual scientific clientele; a new climate of openness which means that the responsibility is now on authorities to justify the unavailability of records, and on researchers to justify their requests for access; the existence of a strong commercial pressure in Europe for easier access to information in order to reduce the advantage of the United States in that field; and finally, the re-independence of the states in Eastern Europe caused demands for the return of archival materials and suddenly made available fascinating archival sources. Providing information to those searching for potential sources, primarily historians, and how to research them, is also one of the ways archives attract new attention and emphasize their importance. [25]

One of the ways to protect cultural heritage is the digitization of archival material. Digitization represents the recording of archival material in electronic form, that is, the transfer of archival material that is not in electronic form to electronic form. This phenomenon will change the traditional form of historical research, and it is part of the Action Plan of the European Union, which was agreed at the meeting in Lund, Sweden in 2002. In simpler terms, digitization of archival material is its scanning and depositing of scanned documents in a computer or on some other data carrier. One of the important advantages of digitization is the fact that in this way original documents are better preserved and the degree of their use is reduced, and the work in the archives is significantly simplified and shortened. However, the survival of digital documents is much less certain than the traditional way of storing archival material. Digitization of archival material is still far from the stage where it is not necessary for a historian to visit the archive for the purpose of historical research.[26]

The Internet, a global computer network that interconnects users and computer networks in the world with the idea of instant and always open access to information, provides historians with the opportunity to have instant access to information through search engines, databases and other available sources. Most archival institutions in the world have their own network stations, where the institution itself and the material stored in it are usually presented. On almost all pages, at least part of the material is presented in digital form. To a large extent, special types of materials are also available on the Internet, such as: collections of photographs, posters, maps, etc. The tendency is to create local and national networks of archival institutions and associations and networks that include information on the structure of all cultural institutions (archives, libraries, museums, native collections) of an area or at the national level. [27] An example of the digitization of materials created during a long period of one institution is the digitization of documents of the news agency Tanjug. The Tanjug materials were handed over to the archives of Yugoslavia, and after that the digitization of this fund was started. [28]

One of the more interesting segments of the activity of the contemporary archive is the organization of exhibitions of archival documents, which include professionally and artistically designed public presentations of archival material, thematically focused on an important historical issue. The variety of valuable and interesting documentary sources stored in the archive enable the creation of exhibitions that are of interest to a wider audience. An example of successful work in this field of archival activity is the Historical Archive of Kraljevo, which now traditionally organizes valuable and interesting thematic exhibitions of documents kept in the funds and collections of this institution. We are talking about exhibitions that are excellently prepared in a professional and technical sense and which until now, as a rule, have been visited by professionals and a wider audience. Their importance goes beyond the scope of archival activities and affects the improvement of education, museum offerings and the overall culture of the city of Kraljevo. The exhibition "Kingdom of Serbia and Kraljevo 1882 - 1903" organized on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the proclamation of the Kingdom of Serbia and the name of the city of Kraljevo, can be included among the more important events marking these jubilees. It covered the period of Obrenović's reign from the proclamation of the kingdom on February 22, 1882 until the May Revolution. In that period, Kraljevo (which received its name on April 19, 1882) also developed.[29]

Most of the exhibited documents were recorded from the funds and collections of the State Archives of Serbia, among which the following are particularly valuable: Law on the Proclamation of Serbia as a Kingdom, Belgrade, February 22, 1882, Law on the Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Serbia, Belgrade, June 20, 1882, Decree of King Milan And about changing the name of the town Karanovac to Kraljevo and others. The archive material of the Historical Archive of Kraljevo refers to urban topics, topics from the history of education, the church and various aspects of the life of the population. A particularly valuable part of the exhibition were the photographs that offered the visitor the opportunity to familiarize himself with the appearance of the city itself, the architecture and spas in the area. They also show the citizens of Kraljevo, their way of dressing, everyday life and other segments of civic culture. The authors of the exhibition managed to respond to a demanding and complex task, to choose materials that best provide a picture of the "Kingdom of Serbia and Kraljevo 1882 - 1903", as well as to document it all with a scientific apparatus, accompanied by adequate technical equipment.[30] The exhibitions organized by the Archives of Yugoslavia recently represented a unique opportunity to present archival documents to the public - testimonies of the past, on the basis of which a state was created and disappeared, rulers and regimes, ideologies and systems changed, diplomatic negotiations were conducted, wars began and ended, foreign and domestic politics were conducted. At those exhibitions, students of history could see extremely important documents that are not in their textbooks. Older visitors, contemporaries of certain events, were reminded of past times by the exhibited documents.[31]

Contemporary archives also organize open days that serve to popularize archival collections and the work of archival departments. The program of the day may include methodological consultations on current issues of archive work: on procurement, on issuing archival certificates, on receiving research papers, on organizing current office work in archives, on preparing material for handing over to the state archive, and the like.        

Conclusion. If we start from what history as a science is and what is the subject of its study, and knowing that it is based on the study of historical sources, it is not difficult to conclude that for a historian, the archive is his second home. From a wide range of historical sources, the largest number of them, primarily written sources, which have the greatest importance for historical science, are kept in archives. Archives also store historical sources that are the product of modern technological development. Archives, as state institutions, are created as a result of the French bourgeois revolution and the transformation of society that followed it, which all contributed to the emergence of a change in relation to the study of the past of human society, i.e. to approach it in a scientific way. For this reason, there will be a need to approach the preservation of "traces from the past" in an organized manner, and thus archives will be created, in the modern sense of the word, and historians will play a crucial role in their institutionalization.

            The modern archive today has an administrative, cultural and scientific function, and when using the material, the historian must follow the clear rules provided by the law and other regulations. Among the scientific functions, we highlighted the valorization of archival material, information activities in the light of technological development, and we pointed to one positive example of successfully organizing exhibitions of archival material. Valorization of archival material is the evaluation of documents in registry material. Historical valorization usually follows archival valorization. There are three criteria for valorization, namely: content value of the document; historical and social circumstances and conditions in which the documents were created; external and other features of the document.

The aim of the modern archival information system is to provide the most favorable, rational and efficient conditions for the use of archival materials for scientific, cultural, educational, operational and other needs. The rapid development of electronics has brought such novelties to human society that even more complex human activities without the use of computers are unthinkable today. Modern information technologies are among the most important factors in the development of the archive service. Digitization of archival materials with the aim of making the materials as accessible as possible to users while using all the advantages of the Internet, as a global computer network, are the challenges that modern society has put before the archival activity, but we are still far from the fact that a single historian can seriously deal with his science without visiting the archives.

1. Dašić, Miomir. Introduction to history with the basics of auxiliary historical sciences. Titograd: NIO "University Word"; "Veljko Vlahović" University, 1988.
2.  Deletic, Zdravko. The craft of the historian: the methodology of historiography. Kosovska Mitrovica: Faculty of Philosophy in Pristina with temporary seat in Kosovska Mitrovica; Kraljevo Historical Archive, 2019.
3. Elezović, Dalibor. Seifert’s explication of historicism and the subject of research of historical science, European science review, 9–10 (2014).
4.  Elezović, Dalibor. FOREWORD, in: Milojević, Vesna, Catalog of the exhibition Kingdom     of Serbia and Kraljevo: 1882-1903: On the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the proclamation of the Kingdom of Serbia and the name of the City of Kraljevo (Kraljevo: Historical Archive, 2022), p. 1.
5.  Kovačević, Jelena, et al. "Overview of the Cultural, Educational and Scientific Activities of the Archives of Yugoslavia in the Period 2007-2017." Archive, vol. 19, no. 1/2, 2018, p. p. 24-36.
6. Lemić, Vlatka. Archives and the Internet - new possibilities for the availability and use of archival material, Archives herald, 45 (2002).
7.  Lekić, Bogdan. Archivistics. Belgrade: Institute for Textbooks and Teaching Aids, 2006.
8.  Marsenič Miloš, Elezović Dalibor, Stanoevič Saša. " Digitization of archival material in Serbia ", Scientific achievements of higher education 2020: collection of articles of the International Research Competition, October 29, 2020. Red. A. Čeremisina. International Center for Scientific Partnership "New Science", 2020, pp. 77-89.
9. Petrović, Nada. "Cultural and Educational Mission of the SCG Archives in 2008."Archive“, vol. 9, no. 1/2, 2008, p. p. 143-147.
10.  Radovanović, Marko. "Digitalization of the Photo Archive 'Tanjug' Photo Archive: Content and Condition of Materials."Archive“, vol. 18, no. 1/2, 2017, p. 21-36.
11.  Sršan, Stjepan. History and archives, Archives herald, 33 (2001): 193-198.
12. Tosh, John. In search for history. Belgrade: Klio, 2009.
13. Ćelstali, Knut. The past is not what it used to be. Belgrade: Geopoetics, 2004.
14. Hoffman Ivan: Valorization of educational and cultural funds from the time of agitropus (1946-1948), Archive, Archives of Serbia and Montenegro, 1-2, 2003: