Grazia Tatò1
ARE ARCHIVES HARMLESS HISTORICAL SOURCES?
Abstract
Purpose: In this paper we outline the approach to the study of archival sources, also in 
comparison with other cultural assets such as museums, and identification of the par-
ticularities and specific difficulties of documentary sources.
Method/approach: It is necessary to deepen the characteristics of archival sources as 
a cultural asset, and to study them in an ethically correct way the historical events and 
societies of the past.
Results: respect for what the sources tell us ethically, commit us to research and com-
pare different documentation produced by different subjects. From the comparison be-
tween the sources and with the help of the tools produced by the archivists, we will be 
able to bring out the testimonies that will allow us to have an objective overview of 
reality.
Conclusions/findings: the work of archivists and scholars intersect and support each 
other; the elaboration of correct and objective research tools is fundamental, as it is 
fundamental to follow the red thread that connects the documentary sources preserved 
in different conservative subjects and coming from different producers.
Key words: archives, history, archival souces, research, subjects.
1 Ph.D., prof Professor formerly Director of the State Archives of Trieste and Gorizia, Deputy Director of IIAS 
Trieste, Italy, graztat@gmail.com.
43ARE ARCHIVES HARMLESS HISTORICAL SOURCES? Grazia Tatò
1. PURPOSE
In the recent extraordinary general assembly of ICOM (International Council of muse-
ums) held in Prague this year, the new definition of museum was approved, the result 
of a long participatory process involving 126 Committees around the world. Thus, Art. 3 
of the ICOM Statute 
A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, 
collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the pub-
lic, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and 
communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering 
varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection, and knowledge sharing.
How can this change affect and affect archives? Certainly, we are in a different cultur-
al field, and we are talking about goods with very different characteristics and conse-
quently of operators with professional training with different cuts. Therefore, the word 
different often recurs here, but we must also underline how much it brings us closer and 
unites us in this definition.
Therefore, the museum is a permanent non-profit institution at the service of society, 
which carries out research, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and in-
tangible heritage. This definition could well refer at least in part to the Archives which 
are certainly a permanent non-profit institution and at the service of the society, they 
carry out research, and here the differences begin: the Archive does not collect or ex-
hibit, except temporarily and occasionally during documentary exhibitions and the pre-
served cultural heritage. Then we must ask ourselves if it interprets it and possibly in 
what way. We will come back to reflect on this point later.
Again: Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums promote diversity and sus-
tainability. They operate and communicate ethically and professionally and with the 
participation of communities, offering diversified experiences for education, pleasure, 
reflection, and knowledge sharing. It seems to me that this second part of the definition 
of a museum can also be valid for the Archives, perhaps adding the fundamental offer to 
scholars of the possibility of directly accessing documentary sources without the inter-
mediation of what has been elaborated and interpreted by others? I would rather say 
why shouldn’t we? The closure of individual cultural assets towards others is certainly 
harmful, just as the closure towards other scientific fields and from the respectful en-
counter between different institutions can only result in enrichment, when approached 
without fear and in respect of each one’s fields. So, what can we take from other cultural 
goods and what can we give to them?
2. METHOD/APPROACH
Here it is appropriate to take a step back and reflect on who we are and what character-
izes us. What is the role of archives in a complex society such as ours and how can we im-
merse ourselves in a contaminated context by helping to make archival values known 
and disseminated? There seems to be a need for archival science and its public role in the 
maze of a society substantially unable to give depth to memory and to pass it on in ways 
that are understandable to the community. Archives preserve a complex heritage and 
archivists have the difficult task of making it shared. This is a very delicate step! Any work 
that seriously wants to deal with the study of the past in a serious way must necessarily 
pass from the investigation of documentary sources. What that said may seem obvious 
and easy, but it is not! We all know the difficulty of approaching sources: first of all, find-
ing them, reading them, understanding their connection and links. The central point, 
44 ARE ARCHIVES HARMLESS HISTORICAL SOURCES? Grazia Tatò
however, is another. In the archives we find the documentation that has been preserved 
which is not all the documentation produced. We also find the official documentation 
that the institutions have wanted to keep. Basically, we find a “point of view” and in the 
choice we make of sources we sometimes “force” them to our point of view and to what 
we want to demonstrate. Archives have always been regularly fiscal ones. A history of 
the economy that relies only on tax returns would inevitably be falsified. This requires 
a research effort that goes beyond, that investigates and interweaves other sources to 
arrive at the truth. The same case is that of the sources that we could define as “politi-
cal”. Those who on one side are considered terrorists and subverters of the established 
order could be heroes and patriots on the other. For this card game, the sources are not 
as harmless and impartial as one might think and lend themselves to different and bi-
ased readings.
3. RESULTS
Returning to the word interpret relating to the definition of museum, here we must 
strongly claim respect for what the sources tell us by ethically committing ourselves to 
researching and comparing different documentation produced by different subjects. 
From the comparison between the sources and with the help of the tools produced by 
the archivists, we will be able to bring out the testimonies that will allow us to have an 
objective overview of reality. Then we can only say that we have done a serious histor-
ical work, not only based on what is written by others, but not even based on sources 
chosen because they correspond to what we want to demonstrate without deepening 
what is the historical truth of the facts whether we like it or not.
4. CONCLUSIONS/FINDINGS
The work of archivists and scholars intersect and support each other; the develop-
ment of correct and objective research tools is fundamental, just as it is fundamental 
to follow the red thread that connects the documentary sources preserved in different 
conservative subjects and coming from different producers. A frank comparison with 
historians who share with the archivists the sense of the civil value of concepts such 
as memory and cultural memory would be considered very opportune. What exists 
between archival science and historical disciplines is a particular relationship, of an-
cient origin. This relationship has not always been balanced and archival science has 
not always been respected as a science, in fact it has often been considered as an aux-
iliary science of history or even worse as a “handmaid” of history. The endless battle 
of historians between facts and interpretation collides with archival science as an ex-
pression of a dynamic expression between events and their graphic representation. 
On a different ground, it may be useful to share problems and solutions with the large 
family of information scholars, while maintaining a strong ethical approach. Culture 
is not a question of defending individual domains, but a sharing of knowledge in re-
spect of everyone’s skills and above all in the rigor of a job that is never conditioned 
by wanting to demonstrate how valid one’s theories and one’s political position are. 
A popular saying said “carta sings” in the sense that what is documented is true. This 
is not always the case. The document is sometimes misleading and only by compar-
ing other sources does the truth emerge. Many years ago, as Federico Valacchi recalls 
in his beautiful volume Archives between history, use and future, Eugenio Casanova 
wrote that there are rare, in Italy and elsewhere, those who know what an archive is; 
very rare, those who discern what it really is for. But, although few in number, these 
elects constitute a force, who, with his generous reprimands, sometimes slows down 
45ARE ARCHIVES HARMLESS HISTORICAL SOURCES? Grazia Tatò
the havoc, which of the writings that compose it, would incessantly want to do the ne-
glect and brutality of others. This destruction, however, is fatal, ineluctable through 
time and space, as it is fatal for all creation: what makes the struggle more exqui-
site, which, in other words, through the work of those few, civilization fights against 
barbarism. Words still valid even if ancient. The archivists have the task of keeping 
very rich contexts and contents at bay and the tools that guarantee access to them, 
of preserving the documentary heritage from discards that are sometimes anything 
but innocent and of maintaining absolute rigor and a strong ethical sense in dealing 
with sources; historians not to manipulate the sources for their own use and to commit 
themselves to maintaining a correct study approach even when uncomfortable.
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Typology: 1.03 Short Scientific Article
46 ARE ARCHIVES HARMLESS HISTORICAL SOURCES? Grazia Tatò