美国国家档案馆藏近代中美往来照会分类研究——基于美国驻奉天领事馆领事报告档案的考察

Study on Classification of the Archives of Modern Sino-American Notes:Based on Despatches from United State Consuls in Mukden in the National Archives of the United States of America

照会是近代对外交往中最常用的文书形式。美国国家档案馆藏近代美国驻奉天领事馆领事报告档案中含有大量美国领事与中国东北当局的往来照会,这些照会内容丰富,中英文兼备且保存完整,其以外交文书的形式承载了丰富多元的历史内涵,因此具有极高的档案价值。本文通过细致爬梳领事照会档案,从发文方向、语言、事由、涉事方等角度对其进行细致分类,进而从文书体式及历史内涵等方面进行深入研究。该研究将有助于档案学、历史学更好地体认近代照会文书的程式与内容的演变以及其蕴含的深层历史脉络。中美往来照会逐渐由传统的繁复的程式向高效练达的风格演变,也成为中美外交文书和外交观念相互交融与影响的例证。

Note is the most commonly used form of document in modern foreign exchanges. The American National Archives Collection of Consular Reports of the Modern American Consulate in Mukden contains notes on the exchanges between the modern United States and Northeast China. These notes are rich in content, both in Chinese and English, and are well preserved. They carry rich and diverse historical connotations in the form of diplomatic documents, so they have high archival value. This paper carefully combs the consular note archives, and carefully classifies them from the perspectives of direction, language, cause, and parties involved, and then conducts in-depth research on the style and historical connotation of the documents. This research will help archival science and history better understand the evolution of the form and content of modern note documents and the deep historical pulse it contains. The development of the form and content of the note has become the epitome of the modernization of Sino foreign exchanges. The Sino-U.S. note of exchange has gradually evolved from a traditional complicated formula to an efficient and sophisticated style, which has also become an example of the mutual blend and influence of Sino-U.S. diplomatic instruments and concepts.