Historical materials can be divided into three categories according to their forms of expression: documentary historical materials, physical historical materials and oral historical materials. In the research activities of history, scholars have participated in the research from different angles and in different ways for many years and have achieved fruitful results and reached a certain consensus. However, some scholars believe that history is living people, thoughts and events, and historical research should focus on memory and archaeology, with oral history and archaeological achievements as historical materials. With the development of social science, the definition of archives has expanded, and its objects and categories have also expanded. Its unique nature determines its important historical value and will become the first-hand material for studying history. Taking archives as historical materials to study history is still in the exploratory stage.