The predecessor of Xi'an Jiaotong University was Nanyang Public College which founded in Shanghai in 1896. It was named Jiaotong University in 1921.After the foundation of the new China, to meet the need of the development of the national economy, the main body of Jiaotong University moved to Xi'an in 1956, and was formally named as Xi'an Jiaotong University as a key university in China in 1959.    In April 2000,   with the ratification of the State Council,   Xi'an Medical University,   Shaanxi Institute of Finance and Economics and Xi'an Jiaotong University merged as the present Xi'an Jiaotong University.
     Xi'an Jiaotong University has been preserving archives since the foundation of the school in 1896.While the university moving from Shanghai to the west of China, most of the documents and files were relocated to Xi'an. In March 1957, The United Archives of The Party and Politics was set up, which took charge of the documentary archives of all the university with unity and centralization. In Oct   1982,    The Comprehensive Archives was founded,   which managed documentary and Science  &  technology archives of the university. In April 1987,   under the official approval of The State Education Commission,   the Archives of Xi'an  Jiaotong University arranged as Department-System was established. The Archive is not only the Branch of functional management, but a science and culture institution of permanently preserving and utilizing our university's archives, and independently working under the leadership of the president.