328 American Archivist / Vol. 57 / Spring 1994

Research Article Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021

The Concept of Appraisal and Archival Theory

LUCIANA DURANTI

Abstract: In the last decade, appraisal has become one of the central topics of archival literature. However, the approach to appraisal issues has been primarily methodological and practical. This article discusses the theoretical implications of appraisal as attribution of value to archives, and it bases its argument on the nature of archival material as defined by traditional archival theory.

About the author: Luciana Duranti is associate professor in the Master of Archival Studies Pro- gram, School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies, at the University of British Columbia. Before leaving Italy for Canada in 1987, she was professor-researcher in the Special School for Archivists and Librarians at the University of Rome. She obtained that position in 1982, after having held archival and teaching posts in the State Archives of Rome and its School, and in the National Research Council. She earned a doctorate in arts from the University of Rome (1973) and graduate degrees in archival science and diplomatics and paleography from the University of Rome (1975) and the School of the State Archives of Rome (1979) respectively. The Concept of Appraisal and Archival Theory 329

Appraisal is the process of establishing the preceded by an exploration of the concept value of documents made or received in the of appraisal in the context of archival the- course of the conduct of affairs, qualifying ory, but only by a continuous reiteration of that value, and determining its duration. its necessary centrality to archival work in The primary objective of appraisal is to modern times, as if the repetition of a state- identify the documents to be continuously ment made it true and the necessity of an Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 preserved for an unlimited period of time. activity made it legitimate. And it has to The identification may target either docu- be emphasized that the activity in question ments within an archives (i.e., the whole of is attribution of value to archival material, the documents made or received by one not selection or acquisition of archival ma- person or organization while carrying out terial. its activities), or archives among archives. Beginning with Friedrich Meinecke at In the former case, we have appraisal for the turn of the century in Germany, Phillip selection. In the latter case, we have ap- Brooks in the 1940s in the United States, praisal for acquisition. the Grigg Committee in the 1950s in Eng- Because the ultimate goal of appraisal is land, and Terry Cook in the 1990s in Can- to add to the holdings of an archival insti- ada, an ever-growing body of archival tution or program, it might be said that ap- literature has wrestled with the identifica- praisal, whether conducted within an tion of taxonomies of values and the for- archives or among archives, is one of the mulation of methods for attributing them.2 means for accomplishing the archival func- This body of literature has also contributed tion of acquisition, and the present archival a number of ideas that, in all those coun- discourse might be directed toward the tries, have become characteristically asso- concept of acquisition in archival theory. ciated with the concept of appraisal: that However, this would circumvent the fun- appraisal must be impartial (not partial to damental issue that needs to be explored: any type of user), objective (not influenced the theoretical validity of the concept of by the personal outlook and interests of the appraisal within archival science. individual carrying it out), and professional It is evident from the archival literature of the last decade that appraisal has grad- 2See Hans Booms, "Society and the Formation of ually grown in the mind of many archival a Documentary Heritage: Issues in the Appraisal of Archival Sources," Archivaria 24 (Summer 1987): writers from being a means to an end to 84; Phillip C. Brooks, "The Selection of Records for being the core of all archival endeavors.' Preservation," American Archivist (1940): 221-34; However, this development has not been United Kingdom, Committee on Departmental Re- cords, Report, by Sir James Grigg, Chair, Cmnd. 8531 (London: HMSO, 1954); Terry Cook, The Archival •It would be too long to cite here all the writings Appraisal of Records Containing Personal Informa- of the last decade that have focused on appraisal. For tion: A RAMP Study with Guidelines (Paris: a substantial bibliography and a critical discussion of UNESCO, 1991). The reason only four countries are both European and North American works, see Rick mentioned here is that no other Western country's ar- Klumpenhouwer, "Value Concepts in Archival Sci- chival literature has dealt specifically with appraisal, ence," unpublished Master of Archival Studies thesis, for conceptual reasons that will be discussed later in University of British Columbia, 1988; Jane Turner, this article. Australia should be singled out from this "A Study of the Theory of Appraisal for Selection," silent group however, because its absence from the unpublished Master of Archival Studies thesis, Uni- body of literature on appraisal is based not on theo- versity of British Columbia, 1992; Terry Cook, retical conceptions but on the adoption of the methods "Mind over Matter: Towards a New Theory of Ar- articulated in the American literature. The volume chival Appraisal," in The Archival Imagination. Es- Keeping Data: Papers from a Workshop on Apprais- says in Honour of Hugh A. Taylor, edited by Barbara ing Computer-Based Records, edited by Barbara Reed L. Craig (Ottawa: Association of Canadian Archivists, and David Roberts (Sydney: Australian Council of 1992), 60-69. Also, the issues of Archivaria 33 (Win- Archives, 1991), is a notable exception, also because ter 1991-92) and 34 (Summer 1992) contain a large it represents an attempt to question the American way number of articles on appraisal. and to revisit traditional British ideas. 330 American Archivist / Spring 1994

(the ultimate responsibility for it must be be the real "paradigm shift" in archival the archivist's); it must be based on knowl- science, a development that was going to edge derived from analysis; and it must be leave behind for good the old world of ar- aimed at providing the complete picture of chives and all those who remained associ- society.3 However, on the one hand, the ated with it. Has this paradigm shift proliferation of writings in the countries reached a dead end, and showed itself to Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 mentioned above has as a counterpart a be just a "historical shunt"?5 In other quasi-complete silence on the subject in all words, should appraisal be made an inte- the other Western countries, and, on the gral and necessary component of archival other hand, the feverish discussion that has science and, as such, determine a revision animated the archival literature in North of all its accepted methods and practices? America, Germany, and England seems to The answer to this question depends on the have suddenly reached an impasse. In the answer to another more fundamental ques- latter case, the values have been denned, tion: What is the relationship between the the methods for attributing them have been concept of appraisal as attribution of value articulated in a number of different ways, and archival theory? contrasts between opposite approaches (provenance versus pertinence, top-down The Foundation of Archival Theory versus bottom up4) have repeatedly been demonstrated and compromises attempted, Archival theory is the whole of the ideas and in some places institutional implemen- about what archival material is, whereas ar- tations are on their way, while in others life chival methodology is the whole of the goes on as usual. All that could be said ideas about how to treat it. Archival prac- seems to have been said, and the ideas for- tice is the use that archivists make of both mulated seem unable to produce new ideas theoretical and methodological ideas in 6 or to regenerate themselves. The proverbial their work. As mentioned earlier, appraisal dust is starting to settle on the appraisal has been examined within archival science question, leaving archival science practi- at the methodological and practical levels. cally unchanged. To examine the concept at the theoretical level, it is necessary to confront it with the When it happened, the rising of appraisal ideas about the nature of archival material to stardom on the archival scene seemed to

'From a study of the appraisal literature, it is easy 3The expressions paradigm shift and historical to identify impartiality and objectivity as the English shunt were used by Hugh Taylor to refer respectively contribution to the general discourse, professionalism to the transformation of culture, records, users, and and analysis as the American contribution, and the archivists in the computer age ("Transformation in completeness of the outcome as the German contri- the Archives: Technological Adjustment or Paradigm bution. However, it has to be emphasized that all Shift?" Archivaria 25 [Winter 1987-88]: 12-28), and these ideas have come to be commonly accepted by to the dedication of old recordkeepers to historical the archival profession, which has questioned them research and the service of historians ("Information very rarely and never directly. Ecology and the Archives of the 1980s," Archivaria •"The provenance approach bases appraisal on the 18 [Summer 1984]: 27). analysis of the administrative and documentary con- Tor a detailed examination of the components of text of the archival material in question, while the archival science, see Trevor Livelton, "Public Re- pertinence approach bases appraisal on the total social cords: A Study in Archival Theory," Master of Ar- and cultural context of that material. For a brief ex- chival Studies thesis, University of British Columbia, planation of the two approaches, see Luciana Duranti, 1991 (forthcoming from SAA and Scarecrow Press), "ACA 1991 Conference Overview," ACA Bulletin 15 10—19. For a more accessible discussion of the sub- (July 1991): 24. The top-down approach is discussed ject, see Luciana Duranti, "The Archival Body of in Cook, "Mind over Matter," 52-57; the top-down/ Knowledge: Archival Theory, Method, and Practice, bottom-up relationship is discussed in Heather Mac- and Graduate and Continuing Education," Journal of Neil, "Weaving Provenancial and Documentary Education for Library and Information Science 34 Relations," Archivaria 34 (Summer 1992): 197. (Winter 1993): 10-11. The Concept of Appraisal and Archival Theory 331

and to ascertain whether the idea of attrib- function of the document with respect to uting value to archives is consistent with the fact it was about. Because only the the elements and characteristics of such na- present can be known, a device was nec- ture. essary to freeze the fact occurring in the Most of the archival theorists who have present before it slipped into the past, and Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 traced the rise and development of archival the document, as embodiment of the fact, literature in the Western world believe that had the function of converting the present archival theory, as a self-contained body of into the permanent. ideas about the nature of archival docu- However, it is essential to emphasize ments, had its origins in the laws and ju- that the Latin words permanens and per- ridical writings of the eleventh century and petuum meant continuing, enduring, stable, was enriched in the texts of medieval glos- lasting, uninterrupted, unbroken, without a sarists.7 However, the fundamental con- forseeable end, and that the concept of per- cepts of archival theory are rooted in petual memory, which was an integral part concepts embedded in Roman law, which of Roman law, was never linked to the have lingered for centuries and are so in- ideas of eternity or infinity. Rather, the link grained in our Western culture that we was with ideas of continuity (or absence of keep perpetuating them even when we can- interruptions), stability (or absence of not remember the reason for doing so. Two change), and endurance (or absence of of those concepts have a direct bearing on known term). Consequently, when the con- the ideas that have been associated with ap- cept of perpetual memory was expressly praisal in this century, and they deserve a linked first to archival documents and later careful exploration. They are the concepts to archives, it was meant to carry with it- of perpetual memory and public faith. self no obligation of eternal preservation, The most ancient archival documents,8 but only an implication of trustworthiness. either in the original or as transcriptions of For example, the Corpus Iuris Civilis con- lost originals, contain a formula, usually tained prescriptions that the acts (gesta)— placed at the end of the salutation: in per- that is, the documents attesting actions—be petuum, adperpetuum, or adperpetuam rei kept in archives in order to preserve con- memoriam? This formula established the tinuing, and therefore uncorrupted, mem- ory of the actions, and to guarantee the public faith (ut fidem faciant) or truthful- 'See, for example, Eugenio Casanova, Archivistica 10 (Siena: Lazzeri, 1928), 333; Leopoldo Sandri, "La ness of the documents themselves. storia degli archivi," Rassegna degli Archivi di Stato The Roman legal concept of public faith 18 (gennaio-aprile 1958): 109-34; and Giorgio Cen- cetti, Lo Studio di Bologna. Aspetti, momenti e prob- has more relevance in archival theory than lemi (1935-1970), edited by R. Ferrara, G. Orlandelli does that of perpetual memory. It might be and A. Vasina (Bologna: Editrice Clueb, 1989), 17- said that, while the idea of perpetual mem- 27. 'Throughout this article the term archival document ory expresses the relationship between ar- will be used to refer to any document made and re- chival documents and the facts they attest ceived in the course of affairs, regardless of its form, to, that of public faith expresses the rela- of the nature of its creator (public or private, organ- ization or individual), of its place of preservation (of- tionship between archives and the society fice of creation or legitimate administrative successor, or archival institution), of its degree of currency, and of its use. Therefore, the term comprises the meanings '"Justinian, Corpus Iuris Civilis, Novella 15, 5 and of record, manuscript, and paper (s). 2; C.I,4, "De episcopali audientia," 30; D. 48,19, 9Cfr. Alain de Boflard, Manuel de Diplomatique "De poenis," 9. An action is a movement of the will Francaise et Pontificate, vol. 1 (Paris: Editions Au- aimed at a purpose, manifested in a perceivable way. guste Picard, 1929), 265; and Georges Tessier, La Di- See Luciana Duranti, "Diplomatics: New Uses for an plomatique (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, Old Science. Part II," Archivaria 29 (Winter 1989- 1966), 43. 90): 6-7. 332 American Archivist/ Spring 1994

they serve. In the ancient and medieval the characteristics documents must have in Western world, archival documents were order to be accepted in a public archives. conferred trustworthiness by their preser- In time, the form of the documents be- vation in an archives, and it is essential to came so essential to their trustworthiness remember that the term archives in this

that public custody began to lose relevance Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 context refers to the place where archival and, as long as custody could be proved documents were kept by their creator. As uninterrupted and secure, the authenticity a consequence, not every entity could have of documents was sufficient guarantee of an archives; only the persons or corpora- genuineness.13 tions invested with sovereign power had The emphasis on prescribed forms de- the right to establish one in their own ju- termined the development of a different n risdiction (jus archivi or archivale). concept of archives. One might say that, The fact that, according to Roman law, until the third century, legislators and ju- only public authorities could have an ar- rists considered archives to be the place chives implied that only archival docu- where the documents produced in carrying ments created by public authorities in out administrative activity were main- carrying out public affairs were endowed tained, retrieved, and generally serviced. In with public faith. This did not mean, how- a very real sense, public faith derived to ever, that only those documents could be those documents from their being created, trustworthy. As a consequence of the pro- maintained, used, and selected in the or- bative capacity of archives, documents cre- dinary and usual course of business. In ated by private persons in carrying out fact, selection was part of the effective private affairs could be attributed public management of those archives, a selection faith by being deposited by their authors or embedded in routine and procedure, by legitimate successors in an archives.12 The which summary documents gradually su- idea was that unbroken custody in reliable perseded the detailed ones, and complete hands (being a public authority by defini- documents superseded notes and sketches. tion meant being considered reliable) No evaluation was involved, and therefore would protect the documents from corrup- no appraisal. Rather, the traces of all facts tion, would guarantee their trustworthiness, were preserved, their intensity as profound and would ensure the truth of their content. as the effects of those facts had been at the However, the practice was open to abuse. time of their occurrence. Thus, perpetual Private persons began to deposit false doc- memory was served as well as public faith, uments in public archives to lend them but, more importantly, public faith was public faith. It appeared clear to the legis- linked to a legal concept that has survived lators that if unbroken public custody was until our times. This concept, with which a sufficient guarantee of the reliability of we are very familiar, is that of "circum- the documents created by sovereign bodies, stantial guarantee of trustworthiness," ac- it did not perform this function for all other cording to which the circumstances of a documents. Thus, public faith came to de- document's creation and maintenance are pend on another element identified as es- an adequate indication of its reliability.14 sential by the legislators: form. In the Corpus Juris Civilis, Novella 73 describes ''"Authenticity" referred to the presence in a doc- ument of all prescribed forms which enabled it to bear witness on its own; whereas "genuineness" meant that the document was what it purported to be. See Duranti, "Diplomatics," 17-18. "Francesco Calasso, Lezioni di storia del diritto it- "A document offered as evidence to establish the aliano (Milan: Giuffre, 1948), 258. truth of the facts it contains is considered "hearsay" 12Justinian, Novella 15. by both civil and common law because its content is The Concept of Appraisal and Archival Theory 333

However, after the third century, the cre- archival documents and archives consti- ators of archival documents began to pay tuted the core of the legal writings of Me- special attention to documents endowed dieval jurists, such as Accursius (1184- with legally prescribed forms, to the point 1263), Cynus Pistoiensis (1270-1336), and

of preserving them separately from all the Baldus (1327-1400). They also entered the Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 others, in the most secure place. Conse- statutes of most Medieval city states and, quently, a dichotomy developed between on this basis, norms were issued prescrib- the "archives-sediment," made of the doc- ing methods of arrangement and descrip- uments routinely accumulated on the tion of archival documents to protect their benches of the offices in the course of busi- probative nature. But, most importantly, as ness, and the "archives-treasure," made of Roman law became the common civil law the authentic documents embodying com- of Europe and the basis for its spiritual and plete transactions, which were extracted cultural unity, those concepts became the from the archives-sediment to be main- foundation of all European thinking about tained in a safer place. The absence of archives. They also became the nucleus of proper care eventually made the documents European archival theory as it developed in in the archives-sediment disappear, victims the writings of sixteenth- and seventeenth- of natural events or human vicissitudes, century jurists,16 and as it was received, while those in the archives-treasure re- mained as continuing proof of events past. "For a detailed discussion of this subject, see Elio Thus, public faith came to be associated Lodolini, Lineamenti di storia dell'archivistica itali- by legislators and jurists with two other fa- ana (Rome: La Nuova Italia Scientifica, 1991), 27- 65. It should be pointed out that Roman law is the miliar legal concepts that have survived foundation of both the civil law and the common law until our times: best evidence and ancient systems, because its principles and concepts are em- document. The best evidence concept at- bedded in the principles and concepts at the core of both legal systems. However, it has to be emphasized tributes probative capacity only to original that the religious frays of the sixteenth century deter- documents or authenticated duplicates of mined a divergence in the development of the legal them, and the ancient document concept at- concepts linked to archives between the European countries which remained Roman Catholic and those tributes probative capacity to documents which stopped to recognize the binding power of the kept in secure and reliable custody for a pronouncements of the Roman Church. A significant 15 example of such divergence relates to the probatory long time. nature of private archival documents preserved in pri- The Roman legal concepts of perpetual vate archives (i.e., archives of families, banks, hos- memory and public faith as they related to pitals, etc.). In the course of the seventeenth century, a series of decisions of the Sacra Rota endowed with not stated under oath, and it cannot be tested by cross- public faith private archives or individual archival examination. However, a document can be accepted documents which either had been preserved for a long as evidence if it falls within an exception to the hear- time within the same recordkeeping system (an elab- say rule. One exception is the existence of circum- oration of the concepts of "ancient document" and stantial guarantees of trustworthiness: the of "circumstantial guarantee of trustworthiness," both related to the "perpetual memory" idea), or pre- circumstances of a document's creation are accepted sented all the appropriate characteristics of form (an as an adequate substitute for cross-examination. elaboration of the "best evidence concept"), or had 15An original document is the first to be issued in been maintained and inventoried by a notary or by an a complete and effective form—that is, the first ca- "archivist"—that is, by a professional purposely em- pable of reaching the consequences for which it was ployed who could vouch for the reliability of the re- created. An authenticated duplicate is an imitative cords system and the trustworthiness of the archives copy declared conform to the original that it repro- (Elio Lodolini, "Giurisprudenza della Sacra Rota Ro- duces by an official authorized to do so by the legal mana in materia di archivi [secoli XVI-XVIII]," Ras- system. (Duranti, "Diplomatics," 19-20). For more segna degli Archivi di Stato a. XLII [gennaio-aprile information on the probative capacity of archival doc- 1982]: 7-33). Therefore, while in Roman Catholic uments, see Heather Heywood, "Appraising Legal countries like Italy and Spain private archives have Value: Concepts and Issues," unpublished Master of been treated just like public archives and regularly Archival Studies thesis, University of British Colum- acquired in public archival repositories or, if pre- bia, 1990. 334 American Archivist / Spring 1994

through the elaborations of the nineteenth- The Characteristics of Archival century archival theorists, by Jenkinson, Documents and the Attribution of Cencetti, Brenneke, Bautier, and the many Value others who have enriched the European ar- Jenkinson wrote that a "document chival literature of our times. which may be said to belong to the class Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 If some of the archival methodological of Archives is one which was drawn up or ideas derived from that body of theory, used in the course of an administrative or such as the principles of provenance and executive transaction (whether public or original order, reached the other side of the private) of which itself formed a part; and Atlantic quite easily, through the writings subsequently preserved in their own cus- of Leland, Buck, Posner, and Schellenberg, tody for their own information by the per- the ideas about the nature of archival ma- son or persons responsible for that terial never really entered the North Amer- transaction and their legitimate succes- ican archival discourse. Instead, they sors."^ Because they are created as a remained typically anchored to the Euro- means for, and a by-product of, action, not pean tradition.17 However, they constitute "in the interest or for the information of the body of theory on which methods ac- Posterity," and because they are "free cepted also in North America rest and from the suspicion of prejudice in regard every new archival methodology has to be to the interests in which we now use based, and against which the concept of ap- them," archival documents are impartial praisal should be examined. As there is no and "cannot tell . . . anything but the variation in the articulation of those ideas truth."19 among the various archival theorists, for practical reasons linked to language and This characteristic of impartiality, ac- availability to North American readers, the cording to which archives are inherently text of Jenkinson is chosen here as the truthful, makes them the most reliable framework for discussion. source for both law and history, whose pur- poses are to rule and explain the conduct of society by establishing the truth.20 Ar-

18Hilary Jenkinson, A Manual of Archive Adminis- served by their creators or by private archival repos- tration (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922), 11 (Jenkin- itories, closely watched by the governments through son's emphasis). In his manual, Jenkinson defines the regulations and controls, in the other countries like archival document, rather than archives as complexes England and Germany private archives are considered of documents. Later, he defines archives as "the Doc- different from public archives mainly because de- uments accumulated by a natural process in the course prived of probatory capacity. (Even from a purely his- of the Conduct of Affairs of any kind, Public or Pri- torical research point of view, public archives are vate, at any date; and preserved thereafter for Refer- considered privileged sources with respect to private ence, in their own Custody, by the persons archives.) This might be the origin of the dichotomy responsible for the Affairs in question or their suc- between public and private archives in England, even cessors." ("The English Archivist: A New Profes- if not in the United States (See note 49). In Canada, sion," Selected Writings of Sir Hilary Jenkinson, the French influence on the juridical concepts related edited by Roger H. Ellis and Peter Walne [Gloucester: to archives must not be undervalued; certainly the Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd., 1980], 237). Both defi- "total archives" concept has no roots in Anglo-Saxon nitions contain implicitly or explicitly all the elements culture. that characterize archival material as such. It has to "The only exception in North American literature be pointed out that archival institutions or programs is Margaret Cross Norton, who understood and be- are among the "legitimate successors" mentioned by lieved in those theoretical ideas. See Norton on Ar- Jenkinson. chives: The Writings of Margaret Cross Norton on "Jenkinson, Manual of Archive Administration, Archival and Records Management, edited by Thorn- 11-12. ton W. Mitchell (Carbondale and Edwardsville, 111.: 20Impartiality is a characteristic of archival docu- Southern Illinois University Press, 1975), for example ments, not of their creators, who are naturally partial pp. 13, 25-38, 56, 240. to their own interests. To protect the impartiality of The Concept of Appraisal and Archival Theory 335

chival documents provide "first-hand evi- This cohesiveness is the presupposition dence because they form an actual part of of their fourth characteristic, interrelation- the corpus, of the facts of the case."21 ship. Jenkinson explains it by saying that The second characteristic of archives is every archival document is closely related authenticity, which Jenkinson links to the "to others both inside and outside the continuum of creation, maintenance, and group in which it is preserved and ... its Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 custody. Archival documents are procedur- significance depends on these relations."25 ally authentic for three reasons. They are In other words, archival documents are created credible and reliable by those who linked among themselves by a relationship need to act through them. They are main- that arises at the moment in which they are tained with proper guarantees for further created, is determined by the reason for action and for information. And "they are which they are created, and is necessary to definitely set aside for preservation, tacitly their very existence, to their ability to ac- adjudged worthy of being kept" by their complish their purpose, to their meaning creator or legitimate successor as "written for the activity in which they participate, memorials of... activities in the past."22 and to their capacity of being evidence.26 The third characteristic of archives is Therefore, in a very real sense, an archives naturalness. "Archives are not documents is a whole of relationships as well as a 27 collected artificially, like the objects in a whole of documents. museum . . . , but accumulating naturally A corollary of the characteristic of inter- in offices for the practical purposes of Ad- relationship is the characteristic of unique- ministration."23 The fact that archival doc- ness, which derives to each archival doc- uments are not contrived outside the direct ument by the fact of its having a unique requirements of the conduct of affairs— place in the structure of the group in which that is, that they accumulate naturally, pro- it belongs and in the documentary universe. gressively, and continuously, like the sed- Even when a document is an identical copy iments of geological stratifications24— of another, the complex of its relationships provides them with an element of sponta- with the other documents within and out- neous yet structured cohesiveness. side the group of which it is part is always unique.28 archives is to protect their capacity to reveal the bi- ases and idiosyncracies of their creators. This is why "Public Record Office, Guide, 2. it is so difficult to guarantee the appropriate mainte- "Giorgio Cencetti defined this originary, necessary, nance of current and semicurrent documents by their and determined relationship as "the archival bond," creators, be they organizations or individuals: it can- in "II fondamento teorico della dottrina archivistica," not be done without aisrting them to their documents Archivi II, VI (1939): 8, reprinted in Giorgio Cencetti, inherent value but, if creators are made too vividly Scritti archivistici (Rome: II Centro di Ricerca edi- aware of the power of their documents, they may be- tore, 1970), 39. gin to draw or alter them for the benefit of posterity, 27Elio Lodolini writes: "l'archivio, a nostro awiso, and the documents would not be the un-self-conscious e costituito da due elementi: il complesso dei docu- residue of action but a conscious reflection on it. menti ed il complesso delle relazioni che intercorrono 21 Jenkinson, Manual of Archive Administration, 4 fra i documenti." Elio Lodolini, Archivistica. Principi (Jenkinson's emphasis). e problemi, 6a edizione ampliata (Milan: Franco An- 22Jenkmson, Manual of Archive Administration, 8- geli editore, 1992), 143. 9,39. 28The characteristic of uniqueness is not among 23Public Record Office, Guide to the Public Re- those explicitly identified by Jenkinson, but it is cords, Part I: Introductory (London: Public Record clearly implied in Jenkinson's discussion and is often Office, 1949), 2. mentioned in archival literature. See, for example, Vi- 24"Les documents se deposent au contraire dans les centa Cortes Alonso, Manual de archivos municipales archives exactement comme se foment les sediments (Madrid: Asociacion espanola de archiveros, bibliote- des couches geologiques, progressivement, constam- carios, museologos y documentalistas, 1982): 44, ment." Robert-Henri Bautier, "Les Archives," where archives are attributed four characteristics: L'histoire et ses methodes (Paris: 1961), 1120. "unicidad" (uniqueness), "integridad" (integrity), 336 American Archivist / Spring 1994

Examined in relation to the characteris- based on contextual factors. Any attribu- tics of archives, the idea of attributing tion of value instead is inescapably di- value to archival documents is in clear con- rected to content, even when it is carried flict with each and all of them. In fact, on out on the basis of provenance (be it crea- the one hand, the characteristics of natu- torship, function, or procedure) because the ralness and interrelationship point to the assumption on which it is based is that Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 fact that all archival documents in an ar- good provenance equals good content. chives are equally functional to the exis- Therefore, the attribution of value uses as tence of the whole and, therefore, equally the primary basis of judgment an element, important. On the other hand, the charac- content, that is in contrast with the proce- teristics of impartiality and authenticity dural and formal neutrality of the archival point to the evidentiary quality of form and whole, and in so doing it undermines the im- procedure, and therefore to their primacy partiality and authenticity of its meaning.29 for the conveyance of truth. Moreover, the Throughout the centuries, the primary characteristic of uniqueness-in-context of duty of the professionals entrusted with the each document makes its meaning unique care of archives has been to preserve them and its existence necessary to the meaning uncorrupted, that is, endowed with the in- of the archives in which it belongs. tegrity they had when their creators or le- To attribute different values to archival gitimate successors set them aside for documents and to destroy those of less continuing preservation. The protection of value would not change the relationship of the integrity of archives entails the protec- interdependence among them, the bond tion of their natural characteristics so that that determines the intellectual structure of they will remain reliable evidence of action the archival body, because the preserved and decision. Therefore, although it has al- documents would remain in the same re- ways been considered perfectly appropriate ciprocal relationship that they acquired that archival documents be selected in the when they were first consigned to the files procedural course of affairs, archival the- and entered into the recordkeeping system. orists have found it very difficult to accept However, such attribution of value would selection after the conclusion of those af- arbitrarily affect the integrity of the archi- fairs, other than on the part of the docu- val body and would influence the meaning ments' creator or legitimate successor. of the whole and of its parts. In fact, se- Jenkinson believed that lection per se does not alter that meaning. for the Archivist to destroy a doc- If selection is one of the mechanisms em- ument because he thinks it useless is bedded in the routines and procedures ac- to import into the collection under companying the creation, maintenance, and his charge what we have been use of the documents, and/or it is based on throughout most anxious to keep out the functionality of the documents and their aggregations (volumes, files, series) 29Paola Carucci, "Lo scarto come elemento quali- with respect to one another, the meaning of ficante delle fonti for la storiografia," Rassegna degli Archivi di Stato a. XXXV, nos. 1-3 (1975): 254-55. the whole is not reduced or changed but is Carucci writes that selection is an expression of the concentrated and enhanced by its reduction eternal law of economy, according to which we only in size, because such reduction would be protect and maintain that which is necessary to our continuing existence and development. About this "autenticidad" (authenticity), and "ingenuidad" concept, see also Luciana Duranti, "So? What Else (un-self-consciousness). For a North American exe- Is New?: The Ideology of Appraisal Yesterday and gesis of the characteristics of archival documents and Today," in Archival Appraisal: Theory and Practice, of the concept of uniqueness, see Terry Eastwood, edited by Christopher Hives (Vancouver, British Co- "Towards a Social Theory of Appraisal," in Craig, lumbia: Archives Association of British Columbia, Archival Imagination, 12—1 A. 1990), 1-14. The Concept of Appraisal and Archival Theory 337

of it, an element of his personal tion that there is a close relationship be- judgement; . . . but for an Adminis- tween continuing administrative relevance trative body to destroy what it no and continuing research significance, and longer needs is a matter entirely therefore there is affinity between the pur-

within its competence and an action poses of creators (or their legitimate suc- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 which future ages . . . cannot possi- cessors) and of archivists. The entire issue bly criticize as illegitimate or as af- is one of degree of responsibility in the se- fecting the status of the remaining lection process: To what extent does the archives; provided always that the archivist influence procedure and action?32 Administration proceeds only upon Jenkinson's position was shared by the those grounds upon which alone it is dominant school of archival thought for at competent to make a decision—the least another twenty years. In fact, what needs of its own practical business; was called the "nonevaluational" nature of provided, that is, that it can refrain archival work was deeply rooted in the from thinking of itself as a body pro- characteristics of the archival material and ducing historical evidence.30 was impossible to overturn using purely Quite important provisos, those empha- empirical arguments.33 The primary duty of sized by Jenkinson. Nonetheless, his solu- the archivist was to the evidentiary nature tion to the need for an objective selection of archival material, and the activities sup- could ensure the protection of archival doc- porting this duty, which came to be known uments as impartial evidence of the biases as the "moral defense of archives," were and idiosyncracies of their creators rather seen as central to the professional ethic of than those of their custodians. archivists.34 After all, as Ernst Posner Almost thirty years after declaring it, pointed out, the two fundamental method- Jenkinson had not changed his position. At ological principles of archival science the first International Congress of Archives stress the primacy of origin, structure, and meeting, in Paris, he said that the archivist function over content, use, or importance, "must impartially preserve all documents and those principles were widely accepted in the entire Western hemisphere and be- without taking into account their presumed 35 interest. In fact, the task of the archivist is yond. to be the servant of truth, of the simple truth, not of that truth which can please certain persons or serve the views of the 31 one or the other school of thought." This 32Grigg Report. point of high principle, that selection "The expression nonevaluational nature of archi- should be impartial, constituted the foun- val work (avalutativitd archivistica) was coined by Leopoldo Cassese in 1959. See Leopoldo Cassese, dation of the entire system set up by the Teorica e metodologia. Scritti editi e inediti di paleo- Grigg Committee and ultimately by the grqfia, diplomatica, archivistica e biblioteconomia, English public records acts. The English edited by Attilio Mauro Caproni (Salerno: Pietro Lav- eglia, 1980), 54. In 1967, Leopoldo Sandri wrote that appraisal methodology, in perfect harmony the nonevaluational nature of archival work is a prin- with archival theory, relied on the assump- ciple universally valid, in Leopoldo Sandri, "L'Ar- chivistica," Rassegna degli Archivi di Stato a. XXVII (1967): 416. 30Jenkinson, Manual of Archives Administration, "Jenkinson, Manual of Archive Administration, 128-29. 66ff. "Hilary Jenkinson, speech given at the first Inter- 33Ernst Posner, "Some Aspects of Archival Devel- national Congress of Archives, Paris, 23 August 1950, opment from the French Revolution," in Archives published in Archivum I (1951): 47. Translated from and the Public Interest, edited by Ken Munden French by this author. (Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1967), 32. 338 American Archivist / Spring 1994

Moral Defense of Archives and the J. Buck, Phillip Brooks, Wayne C. Grover, United States in addition to those of Schellenberg.39 However, the role of the concept of ac- In the United States, the centrality of the countability in archival theory, as adopted moral defense of archives was explicitly

in the United States, was undermined by Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 upheld by Margaret Cross Norton. She Schellenberg's desire to promote the cul- wrote that archivists are bound "to protect tural identity of archival repositories and the integrity of ... records," and even if the role of archivists as appraisers of re- "historical" archives may appear to have cords. He denned records in a way even no value for current affairs, this "does not more limited than that in which Jenkinson release the custodian from his legal and 36 had defined archives, and he redefined ar- moral responsibilities." Norton's ideas chives as a species of records, the main dif- were readily taken up by archivists within ference being in the fact that archives the National Archives, who dominated "must be preserved for reasons other than American archival thinking until the 37 those for which they were created or ac- 1960s. They were certainly encouraged cumulated."40 Then he presented the con- toward that direction by the general polit- cept of evidential value as an exclusive ical atmosphere of the times, as demon- concern of secondary users. By so doing, strated by the interplay of administration he prepared the path for the complete di- and archival theory in archival vergence of American archival practice publications: "A complete record is the from that of the rest of the Western world. most objective reporter, and hence the most effective means of exacting responsibility. Jenkinson defended the traditional the- ... To put it differently, one of the essen- ory of archives, which treats records as a tials of responsible administration is trans- species of archival documents, and there- parency of the administrative process in fore of archives, by insisting that the theory terms of both what is going on today and of archives must be based on the analysis what has gone on before."38 But the notion of the nature of the documents: "Value for that archives serve public accountability Research is no doubt the reason why we became a typical aspect of archival think- continue to spend time and money on pre- ing at the National Archives. This can eas- serving Archives and making them availa- ily be recognized in the writings of Solon ble: but the fact that a thing may be used for purposes for which it was not in- tended—a hat, for instance, for the produc- tion of a rabbit—is not part of its nature l6Norton on Archives, 26. "This is particularly evident from the annual re- and should not, I submit, be made an ele- ports of those years. See for example National Ar- ment of its definition, though it may rea- chives of the United States, Annual Report 3 (1936): 5; Annual Report 7 (1940): 1; Annual Report 11 (1944): 6. See also Donald McCoy, The National 39See, for example, Solon J. Buck, "The Archivists Archives: America's Ministry of Documents, 1934— 'One World,'" American Archivist 10 (January 1968 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina 1947): 10; Phillip Brooks, Public Records Manage- Press, 1978). ment (Chicago: Public Administration Service, 1949), 38Morstein Marx, "The Role of Records in Admin- 1; Wayne C. Grover, "The National Archives and the istration," American Archivist 10 (April 1947): 241. Scholar," Military Affairs 15 (1951): 10; Theodore According to Stillman, Marx introduced "broader R. Schellenberg, Modern Archives: Principles and European attitudes and perspectives into American Techniques (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, political science": Richard J. Stillman, "Changing 1956), 9, 17, 38, 140-41, 187-88, 206-07, 246-47, Patterns of Public Administration Theory in Amer- etc.; and Theodore R. Schellenberg, The Appraisal of ica," in Public Administration: History and Theory Modern Public Records, National Archives Bulletin 8 in Contemporary Perspective, edited by Joseph A. (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Uveges, Jr. (New York: Marcel Dekker Inc., 1982), Service, 1956), 249ff. 25. 40Schellenberg, Modern Archives, 13-16. The Concept of Appraisal and Archival Theory 339

sonably affect its treatment."41 Certainly, that he endeavours to achieve the ideal." Schellenberg's definition of archives was But he also notes, "We are, in a sense, too theoretically flawed, not because he built near the record itself in time to be as ob- into it the elements of value and use for jective as we ought to be." And, by using research purposes, but because he arrived ' 'perfectly correct methods we may so eas- at it on purely pragmatic grounds. He ily ... in the interests of proper objectivity Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 wrote, "It is quite obvious that modern ar- emasculate the record."44 One might add chives are kept for the use of others than that by preserving random samples, we those that created them, and that conscious may only provide random evidence and decisions must be made as to their value random accountability. for such use . . . obviously for research This users' need for accurate and com- use."42 Schellenberg failed to explore the plete evidence has been exacerbated in the properties of archival documents, and last two decades by the freedom of infor- wished only "to devise methods of treat- mation movement. "Preoccupied as they ment which work for particular records were with their role as servants of history which one is aiming to turn into archives and with a view of archives as records in order to be used for research purposes." which no longer had value to those who He was "quite willing to accept that ar- had created them," American archivists chivists need rules of procedure," but not were caught by surprise by this movement, "to base those rules on ideas about the uni- which not only "had access and ownership versal properties of archives or to examine implications, but raised expectations that his own basic ideas about archives, which the records would not be destroyed."45 The he presents as self-evident truths."43 most sensitive archival writers felt the pres- It is quite clear that, if what qualifies sure and began questioning the distinction documents as archival is their nature—as between records and archives created by Jenkinson believed—the idea of attributing Schellenberg. For instance, Andrew Ray- values to them is in profound conflict with mond and James O'Toole reexamined the archival theory; while it is in complete har- differences between Jenkinson and Schel- mony with it if the qualifying element is lenberg and argued for the middle ground use—as Schellenberg pragmatically claimed. established by Norton.46 It appeared clear However, there is no doubt that all those who wish to use archives, be they primary "Felix Hull, "The Appraisal of Documents- Prob- or secondary users, have the same need for lems and Pitfalls," Journal of the Society of Archi- accurate and authentic evidence, one that, vists 6 (April 1980): 289, 291. Hull also points out the conundrum in which modern archivists operate: as Felix Hull puts it, shows the "whole "You and I by our involvement are either destroying picture." "The whole picture, not a partial or agreeing to the destruction of that very evidence or biased one, is the ideal and the archiv- which, in an almost Hippocratic oath sense, we are professionally bound to defend and preserve. That, ist's motto should be 'always objective' so without any question, is our first pitfall—a schizo- phrenic dilemma which we feel would not face us in •"Hilary Jenkinson, "Modem Archives: Some Re- an ideal world" (p. 287). flections on T. R. Schellenberg," Journal of the So- 45Jane Parkinson, "Accountability in Archival The- ciety of Archivists 1 (April 1957): 148-^9. An ory," unpublished Master of Archival Studies thesis, analytical theoretical discussion of the positions of University of British Columbia, 1993, pp. 70, 74. Schellenberg and Jenkinson on this issue can be found "'Andrew Raymond and James O'Toole, "Up from in Livelton, "Public Records," 39-59. the Basement: Archives, History, and Public Admin- 42Schellenberg, Modern Archives, 14. istration," Georgia Archive 6 (Fall 1978): 26-27. See 43Terry Eastwood, "Nailing a Little Jelly to the also David Gracy, "Is There a Future in the Use of Wall of Archival Studies," Archivaria 35 (Spring Archives?" Archivaria 24 (Summer 1987): 8; How- 1993): 246, endnote 4. Eastwood concludes that this ard P. Lowell, "Thoughts on a State Records Pro- is why Jenkinson is a theorist and Schellenberg a gram," American Archivist 50 (Summer 1987): 398; methodologist. Bruce W. Dearstyne, "Principles for Local Govern- 340 American Archivist / Spring 1994

to most archivists that they could not con- this development for appraisal has been a sider themselves creators of archival value diffuse, slow, but secure and steady de- and collectors of historical information, tachment of the idea of attributing value and at the same time view themselves as from the selection activity. Public records protectors of evidence who "ensure that archivists, in particular, have been crudely records ... are faithfully preserved and dis- reminded by their clientele that, if Ameri- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 posed of according to due process . . . me- can governments are accountable through diating the interests of the persons records, American archivists are accounta- associated with their creation and use." ble for those records. These expectations The two functions are in conceptual con- include the idea that records' integrity and flict. The former presupposes that records probatory nature have to be protected so and archives are different entities, while that the people can exercise their funda- the latter posits that they are one entity. mental rights to obtain and provide reliable They also are in practical conflict, because and complete information, to research and it is impossible to be at the same time the study, and to participate creatively in the "engineer of the documentary record of social and cultural development of their the past," and "the agent of continuity" country.49 who ensures "the continuing legitimacy of However, the most serious consequence archives as faithful witnesses to the social of these developments is that the reintegra- system in which they were created." Ar- tion of records and archives has corre- chivists had "to decide on which side of sponded to the deepening of the historical the fence to sit," and the users were not dichotomy between manuscripts and re- 47 leaving them much choice. cords/archives, and between manuscript American literature of the last decade curators and archivists.50 As archivists be- shows that archivists responsible for organ- or institution preserved because of their continuing izational archives (public or private) have value." This definition closes the gap between re- made their choice, pragmatically as ever cords and archives and between records and manu- but nonetheless clearly. The codification of scripts, and it embraces within the concept of archives the entire universe of documents generated as by- such choice is in the definitions contained product of purposeful action. Unfortunately, while in the most recent Society of American Ar- most organizational archivists stand behind the rein- chivists' glossary.48 The consequence of tegration of the concepts of records and archives, most archivists responsible for the papers of individ- ment Records: A Statement of the National Associa- uals or voluntary groups—those identified in the glos- tion of State Archives and Records Administration," sary title as manuscript curators—are not yet ready to American Archivist 46 (Fall 1983): 454; Roy Tum- accept the reintegration of the concepts of manu- baugh, "Plowing the Sea: Appraising Public Records scripts and archives, even less so that of manuscripts in an Ahistorical Culture," American Archivist 53 and records—as will be discussed below. (Fall 1990): 563 ("we exist to make sure that the •"See for example United Nations Advisory Com- records of the significant actions of government are mittee for the Co-ordination of Information Systems preserved. . . . The resulting holdings comprise a sort (ACCIS), Management of Electronic Records: Issues of giant ledger, in which the accounts of the public and Guidelines (New York: United Nations, 1990). trust are entered."). As to the controlling proactive stance of archival cli- 47All the expressions in quotation marks are ex- entele see "Chronology of Recent NARA Events and tracted from Eastwood, "Nailing a Little Jelly to the SAA's Response," Archival Outlook (March 1993): Wall," 251, endnote 16, and 252, endnote 19. 3,5, which contains reference to a number of articles •"Lewis J. Bellardo and Lynn Lady Bellardo, A resulting from the deluded expectations of archival Glossary for Archivists, Manuscript Curators, and users. Records Managers (Chicago: Society of American "The primary responsibility for the elevation to Archivists, 1992). The term archives is defined as theory of such purely pragmatic dichotomy should be "the documents created or received and accumulated given to Schellenberg's exclusion from the definition by a person or organization in the course of the con- of records, and consequently of archives ("archives duct of affairs, and preserved because of their contin- are those records," Modern Archives, 16) of the doc- uing value. Historically, the term referred more uments created by individuals, families, and voluntary narrowly to the noncurrent records of an organization and informal groups. For a history of the tradition of The Concept of Appraisal and Archival Theory 341

gan to pay attention to the administrative- authentic residue of the performance of legal character of organizational archives, purposeful activity, and they have the same manuscript curators began feeling they evidentiary nature as records/archives, if were the last trustees of the cultural value their properties are maintained intact.52 of primary sources. After all, the material Thus, selection among "manuscripts," just they are responsible for did not result from like selection among "records," cannot be Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 the exercise of delegated functions, nor has based on an attribution of value. It can be it any enduring administrative or legal use. based only on the internal functionality of And they are not accountable for its pres- the documents, and the documents' aggre- ervation, other than being accountable to gations, with respect to one another, so that the archival institution for which they compact, meaningful, economical, and im- work. partial societal evidence can be preserved Of course the facts above are true, but a for the next generations. case might be made for "historical ac- If those who are responsible for "man- countability," denned as "a need to pro- uscripts" are accountable for the material vide and receive explanation and they have acquired, are they also account- understanding from one generation to an- able for what they have not acquired? In other," which is "rooted in a belief in an other words, does their cultural mission as obligation to account to the future mem- social memory keepers make them respon- bers of the group, either by describing, ex- sible for actively facilitating public mem- plaining or justifying what one has said or ory making, and therefore historically done." Individuals and groups who hold accountable for their acquisition activity? this belief and act upon it in their lives do- In the view of this author, it certainly does, nate their papers to an archival repository and on this accountability strongly im- out of a sense of responsibility for their pinges the accountability linked to the re- actions and a willingness "to explain their sponsibility of maintaining the integrity intentions to the future, which they af- and impartiality of archives. But this time fect."51 This implies that archivists en- it is the integrity and impartiality of soci- trusted with the care of those papers are etal archives as a whole that we are talking accountable for their preservation not only about, rather than the archives of one spe- to their institution and, through it, to the cific creator. It is very important to empha- donors, but also to the future. They must size the coexistence of both archivists' account for preservation of meaning as accountabilities (as protectors of archives well as of objects, and for a preservation and facilitators of archives making) in a that maintains and protects the capacity of balanced relationship, because the one re- the documents to provide reliable evidence sponsibility too easily outweighs the other, of the activities of their creator. and the outcome of such imbalance is a Here is the main commonality—from biased societal archives. which all the others derive—-between man- uscripts and records/archives, and therefore Appraisal and the Archivist's Mission between manuscript curators and archi- There are two fundamental approaches vists: Manuscripts are the natural, un-self- to the accomplishment of archivists' (i.e., conscious, impartial, interrelated, and separation, see Richard C. Berner, Archival Theory 52For the capacity of private individuals' archives and Practice in the United States: A Historical Anal- to constitute reliable evidence, see note 16. If the na- ysis (Seattle and London: University of Washington ture of the material is determined by the purposes of Press, 1983). its creation, there is no difference between what is "Parkinson, "Accountability in Archival Theory," called "manuscripts" or "papers" and what is called 85. "records." 342 American Archivist / Spring 1994

manuscript curators and archivists) cultural and placement of the records as necessary mission. These approaches are rooted in to the total documentation of society." The two different interpretations of culture. The latter approach "is founded on the belief one views culture as the sum of the ideas that such an encouragement will make the and actions embedded in societal products social and cultural context of the records and considers the accumulation of the disappear together with their value as evi- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 greatest variety of those products as the dence, because the circumstances of their best way of documenting society and its creation would be governed by external in- culture. The other views culture as the formational demands rather than by inter- "contextual interaction of meaning with nal socio-cultural values." It considers the action, ... the integration of purpose with archivist's intervention "as an action com- practical circumstances"; it believes that promising the integrity of the creator, and "the products of a given endeavour may the spontaneous, natural, impartial charac- be comprehensible only through their re- ter of archives."54 lationship to the products of other endeav- Thus, according to the former approach, ours, may be significant by their absence, the cultural function of the archivist con- may have a meaning quite different from sists in engineering a comprehensive rec- that which they were meant to convey, or ord of the past; while, according to the may exist among the products of other en- latter approach, such function is best ac- deavours."53 complished by respecting the past rather If we consider archival documents (man- than trying to control it, and by protecting uscripts and records) as societal products, the properties of the archival bodies that the former approach "circumscribes a naturally flow into archival repositories.55 priori the total social and cultural context" As Terry Eastwood notices, the difference and "encourages targeted institutions, between the two is a little like the differ- groups and individuals to create and/or pre- ence between Ptolemaic and Copernican serve the records of their activities." The astronomy, the one having research uses at latter approach lets the social and cultural its center, and the other the original pur- context ' 'be revealed by the natural inter- pose and structure of the societal ar- relationship of its documentary residue" chives.56 and "believes that the absence of records It is the contention of this author that is an indication of absence of the cultural both approaches betray archival accounta- need to translate thoughts and actions into bility, be it the accountability descending a material product, or to preserve that ma- from the cultural purpose of archival en- terial product." Moreover, the former ap- deavors, or that linked to the protection of proach "is founded on the belief that, if the integrity and impartiality of the archi- institutions, organizations, and individuals val record. By doing so, both approaches are encouraged to create and/or maintain conflict with archival theory. records, a total, adequate documentation of Archival theory posits that an archives is our society will be preserved," and it con- the whole of the documents made or re- siders the intervention of the archivist to ceived in the course of purposeful activity, "determine the existence, quality, extent

"Duranti, "ACA 1991," 24. "Luciana Duranti, "ACA 1991 Conference Over- "For a contrast between respecting and controlling view," ACA Bulletin 15 (July 1991): 24. The first the past, see Barbara L. Craig, "The Acts of the Ap- interpretation of culture is expressed by Franz Boas praisers: The Context, the Plan and the Record," Ar- in Race, Language and Culture (New York: Mac- chivaria 34 (Summer 1992): 175-80. Millan, 1940), and Kwakiutl Ethnography (Chicago: "Eastwood, "Nailing a Little Jelly to the Wall," University of Chicago Press, 1966). 251, endnote 16. The Concept of Appraisal and Archival Theory 343

and of the relationships among those doc- couraged to maintain systematically and uments. The circumstances of creation en- efficiently their documentary memory in dow archives with certain innate order to account to themselves and to so- characteristics, which must be maintained ciety for their activities, and to entrust ar- intact for the archives to preserve their pro- chival repositories or programs with the Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 batory capacity. Finally, archival theory "permanent," that is, continuing care of posits that it is the primary function of the the compact, meaningful, and reliable res- archivist to maintain unbroken, continuing idue of that memory. custody of societal archives, and to protect However, the effort to ensure the pres- their integrity by keeping them physically ervation of a societal archives that is inte- and intellectually uncorrupted. The ulti- gral and complete as to meaning must be mate purpose of archival endeavors is to accompanied by the effort to ensure its re- hand down to the next generations a reli- liability and trustworthiness, its procedural able, trustworthy, and complete testimony authenticity and formal genuineness. The of societal actions so that they can consti- essential archival characteristics all derive tute sources of, and foundations for, future from the circumstances of creation, and decision making. such circumstances must remain "trans- Considering that all archival bodies are parent" and uncorrupted. This means that interrelated, at the point that Russian ar- documents purposely created to provide chivists can even talk of the "unitary ar- evidence of oral actions must not be in- chival fonds of the state," we can view our cluded in the societal archives: They do not societal archives as one large archives, and constitute evidence but interpretation, and the entire archival profession as its archi- their inclusion among archival material vist. The definition of archives, its char- would be an infringement of our historical acteristics, the archival function, and its accountability. ultimate purpose all remaining the same as With all the above said, the question re- described above, wouldn't the archival pro- mains: if the archival profession has a re- fession betray its primary responsibility if sponsibility to preserve an integral and it did not attempt to preserve the societal complete societal archives, how can it re- archives in its integrity, with its character- duce such archives to a manageable size istics intact, and to do so impartially (i.e., without wounding its integrity and com- without favoring any users' group or cat- pleteness of meaning? Of course, discuss- egory) and as objectively as humanly pos- ing the how means moving from the realm sible (i.e., without being consciously of theory to that of methodology. Thus, it guided by its own interests, biases, idio- is sufficient to answer: not by attributing syncracies, and culture)? This author be- externally imposed values, but by carefully lieves that it would, and that it is the duty denning archival jurisdictions and acquisi- of the archival profession to act as a me- tion policies and plans, and by remember- diator between those who produce archives ing that archivists are mediators and and those who use them, as a facilitator of facilitators, custodians and preservers of public memory making and keeping. All societal evidence, not documenters and in- those who are active in society (be they terpreters, or even judges, of societal individuals or groups, organizations or in- deeds. Why not?—one might ask. Because stitutions, public or private) should be ad- the archival profession has a vital respon- vised that to document their actions and sibility to future generations, that of letting transactions in "perpetual memory" of them understand and judge our society on them is the most appropriate way of car- the basis of the documents it produced. To rying them out. They should also be en- be documenters of society is in conflict 344 American Archivist / Spring 1994

with such responsibility. All archivists, among a number of archives) and acquisi- whatever the archives in their care, accom- tion, then it has to be acknowledged that plish the cultural function of protecting the appraisal has belonged to archival science existing evidence of past cultures for future since its first formulations and applications.

cultures to interpret, absorb, and creatively Archival methods need to be developed Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/2/328/2748653/aarc_57_2_pu548273j5j1p816.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 renew.57 Attributing value to that evidence that allow for selection and acquisition to would mean to renounce impartiality, en- maintain intact the characteristics of archi- dorse ideology, and consciously and arbi- val documents, and this will require much trarily alter the societal record. study and research. But no task is impos- The question that spurred the writing of sible if its purpose is known and clear and this piece was whether appraisal should be if a reunited profession recognizes it as its made an integral and necessary component original, common, and primary responsi- of archival science. In so far as appraisal bility. What must be done is to remove that equals attribution of value, the answer is proverbial dust that has begun accumulat- no, because the idea of value is in conflict ing on the appraisal question, and to start with the nature of archives. If instead ap- the collective quest for a methodology praisal is considered just a modern term for driven by archival theory rather than vice selection (either within an archives or versa.58

"All kinds of research rely on the reconstruction of the past for purposes of judgment and interpreta- "Most appraisal literature has resulted from prag- tion. "Because past events cannot be repeatedly ex- matic determination of the most convenient and/or perienced and observed, the past is essentially politically correct practice, its systematization in a unverifiable and can be discovered only inferen- methodology, and the elevation of its assumptions to tially." Thus, researchers have developed means of theory. This kind of process was at the origin of both evaluating their sources and ensuring their reliability. Schellenberg's dichotomy of records and archives and Because the judiciary has a complex system of com- its revision by contemporary archival writers, leading mon and positive law to guide this process, the stan- to the reintegration of the two concepts. The process dards set by the legal profession are usually applied needs to be completely reversed: The theory must de- to other types of enquiries as well. Turner, "A Study termine the methods, and the methods must guide the of the Theory of Appraisal," 19. practice.