A STUDY OF THE THEORY OF APPRAISAL FOR SELECTION By ...

and activities of the creating organization:
By evidential value I do not refer here to
the value that inheres in public records
because of the merit of the evidence they
contain. I do not refer, in a Jenkinsonian
sense, to the sanctity of the evidence in
archives that is derived from "unbroken
custody." I refer rather, and quite
arbitrarily, to a value that depends on the
importance of the matter evidenced, i.e. the
organization and functioning of the agency
that produced the records.14
Value is thus ascribed according to the archivist's subjective
assessment of the relative importance of the organization and
functions of the records' creator.
Arguing from the precision of the German archival principle
of provenance, Schellenberg presents a structural analysis of the
administrative context of creation as the central aspect of the
identification of evidential value. Value is directly related to
three factors: the hierarchical position of each office in the
administration, the functions performed by each office, and the
activities of each office in the execution of a given function.15
Greater value is attributed to those records that most directly
and concisely reflect the above factors. The aim is to preserve
records that most effectively document the origins, development
and effectiveness of the substantive functions of the entire
organization. In this manner, an accurate and representative
"functional documentation" of the creating body is selected as
14 Schellenberg, Modern, 139.
15 Ibid, 142.
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