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

issue. German archivists have been the primary participants in
the theoretical debate, but several French and Italian theorists
have also contributed. The most fundamental conflict is about
the validity of the practice, and the question of whether
appraisal destroys the inherent organic integrity of a fonds.
Some call for the development of theory to guide the process,
while others argue that there are no theoretical grounds for any
destruction of records.
Another area of conflict is the methodology used to
appraise. Two basic approaches have been developed, derived from
accepted principles of arrangement: the principle of pertinence,
which assigns value on the basis of a content analysis of the
records; and the principle of provenance, which assigns value on
the basis of a structural analysis of the organization and
functions of the records creator. Both approaches have been
under the constant scrutiny of the archival profession, and the
validity of each has garnered both challenge and support. Most
archivists advocate a hybrid of the two approaches, with
particular emphasis on one, but there has been no authoritative
resolution of the debate. Throughout appraisal literature there
often appears to be a general confluence of apparently
conflicting ideas, none exclusive to any time period. Since the
mid-twentieth century, the literature includes a growing
awareness of the need for an objective framework to guide and
control the subjective process of apportioning value to records.
As well, there has been a shift from discarding 'useless'
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