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

is supported by the many examples of records that have been
destroyed by one generation of archivists and mourned by another
because of changing research trends. One example can be found in
the 1840 instance in which the Belgian Archivist-General ordered
all sixteenth century commercial records of the Antwerp merchants
destroyed as historically valueless.20 None could predict, at
that time, the development of economic history in which such
records could provide extensive knowledge about the relationship
between commercial activity and the broader development of
society.
With the widespread international acceptance of the
principle of provenance as the theoretical basis of archival
arrangement practices, the concept of structural analysis as a
means to guide appraisal entered the discussion. If meaning is
derived from context, then an understanding of the administrative
structure of a records creator should be able to guide, not only
arrangement, but also appraisal. To many German archivists, the
destruction of copies of originals or transitory records in a
registry was acceptable practice because they were regarded as
extraneous to understanding context or structure: "the process
gives a registry vitality, making apparent its essential
characteristics--its arrangement and content--and making it more
usable."21 During this same time period, British archivists were
20 Renee Doehaerd,^"Remarks on Contemporary Archives,"
American Archivist 14 (1950), 325.
21 Schellenberg, Modern, 135.
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