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

their legitimate successors.17
His definition includes reference to two primary aspects of the
creation process of archives, in which impartial and authentic
documents are created within an administrative structure.
Jenkinson begins his argument with the creation process.
Archives are documents that are created or used in the course of
an administrative transaction, of which they form a part. Such
documents, he notes, are material survivals of the creator's
transactions, and the activities that contribute to them.
Archives do not merely refer to transactions, but are material
parts of them, and directly connected to them.18
Archives stand in contradistinction to occasional, isolated
documents that are created, not in the course of a practical
activity, but for the purpose of analyzing and reflecting on a
past event. Because archives are an intrinsic part of the
creation process of a transaction, they provide "first-hand
evidence because they form an actual part of the corpus, of the
facts of the case."19 In other words, the probative nature of
archives is strengthened because their inherent circumstantial
and procedural guarantee of trustworthiness is a logical product
of an administrative structure that must rely on accurate,
reliable documentation of its transactions for its continued
existence.
17 Ibid, 11. Jenkinson's emphasis.
18 Ibid, 3.
19 Ibid, 4.
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