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

govern the course of transactions. These checks can provide a
context for the historical criticism of sources in the
identification of forgeries or administrative attempts to
deceive.
Jenkinson's definition of archives convincingly establishes
their two "distinguishing qualities" of impartiality and
authenticity.27 These qualities, which offer a procedural and
circumstantial guarantee of trustworthiness, constitute the
theoretical understanding of the nature of archives. As a
logical consequence, archival documents can be used as evidence
to furnish, establish or contribute to legal and historical
proof.
Jenkinson's argument proceeds from the essential qualities
of archives to the duty of archivists. The primary duty of
archivists is to safeguard the essential qualities of archives by
ensuring their "physical and moral conservation."28 That is, the
primary duty of archivists is to preserve the archival and
probative nature of the archives under their care. He notes two
ways of destroying the essential qualities of archives, both of
which entail the intervention of the archivist: archival
arrangement and the archival disposal of records.
Archivists must guard against the destruction of the
impartiality and authenticity of archives that can occur during
the process of arrangement if documents are "violently torn from
27 Mid, 12.
28 'bid, 15, 146.
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