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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

This definition of administrative value echoes Jenkinson's "Golden Rule of Archive Making" in the preservation of an organization's vital records, which document an organizations mandate, functions, procedures and activities. The Grigg Report repeatedly equates historical value with a broad spectrum of research interests including, "historical, economic, sociological, and other non-administrative needs of the future (which for convenience we shall refer to as the 'historical' criterion)."49 The 1889 rules for preparing destruction schedules enunciate the rationale of the historical criterion by stating that "any documents which can reasonably be considered as of legal, historical, genealogical or antiquarian use or interest, or which give any important information not to be obtained elsewhere" should be permanently preserved.50 <strong>By</strong> 1950, the preamble to the schedule stated that the departmental officer responsible for the procedure should examine records scheduled for destruction, and "withdraw for preservation those containing matter likely to be of historical or legal importance or to be useful for social or economic research."51 The Grigg Report adds that the most practical method of identifying historical value would be "to select documents in the light of experience of the use made of earlier documents which have been 49 Ibid, 20, paragraph 31. 50 Ibid, 17, paragraph 24. 51 Ibid, 24-25, paragraph 44. 75
preserved."52 Thus, the Report maintains that the traditionally accepted criterion of usefulness, in the context of research, is the primary method of selection. In its focus on historical value and future research use, the Report seems entirely oblivious of the debate that raged in Europe over the futility of predicting future research use, or of the concerns raised by Jenkinson regarding the intrusion of archivists in the creation process that can endanger the integrity of archives. The research and analysis of the Grigg Report is guided by its understanding of the greatest problem of the appraisal process: the lack of a method that can guide the selection of valuable records. A methodology of appraisal could be considered satisfactory only if it could overcome the problem of determining "in advance the potential value of documents to posterity for historical or other non-administrative purposes."53 The Report studied the three-step procedure used by departments for the selection of records for preservation and destruction in an attempt "to assess the efficacy" of the implementation of the historical criterion.54 The procedure included the preparation of the destruction schedule, an examination of the schedule by Inspecting Officers, and the execution of the schedule.55 In each phase of the procedure, the primary criterion for selection 52 Ibid, 22-23, paragraph 37. 53 Ibid, 20, paragraph 29. 54 Ibid, paragraph 31. 55 Ibid, 20-25, paragraphs 32-45. 76
Page 1 and 2:
A STUDY OF THE THEORY OF APPRAISAL
Page 3 and 4:
ABSTRACT Appraisal for selection is
Page 5 and 6:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I gratefully acknow
Page 7 and 8:
the troublesome question of the rel
Page 9 and 10:
principle of pertinence is commonly
Page 11 and 12:
problems such as the availability o
Page 13 and 14:
theoretical framework.^In this mann
Page 15 and 16:
CHAPTER 1: THE PROBATIVE NATURE OF
Page 17 and 18:
doctrine of stare decisis.3 The hie
Page 19 and 20:
The courts thus enter the realm of
Page 21 and 22:
the conduct of society, but to expl
Page 23 and 24:
lives."16 Because the present inesc
Page 25 and 26:
judiciary has developed a complex s
Page 27 and 28:
creation, is inherently reliable. 2
Page 29 and 30: authority. "31^Public records can t
Page 31 and 32: whole or any part of any book, docu
Page 33 and 34: consist of all documentary records
Page 35 and 36: issue. German archivists have been
Page 37 and 38: information.2 It is, however, the F
Page 39 and 40: Importance of historical value as a
Page 41 and 42: intuitive ability to appraise recor
Page 43 and 44: objectivity is irrelevant. Content
Page 45 and 46: is supported by the many examples o
Page 47 and 48: that documented important historica
Page 49 and 50: ecords through a structural analysi
Page 51 and 52: is, the political issue of extent a
Page 53 and 54: appraisal. But, instead of rejectin
Page 55 and 56: provide archivists with the necessa
Page 57 and 58: theory of appraisal, which, in his
Page 59 and 60: For it is the task of archivists in
Page 61 and 62: the European understanding of the n
Page 63 and 64: to appraisal theory, the following
Page 65 and 66: of the Rolls has been required 'fro
Page 67 and 68: Schedule."13 In 1889, rules regardi
Page 69 and 70: their legitimate successors.17 His
Page 71 and 72: the administrator.22 Their meaning
Page 73 and 74: the connexion in which they were or
Page 75 and 76: fears, archivists and historians wh
Page 77 and 78: diminished from its previous absolu
Page 79: that had been used since the mid-ni
Page 83 and 84: series.59 The Report also notes tha
Page 85 and 86: The Grigg Report concludes its asse
Page 87 and 88: in the equation of historical value
Page 89 and 90: paradigms created by European theor
Page 91 and 92: seriously challenged since it was a
Page 93 and 94: the usefulness of existing resource
Page 95 and 96: CHAPTER 4: NORTH AMERICAN TRADITION
Page 97 and 98: ecords, from creation to dispositio
Page 99 and 100: possess it not as individual docume
Page 101 and 102: accomplished. As Hans Booms has cle
Page 103 and 104: and activities of the creating orga
Page 105 and 106: the next logical step: the identifi
Page 107 and 108: that they are needed for an underst
Page 109 and 110: archivists bring to research by the
Page 111 and 112: unarticulated."35 ^ In the American
Page 113 and 114: Cook's emphasis on relating the pro
Page 115 and 116: oader concept of information data s
Page 117 and 118: provenance. They also offer an inte
Page 119 and 120: content analysis as the primary met
Page 121 and 122: CONCLUSION After all is said and do
Page 123 and 124: the intervention of archivists in t
Page 125 and 126: ecords. The analysis seeks to ident
Page 127 and 128: according to an ideological underst
Page 129 and 130: previously, Hans Booms projects tha
Page 131 and 132:
administrative and historical value
Page 133 and 134:
BIBLIOGRAPHY Advisory Committee for
Page 135 and 136:
Cook, Terry. "Improving our Disposi
Page 137 and 138:
Haas, J. et al. Appraising the Reco
Page 139 and 140:
Raffel, Stanley.^Matters of Fact: A
Page 141 and 142:
GLOSSARY OF ARCHIVAL TERMS ACQUISIT
Page 143:
PUBLIC RECORDS: Documents issued by
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?