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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archival appraisal | 5/5 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T15:07:46.545178+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Bias of archivists and appraisal === In the archival field, more, like Christian James and Ricardo L. Punzalan, have said that the core archival functions of provenance, original order, appraisal, and arrangement to be inadequate. Part of this change is a focus on bias and value judgments by archivists. Randall C. Jimmerson wrote about this in 2007, archivists need to be conscious of their "potential bias" by not only working to preserve records which are often overlooked but by documenting their appraisal decisions, while recognizing it is impossible to be "neutral or invisible" in archival appraisal. This was in line with what Elizabeth Yakel noted in 2003: the need to re-examine old appraisal decisions, and the suggestion of scholar Richard Cox to attribute appraisal decisions to specific individuals. Despite Jimmerson's suggestions, ten years later scholars were still lamenting that archivists seemed to not document "transformative effects" of their appraisal decisions and recommended that archivists should not only acknowledge their own role in appraisal, but not the appraisal criteria they applied and the assumptions they made in processing and describing records, along with the records they decided to not keep.
== References ==
== External links == National Archives and Records Administration (United States) - Appraisal Policy Library and Archives Canada - Appraisal Methodology: Macro-Appraisal and Functional Analysis - Part A: Concepts and Theory Library and Archives Canada - Appraisal Methodology: Macro-Appraisal and Functional Analysis - Part B: Guidelines for Performing an Archival Appraisal on Government Records National Archives of Australia – Appraisal National Archives of the United Kingdom – Appraisal Policy Danish State Archives – Appraisal and Transfer of Records from Public Authorities Archiving in the 21st Century National Commission for Access, Evaluation and Documentary Choice (translated from Spanish into English) Homepage of the BKK - Federal Conference of Municipal Archives at the Deutscher Städtetag! (translated from German into English) Group Archive Assessment (translated from German into English) Evaluation Methodology: macro-evaluation and functional analysis of Library and Archives Canada(translated from French into English)
== Further reading == Jenkinson, Hilary (1937) [1922]. A Manual of Archive Administration. London: Percy Lund, Humphries and Co. Schellenberg, Theodore R. (1996) [1956]. Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques. Archival classics reprints. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780931828492. Schellenberg, Theodore R. (1999) [1956]. The Appraisal of Modern Records. Bulletin of the National Archives. Vol. 8. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. Mason, Karen M. (2002). "Fostering diversity in archival collections: the Iowa Women's Archives". Collection Management. 27 (2): 23–32. doi:10.1300/J105v27n02_03. S2CID 61064509. Samuels, Helen (1991–1992). "Improving our disposition: documentation strategies". Archivaria. 33: 125–140. Cook, Terry (2005). "Macroappraisal in theory and practice: origins, characteristics, and implementation in Canada, 1950–2000". Archival Science. 5 (2–4): 101–161. doi:10.1007/s10502-005-9010-2. S2CID 9014362. Boles, Frank (2005). Selecting and Appraising Archives & Manuscripts. Chicago: Society of American Archivists. pp. 43–73. ISBN 978-1-931666-11-4. Ridener, John (2009). From Polders to Postmodernism: a concise history of archival theory. Duluth, Minnesota: Litwin Books. ISBN 978-0-9802004-5-4.