Reading Response Two: How Goes It With Appraisal?

In his fall 1993 article, "How Goes it with Appraisal," Terry Eastwood evaluates the historical background, methodologies, patterns, and inherent complications involved in the archival appraisal process. Eastwood approaches appraisal from the point of view of one consumed with the manner in which archives are perceived by the population at large; he believes archives are seen as sources of information but not proprietors of historical evidence. "Archives," Eastwood states, "are a means of memory, not memory itself, because there is no communal memory without someone acting upon archives as public dialogue."

Appraisal is everywhere, not just in the archival profession. The act of appraising documents determines what memories are left intact. Over time, the interpretation of the memory, and of the appraisal itself, may change. Documents are assessed, or appraised, from the moment of their creation; the archivist or records manager determines the continuation or refutation of a document life cycle. What is the true value of a document? Is it in its uniqueness? Person(s) or place(s) of origination? Or is in the value to future researchers? Nearly everyone would agree decisions are made based on multiple facets, not any one factor. Though appraising a document is not often the end-all-be-all in determining the historical record, the very possibility it may be is a perplexing realization. As Eastwood comments, appraisal is both narrow contextually as well as broad in view. Appraisal is never meant to advance any idea, philosophy, or agenda. To do so would violate the ideals of freedom of information and preservation of the historical record. Furthermore, archivists should never be guilty of haphazardly documenting world memory. From the largest of historical events to the smallest of transactions, appraisal best practices should hold true.

Eastwood, Terry. “How Goes It with Appraisal?”Archivaria , No. 36, Autumn 1993, pp. 111-121.