Toward the archives of archives: The new archival history, accountability and the documentation of archival appraisal

This study investigates the status of the archives of Canadian archives, or records created and maintained by these archives to document their own functions. This has taken on greater importance because of the changing role of archives in society and emergence of what may be called the new history of archives. Growing appreciation of the impact of archives on knowledge formation and societal conditions has prompted new interest in archival history and placed greater emphasis on the accountability of archives for appraisal decisions (among other actions) that profoundly shape the record available in archives. The thesis reviews archival literature for discussion of archival history, and more specifically, the archives of archives. It reports on surveys of Canadian archival institutions conducted in 2003 and 2008 to determine how well Canadian archives have maintained and made accessible their own archives. The surveys were particularly concerned with how archivists document and archive records of the appraisal function. Finally, because of the ways in which appraisal determines the documentary record, documentation of that function was considered in a case study of the S.J. McKee Archives of Brandon University in Manitoba. The central conclusion of the thesis is that for the most part the archives of archives have not been a priority in the literature or in Canadian archival institutions. Thus archives are operating largely in a manner inconsistent with their obligation to society to be accountable for appraisal decisions that affect societal memory and future historical understandings. This then undermines the promise of the new history of archives to examine that key role.