A Study On The Appraisal View Of British Archivists In The 20th Century

Archive appraisal is the core of archives work and the basis of the whole archives work.It not only involves the fate and management level of archives,but also involves all aspects of archives work.Cook,director of the Canadian archives,once said,"identification is the center of the archival cause,and it is a never-ending and neverending work." It can be seen that archival appraisal plays a key role in archival work.Therefore,many scholars have their own unique opinions and methods on archival appraisal.Hillary Jenkinson,James Grigg and Duncan Wilson are famous British archivists in the 20 th century,who have made outstanding contributions to British archival cause and archival work,It has an important influence on Britain and even the world,and their view of archival appraisal still has enlightenment and reference for the current archival work.In this context,this paper studies the appraisal view of three scholars.Firstly,this paper analyzes Hillary Jenkinsons appraisal view.Jenkinson is in the era of great development and great change in Britain,with the emergence of various social thoughts and the gradual formation of the concept of legal person.With the development of society,the number of documents is increasing,and the destruction system is gradually established,Jenkinson put forward the appraisal view of "the theory of administrative officials","the appraisal method of administrative value" and "the golden rule".With the gradual development of archival appraisal standards and the controversy of "historical value" appraisal standards,Jenkinsons appraisal view was no longer applicable to Britain at that time.Grigg began to put forward the reform of archival appraisal.He thought that archival appraisal should not only be based on a single "administrative standard",but should see the role of "historical standard",It is proposed that the first review should be carried out according to "administrative standards",and the second review should be carried out according to "administrative standards" and "historical standards",which play an active role of Archivists in the review process.In Wilsons time,Wilson basically recognized the role of the two reviews proposed by Grigg.He believed that the public archives should play a leading role and participate in the first review.He also suggested the establishment of an institutional group system.Under the digital environment,The National Archives revised and innovated the three scholars appraisal view,which promoted the development of British archives.