What is Past is Prologue:
a history of archival ideas since 1898, and
the future paradigm shift
Abstract
This essay analyzes the history of archival thought since the publication of the
Dutch Manual a century ago and suggests that from this inspiring past a new
conceptual paradigm is emerging for the profession. Ideas of leading or symbolic
thinkers within the European, North American, and Australian archival
traditions are considered within the context of their times. The focus is on those
theorists able to recognize and articulate radical changes in the nature of
records, record-creating organizations, record-keeping systems, record uses, and
in the wider cultural, legal, technological, social, and philosophical trends in
society, as well as the impact of these changes on archival theory and practice.
That articulation forms our collective discourse, the metatext or narrative that
animates our professional practice, and from it five broad themes are seen to
emerge from the evolution of archives over the last one hundred years. For the
future, the trends of the century suggest the need to reconceptualize traditional
archival principles from a product-focused to a process-oriented activity, to
preserve in the best manner the collective memory of nations and peoples.
Prologue: memory, archives, and archival history
The history of archival thought in this century reflects the interaction of [18]
archival theory and practice as archivists everywhere have sought to preserve
the memory of the world.1 Former National Archivist of Canada and ICA
President Jean-Pierre Wallot has set the inspiring goal for archivists of "building
a living memory for the history of our present." The resulting "houses of
memory," in his words, will contain "the keys to the collective memory" of
nations and peoples, and to the protection of rights and privileges. Thereby the
28
TERRY COOK
Reprinted from Archivaria 43 (1996), pp. 17-63.
1 This article has a long history and owes much to many colleagues, whom I want to acknowledge here in
order to make clear my gratitude, and which history will make clear the provenance of a paper already cited
in various existing versions. The paper was first commissioned in 1993 as the third plenary address to be
delivered at the Thirteenth International Congress on Archives to be held in Beijing, China, in September
1996. After several drafts greatly benefitted from comments by colleagues (see below), a very long paper
was finalized in May 1995, which was distributed to delegates at the Congress in English and Chinese.
To reduce translation costs into the other ICA official languages (Spanish, German, Russian, and French)
for Congress distribution, a second version was produced in December 1995, approximately one-half the
length of its predecessor, and this second, much tighter version forms the core of the present article, but
with some additions from the first and with significant updating and refocusing, many more extensive
explanatory footnotes, and especially overall rewriting to make the article more "Canadian," by setting
Canadian archival traditions and contributions within the original broader international context.
A brief third version highlighting only the key themes of the paper, approximately one-seventh the length
29