des Europaischen Archivwesens
bearb. v. W. Leesch, (Leipzig, 1953)
109.
8 Cf. E. Posner, Archives in the Ancient
(Cambridge, 1972) 104.
9 Brenneke, Archivkunde, 22.
10 Cf. D. Bearman, 'Diplomatics,
Weberian Bureaucracy, and the
Management of Electronic Records
in Europe and America', American
Archivist 55(1992) 168-181
11 Cf. M. A. Lutzker, 'Max Weber and
the Analysis of Modern Bureau
cratie Organizations: Notes toward
a Theory of Appraisal', American
Archivist 45(1982) 119-130; 124:
'The records provide a mechanism
for monitoring an individual's
performance and set precedents for
future actions.'
12 Cf. H.A. Taylor, 'Transformation in
the Archives: Technology
Adjustment or Paradigm Shift?',
Archivaria 25(1988) 12-27.
13 Cf. Kolsrud, 'Evolution', 26-37
14 Cf. B. Uhl, 'Grundfragen der Be-
wertung von Verwaltungsschriftgut.
Anstelle einer Besprechung von
T.R.Schellenberg', in: Mitteilungen
fiir die Archivpflege in Bayern.
Sonderheft 9: Bewahren und
Umgestalten. Walter Jaroschka
zumóo. GeburtstagQAünchen,
1992) 275-286. The authorgavea
complete survey of the history of
German appraisal theory during a
conference in 1989. His paper is
published under the title 'Der
Wandel in der archivischen
Bewertungsdiskussion', Der
Archivar43(1990) 529-538.
I 5 Cf. W. Rohr, 'Zur Problematik des
modernen Aktenwesens',
Archivalische Zeitschrifi 54(19 5 8)
74-89.
16 Cf. G.W. Santé, 'Archive und
Verwaltung - historische Provenienz
und Probleme der Gegenwart', Der
Archivar ïoiiysy) 7-16. He wrote in
this paper for the annual conference
1957 in Koblenz, that archives
should have in store a documen
tation of society as large as possible
for historical research.
17 H. Booms, 'Society and the
Formation ofa Documentary
Heritage: Issues in the Appraisal of
Archival Sources', Archivaria
24(1987) 69-107. He confirmed his
concept of a contemporary
documentation plan again at the
aca 1991 Conference and defended
it there against German critics with
the argument, that the practical
application ofa documentation
plan in east-Germany proved the
applicability of his theory without
considering the differences between
socialist and democratic societies.
His paper was printed as
'Überlieferungsbildung: Keeping
Archives as a Social and Political
Activity', Archivaria 33(1992)
25-33; cf- a'so S. Büttner, 'Ressort-
prinzip und Überlieferungs
bildung', in: Aus der Arbeit der
Archive. Beitriige zum Archivwesen,
zur Quellenkunde und zur
Geschichte. Festschrift fur Hans
Boomsed. by F. P. Kahlenberg
(Schriften des Bundesarchivs 36;
Boppard, 1989) 153-161.
18 Cf. A. Menne-Haritz, 'Methodische
Richtlinien fiir die Bewertung von
dienstlichem Schriftgut (review)',
Der Archivar 45(1992) 126-130.
19 Cf. L. Enders, 'Stand und Probleme
der Ausarbeitung des Rahmen-
dokumentationsprofils der
Staatlichen Archiwerwaltung der
ddr', Archivmitteilungen 32(1982)
173-175She explains the
intentions:'The RDP (Rahmen-
dokumentadonsprofil Framework
Documentation Profile) gives an
objective reflection of the manifold
historical knowledge on a certain
level of abstraction and on the basis
of the actual reachable level of
perception by the historical
sciences.' For regional application
see H.-S. Gold and G. Miiller,
'Dokumentationsprofil und
Rahmen-Nomenklatur als
Grundlagen der Bestandserganzung
der Kreis-und Stadtarchive',
Archivmitteilungen 32(1982) 166-
172. On the basis of local chronicles
'documentation profiles shall reflect
the political, socio-economic and
cultural particularities of a region
which have to be documented
according to the social necessities by
archives.' There was published only
one critical voice. It was U. Hess,
'Methodische Fragen bei der
Ausarbeirung von Archivgut-
verzeichnissen', Archivmitteilungen
27(2977) 132-134, who made the
very important remark, stating that
the problem rests to be solved, that
'on the one hand historical
processes, structures and facts have
to be documented, that on the other
hand archival informations are only
handed down in such contexts, in
which the original records builders
brought them. Archives have grown
up to serve very concrete events and
don't reflect the social processes and
structures themselves, but deliver
merely single facts, from which
such knowledge about structures
can be derived by comparison of
testimonies of different times and
by other ways of historical research.'
20 Cf. W. Schöntag, 'Der Auswer-
tungsauftrag an die Archive. Fragen
aus staatlicher Sicht. Paper
presented at the 64th German
Archival Annual Meeting 1993 in
Augsburg', to be printed in Der
Archivar 1 1994.
21 Cf. Hess, 'Fragen', 134.
[40]
22 T. R. Schellenberg, 'The Appraisal
of Modern Public Records', in:
Bulletins ofthe National A rchives,
8(Washington 1956). The publi
cation of the text in M. F. Daniels
and T. Walch, ed., A Modern
Archives Reader: Basic Readings on
Archival Theory and Practice
(Washington, 1984), skip decisive
parts of the original text, for
instance the definition of records in
the beginning and 9 pages with
examples for evidential values,
where he says for instance: 'Records
that evidence genuinely significant
matters relating to either direction
or execution have permanent
value..Usually the evidence on an
agency's program is adequate that is
provided in the form of (1)
summaries (statistical or narrative)
of transactions ofa specific kind, (2)
a selection of records on particularly
significant transactions, and (3) a
selection of records on transactions
that are representative of all or most
the transactions of a specific kind,
(p. 252) Reduced from 40 pages to
less than the half the text loses a lot
of his persuasive power that is
inherent just in the examples of
practical applications of the tests on
evidential or informational values.
23 Cf. fie. G. Ham, 'Selecting and
Appraising Archives and
Manuscripts', in: saa Archival
Fundamental Series (Chicago, 1993)
8, 53, where the author speaks about
Schellenberg's 'top of the iceberg'
appraisal model.
24 Schellenberg, 'Appraisal', 238.
25 Cf. for the aspect of evaluation for
primary purposes in electronic
office systems C. M. Dollar, 'New
Developments and the Implication
on Information Handling', in:
A. Menne-Haritz, ed., Information
Handling in Off ces and Archives
(München, 1993) 56-65.
26 Schellenberg, 'Appraisal', 244.
27 Cf. T. L. Ericson, 'At the "rim of
creative dissatisfaction"Archivists
and Acquisition development',
Archivaria 1992) 66-77; 67: 'The
fact that Schellenberg and others
chose the word "value" is
unfortunate, because they were
really talking about evidential and
informational content.
28 Cf. T. Cook, 'Mind over Matter:
Towards a New Theory for Archival
Appraisal', in: B. Craig, ed., The
Archival Imagination. Essays in
Honor of Hugh A. Taylor (Ottawa,
1992) 38-70, 47: 'Archivists would
seek to understand why records were
created rather than what they
contain, how they were created and
used by their original users rather
than how they might be used in
future, and which formal functions
and mandates of the creator they
supported...'
[41]
