Building an Archives: Appraisal Theory for Architectural Records

The appraisal of architectural records is complicated by the many existing interpretations of the purpose and function of architecture: which buildings, which architects, what other social, economic, and governmental influences, and which interpretations of the architecture are to be documented? In dealing with these questions--and with the massive growth rate of current records--the traditional approach to appraisal based on present and future research value is of little use. Documentation strategy is a relatively new approach to appraisal, and stresses a macro-appraisal and selection of the functions, activities, and record creators that need to be documented for posterity. The understanding of records in their overall context provided by macro-appraisal will ensure a more complete documentary record, but will require archivists to become actively involved in determining which records survive, not passively waiting to appraise and select those records which find the way to archival repositories on their own.