The two Archival Theories by John Roberts: a contribution to the fundamentals of the field
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5433/1981-8920.2017v22n3p35Keywords:
Archival Studies, Files, Records and Archival Science, Archivists, Source of InformationAbstract
Introduction: review of the literature on archival science fundamentals. Goal: to present some of the points addressed by authors specialized in records and archival science as they relate to the "principle of provenance" and to the concept of "fund", and the problems mentioned by some of these authors, especially the thought of the American archivist John Roberts. Methodology: analyze of 23 scientific works, including books and articles, and covering the period between 1922 and 2015. Results: a concise chart organized by "year", "author", "title of the work" and "country of origin of the Author", dividing classical and contemporary authors. Conclusion: classical authors reaffirm the validity of archival foundations, contributing to the construct of the discipline; conversely, however, contemporary authors criticize the concept of fund, propose its reformulation, and aim to expand the understanding of the principle of provenance, for example, by proposing the "notion of ramification". Among the contemporary authors, John Roberts, an American professor specialized in Records and Archival Science, produced a set of three texts which criticise consecrated elements of archival theory. Based on his answers to the three questions, he presented the genesis of his ideas and formulated a synthesis of two archival theories denominated as "necessary" and the other "superfluous".Downloads
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