The Archival Method

The archival body of knowledge had its origin in the legal disciplines and developed over the centuries through integration with philological and historical disciplines. In other words, archival science grew out of humanistic knowledge and reached its maturity as a humanistic science, which addressed its own research questions using a method derived from its body of interdisciplinary theory, the "archival method," as it was called when developed in the 19th century. In the past half century, archival science has slowly but consistently moved towards the social sciences, primarily because of the Anglo-Saxon tendency to include archival programs of education in schools of library and information studies. The movement to the social sciences is less common in other parts of the world, but it has had a strong impact on the nature of the discipline and on the character of the research conducted by its specialists. Increasingly, social sciences methods are used to solve archival problems and to address archival research questions. Although these methods are valid for certain types of issues, primarily of a practical nature, they have shown significant weaknesses in addressing issues that affect the core of archival theory and which, at this time of fast and seemingly uncontrollable use of new and emerging technologies, loom larger and larger. The purpose of this essay is to revisit the archival method, examine its origin, development and characteristics, look at the theoretical ideas upon which it is based and at its constituent analytical processes, and identify its place in research in the Archival Multiverse.