This post is part of the Intergenerational Conversations series. Review of Carolyn Heald, “Is There Room for Archives in the Postmodern World?”American Archivist 59, no. 1 (1996): 88–101, https://doi.org/10.17723/aarc.59.1.u854130x02844653; and Mark Greene, “The Power of Meaning: The Archival Mission in the Postmodern Age,” American Archivist 65, no. 1 (2002): 42–55, https://doi.org/10.17723/aarc.65.1.l914668v881wv19n. By Patrick McGee, CUNY Queens College … Continue reading The Peasant’s Shoes: Confronting the Historiography of Postmodernism in Archival Theory

This post is part of the Intergenerational Conversations series. Review of James M. O’Toole, “On the Idea of Permanence,” American Archivist 52, no. 1 (Winter 1989): 10–25, https://doi.org/10.17723/aarc.52.1.3x85283576r43387. By Sara Ludewig, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress [PDF Full Text] | [PDF Article + Full Text] In his 1989 article “On the Idea of Permanence,” James M. … Continue reading On the Lack of the Idea of Permanence: Finding Archival Comfort in a World with No Guarantees

This post is part of the Intergenerational Conversations series. Review of Helen Willa Samuels, “Who Controls the Past,” American Archivist 49, no. 2 (Spring 1986): 109–24, https://doi.org/10.17723/aarc.49.2.t76m2130txw40746; and Anke Voss-Hubbard, “‘No Documents—No History’: Mary Ritter Beard and the Early History of Women’s Archives,” American Archivist 58, no. 1 (1995): 16–30, https://doi.org/10.17723/aarc.58.1.hr300127g3142157. By Melissa Smith, Church … Continue reading Reappraising Appraisal in a Post-Custodial Era

By Rose Buchanan and Stephanie Luke, Reviews Co-Editors [PDF Full Text] "If anything troubles archivists, it is change. Our days are devoted to minimizing the effects of change upon the materials we care for. . . . We pay homage to permanence, to constancy, to stability, and to structure. . . . but in the … Continue reading Intergenerational Conversations 2026: Reflecting on Change