Toward the Archival Stage in the History of Knowledge
Abstract
The socio-political weakness of archives is a fundamental problem in modern democracies. Archivists do not have sufficient authority and resources for their work because citizens are not fully aware of the actual uses and community benefits of archives. Thus, societies do not place enough social and political pressure on institutions to make their archives available. Yet these uses have become so numerous and extraordinary that it may be possible to say that human knowledge and society are beginning to be shaped by and depend on archival materials as never before. Have we entered what might be called the archival stage in the history of knowledge?RÉSUMÉ
La faiblesse socio-politique des archives est un problème fondamental dans les démocraties modernes. Les archivistes ne disposent pas de suffisamment d’autorité et de ressources pour faire leur travail car les citoyens ne sont pas pleinement conscients des utilisations réelles et des avantages communautaires des archives. C’est donc dire que les sociétés n’exercent pas assez de pressions sociales et politiques sur les institutions pour que celles-ci rendent leurs archives disponibles. Pourtant, ces utilisations sont devenues tellement nombreuses et extraordinaires qu’il pourrait être possible d’affirmer que le savoir humain et la société sont présentement en train d’être façonnés à l’image des documents archivistiques et qu’ils dépendent de ces matériaux comme ils ne l’ont jamais fait. En sommes-nous arrivés à ce que nous pourrions appeler le stade archivistique dans l’histoire du savoir ?
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