American Archival Theory: The State of the Art

Abstract

ALTHOUGH AMERICAN ARCHIVAL THEORY is relatively recent phenomenon, and in some respects amorphous art, it has some characteristics of thought and might be viewed first in that context. What are some of the characteristics of thought? Max Lerner, perceptive interpreter of civilization, declares:In the European sense Americans have had little 'grand theory,' whether of the state, the economy, the society, the culture, Nature, or God. In intellectual thinking Lerner finds a rich array of fragments rather than artfully laid out master plan. He concludes that American thought is tentative, fragmented, directed at the immediate object, and open to continual change; and although foreign influences have mixed in its main stream, it has been less shaped by these influences than by condition. Henry Steele Commager refers to an intense practicality, in thought, extending to most matters, and asserts that pragmatism can almost be called the official philosophy of America.

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