Appraisal as the attribution of value is relatively a late-comer in archival practice, though selection if that is all that is meant by appraisal, has been practised by record keepers ever since archives were created. The establishment of public national archives following the French Revolution led to a separation between record keepers in the administration and archivists in national archives. Initially archivists were content to receive records selected by the administration, seeing their role in a purely custodial light as the preservation, arrangement and description of records and providing access to them. For these purposes, they developed a coherent body of theory based on the innate characteristics of records summed up in the principles of provenance, original order and respect des fonds. In due course however, some of them strove to gain an increasing measure of control over the selection process. Where they were successful in doing so, they were then obliged to show that they had the necessary means to carry out this new and enhanced role, a role which is arguably on the one hand in opposition to the above principles, and on the other relieves the administration of some part at least of its responsibility for the permanent record. The literature about appraisal testifies to the efforts that have been made to justify this role but despite its frequent insight and innovation, it is an open question whether a theory that justifies incorporation into the wider body of archival theory and science has yet emerged.
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