Archivists have a dual personality. On the one hand they are cognizant of the utilitarian role of records in administration and the law. From this perspective they view the meaning of documents as largely fixed by explicit procedure, albeit procedure in

Archivists have a dual personality. On the one hand they are cognizant of the utilitarian role of records in administration and the law. From this perspective they view the meaning of documents as largely fixed by explicit procedure, albeit procedure in a context. On the other hand, they are sensitive to the historical changes in records and the contingent circumstances in which they thrived. From this perspective archivists are uneasy about notions of fixed meanings and welcome the changing insights of historically based scholarship.