Custody, both the legal and physical ownership of records, has long been recognized as a fundamental principle of archival management. . . . Hilary Jenkinson based the sanctity of evidence on the ability to prove continuous custody. T. R. Schellenberg, w

Custody, both the legal and physical ownership of records, has long been recognized as a fundamental principle of archival management. . . . Hilary Jenkinson based the sanctity of evidence on the ability to prove continuous custody. T. R. Schellenberg, while rejecting 'continuous custody' as unworkable for the National Archives of the United States, still considered that having custody of the records that crossed the threshold of the Archives was essential to protecting their integrity.