n.a record used with sufficient frequency to justify keeping them in the office of creationHolmes 1938, 178Sometimes, duplicate sets of current records are kept there [storage warehouses] to insure preservation in case of fire or other catastrophe.Brooks 1940, 223The archivist looks upon current records as future archives, and it is a legitimate part of his function to make available counsel on how they can best be handled.Schiller 1948, 229The program began rather cautiously under the name of records administration. Implicit in the expression is a broad but intensive project for the management of current records so that the historically valuable documents can be earmarked for permanent preservation and the ephemeral material can be destroyed as soon as its immediate purpose is served. This eliminates the necessity of expensive winnowing and appraisal after transfer to the archival depository.Holmes 1949, 343The real problem of definition arises when records administration is related to archives administration. Are they synonymous? Is archives administration the more inclusive term, of which records administration, relating to current records, is but a part? Or, is archives administration just a part of records administration—that part that has to do with the selection and administration of the records deemed worthy of permanent preservation?Stevens 1949, 414In the course of time, current records will become equally valuable for historical purposes. For the present, their utility will be limited to those with more contemporary interests. This situation in itself is a landmark in National Archives development.Chatfield 1950, 267Although we have been discussing only current records, we should remember that there are three stages in the life history of record material, and that problems neglected in the current period are automatically inherited by the custodians of later periods.Cappon 1952, 199The attitude of the archivist toward recent records points directly to the question of his concern for the semicurrent and current records that are in the custody of the creating agencies or offices of origin. At what stage in the life history of records do the professional interests and activities of the archivist begin or end?Angel 1953, 14Thus the new act [Federal Records Act of 1950] charged the Administrator with responsibility for improving standards, procedures, and techniques with respect to the creation of records; the organization, maintenance, and use of current records; and the disposition of records when no longer needed for current operations.Ruddell 1955, 258There remain the current records, the historical records, and the inactive or noncurrent records, each requiring special and different consideration yet each to be dovetailed into a uniformly balanced and efficiently functioning program. There must be a systematic and continuing flow of records from the originating office into low-cost storage and finally to the waste-paper dealer.Thomas 1958, 424During the period when photographs are current records the general rule is that only laboratory personnel are permitted to handle the negatives. Later on the archivist must handle them, but any reference service must be given with print materials.Cappon 1959, 306Such an archival project must take into consideration three basic principles. First, that current records of today become, by proper evaluation and reduction in bulk, the archives of tomorrow.Evans, Harrison, and Thompson 1974, 420CURRENT RECORDS. Records necessary for conducting the current business of an office and which therefore must be maintained in office space and equipment. In Canadian usage, active records. In Canadian and U.S. Govt. usage records are regarded as current or active if there is at least one reference use per cubic foot per month; in business usage, four references per file drawer per month.Henry 1998, 318New paradigm writers urge archivists to quit appraising and scheduling records when they are inactive, when they arrive at the archives, and even after they have been accessioned. However, many, if not most, archivists in U.S. federal and state governments and universities and large organizations already appraise current, i.e., active, records. As practicing archivists understand, appraising current records is the whole point of records schedules. NARA has appraised active records in electronic form as well as paper for many years.Tyacke 2001, 5In the American tradition, the two activities are much more distinct. The National Archives in the United States makes this distinction clear in its name – National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Where the records management (or archiving) of current records has become divorced from the “archiving” of historic records, the tendency has been, irrespective of terminology, for a division to develop.Xie 2011, 579, fn. 7“Records management” here refers to the management of current records in organizations, i.e., records under the control of their originating organizations.
