"Control through Communication" in a Comparative Perspective

In the United States between 1870 and 1920, in The Netherlands and in Germany between 1880 and 1930, business and government agencies adopted new technologies for the production and reproduction of documents, their storage and retrieval. New technologies and genres of downward communication, upward reporting, and internal correspondence were introduced to enhance control through communication.
The office became an - innovation junction - of technologies, creating new functions and a new office hierarchy that was reflected in office buildings, lay-out, and furnishing. Technology was an enabling and promoting actor, but not the primary cause of innovation. Committed managers played an important role in introducing new communication technologies. National and international networks of records management specialists and providers of office technologies were equally important. Recognition of the history of control through communication may contribute to understanding current and future adaptation and innovation of record-keeping technologies in their social and cultural contexts.