selectie

The appraisal process must include detailed examination of the records, which remain the ultimate manifestation of functions and activities.

Helen Morgan, How do I appraise thee? Let me count the ways: the archival imperative and the construct of appraisal. Australian Science Archives Project

"What the searchlight makes visible will depend upon its position, upon our way of directing it, and upon its intensity, colour, etc.; although it will, of course, also depend very largely upon the things illuminated by it."

(2) De archivaris dient het archiefmateriaal te selecteren en te bewaren in zijn historische, wettelijke en administratieve context en, onder handhaving van het herkomstbeginsel, de oorspronkelijke verhouding tussen de documenten te bewaren en zichtbaar te maken.

We must research, document, and remember – especially because the liars, the relativizers, and those who want to simply stop thinking about the events all continue in their work. Creative and heartless, they seek to bend the facts: to forget, displace, varnish over, escape from the responsibility of speaking the truth. Ultimately, not speaking the truth means ignoring the victims, including Marian Samuel.

Achter elke selectie ligt bewust of onbewust een overtuiging. Weglaten, toevoegen, interpreteren, het kan allemaal ons beeld veranderen, en daarmee de boodschap die het overdraagt.

We define ourselves by what we choose to remember and to forget.

The key point behind appraisal is that not everything can be kept forever. There are not sufficient resources to support such an approach, either in the storage and preservation of the records or in the resources required to make the records accessible either now or over time. This means at its most fundamental, appraisal is a risk management process based on known facts and reasonable expectations.

The mutability of the past is the central tenet of Ingsoc. Past events, it is argued, have no objective existence, but survive only in written records and in human memories. The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon. And since the Party is in full control of all records, and in equally full control of the minds of its members, it follows that the past is whatever the Party chooses to make it.