Articles

Riding Out the Apocalypse: The Obsolescence of Traditional Archivy in the Face of Modern Corporate Dynamics

---

Abstract

Jumping back a few generations from this fanciful tale, we can see that it has parallels in the modem world of corporate archives. Today's corporations are changing at an unprecedented rate, and that pace is accelerating ever more as the millenium approaches. Unfortunately, the philosophical raison d'etre supporting corporate archivythat companies cannot know who they are or where they are going unless they know where they've been-has not kept pace. It is still the same cowpath that was used in the golden age of archival advocacy (and not, coincidentally, large corporate centers!) during the 1970s and early 1980s. Worse yet, it appears this limited conception of utility still influences the way corporate executives perceive the role of an archives. Juxtaposing this misguided philosophical foundation with managerial misperceptions of potential is a prescription for disaster, and can only serve to place corporate archives increasingly at risk as time goes on.

How to Cite:

Lasewicz, P. C., (1997) “Riding Out the Apocalypse: The Obsolescence of Traditional Archivy in the Face of Modern Corporate Dynamics”, Archival Issues 22(1), 61–76. doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/archivalissues.10846