A documentation strategy case study: Western New York

Abstract

Documentation strategy has emerged as one of the major new archival concepts of the 1980s. The emergence of interest in it is a healthy sign for the archival profession's quest to identify, select, and preserve records of enduring value. Yet, the documentation strategy is still a largely untested concept. This essay describes the strategy's application in documenting geographical localities, in this case western New York, and, as a result, poses a number of additional questions about the documentation strategy that still need answering.