ABSTRACT

Records do not just materialize on desks, in file cabinets, or in computer storage; people create them and put them there. While this may seem obvious to anyone reading this book today, it was not so obvious prior to the mid twentieth century. The approach to records management from about 5000 bc to about 1945 a d was basically one of attempting to ‘keep track of it all.’ The fact that ‘it’ (records) existed because someone had made a conscious effort to capture information in reproducible form had never really been considered.