ABSTRACT
This entry provides an overview and comparative analysis of the varied manifestations and roles of archival institutions across the world. The entry argues, and illustrates by example (many of which are from Australia), that archival institutions are contingent and mutable creations with ever-shifting, always-contested forms and missions that reflect the dynamic nature of human experience, aspiration, and activity. A secondary argument of the entry is that archival institutions are simultaneously reflectors of and active shapers of their time and place—institutions whose form and function change as the dynamics of societal power relations evolve and transform around them.
