Juliette Spurling Spurling 1

Critical Article Review

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Critical Article Review:

‘We Are What We Keep; We Keep What We Are’: Archival Appraisal Past, Present and

Future

Terry Cook

In the article ‘We Are What We Keep; We Keep What We Are’: Archival Appraisal Past,

Present and Future, Terry Cook argues that “if we archivists accept that we are indeed defined by

‘what we keep,’ and that ‘we keep what we are,’ then our professional identity will also be

radically altered, to society’s significant benefit.”1 Cook leans on Hans Booms to support the

idea from the perspective that predated macro-appraisal. Booms argued that society itself and the

public opinion generates processes and legitimizes political authority, so must it not also do so

for archival appraisal?

Cook also argues in favor on macro-appraisal’s democratic and structured nature

asserting that, “... archivists focus on the mechanisms, or loci, or processes in society where the

citizen interacts with the state to produce the clearest insights about societal dynamics and public

issues, and thus societal values, which then are found documented in the related records of that

citizen-state interaction.”2 Because of this, Cook, supported by Booms’ argument asserts that

macroappraisal finds appraisal value in determining societal value within interactions between

citizen and state.

1
Cook, Terry. “‘We Are What We Keep; We Keep What We Are’: Archival Appraisal Past, Present and Future.”
Journal of the Society of Archivists 32, no. 2 (October 2011): 173–89.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00379816.2011.619688.
2
Cook, Terry. “‘We Are What We Keep; We Keep What We Are’: Archival Appraisal Past, Present and Future.”
Journal of the Society of Archivists 32, no. 2 (October 2011): 180. https://doi.org/10.1080/00379816.2011.619688.
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Critical Article Review
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Cook goes on to argue that it is even more important now in the digital age to engage

with the citizen when assessing value. Cook quotes Nelson Mandela’s Lecture in Johannesburg

in 2010 that discusses memory, justice, and narrative. The article goes on to discuss First

Nations, in now Canada, and repertory acts that have been done to make sure that their testimony

is not forgotten or denied. The author makes valid and compelling arguments for ethics and a

moral imperative for archives and their duty to their communities.

The article ends with a call to action to think about and pursue archives differently,

collaboratively, ethically. Cook questions the stance of the reader by asking, “Do we admit that

such cancerous silences in our archives are an indictment of our past appraisal theory and

practice?”3 I have to agree that there is a responsibility to not only take note of the silences, but

also to do the best repertory work to aid in the elevation of the voices not being heard in these

archival/ historical spaces.

3
Cook, Terry. “‘We Are What We Keep; We Keep What We Are’: Archival Appraisal Past, Present and Future.”
Journal of the Society of Archivists 32, no. 2 (October 2011): 173–89.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00379816.2011.619688.
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Critical Article Review
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Bibliography

Cook, Terry. “‘We Are What We Keep; We Keep What We Are’: Archival Appraisal Past,
Present and Future.” Journal of the Society of Archivists 32, no. 2 (October 2011):
173–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/00379816.2011.619688.