THE SELECTION OF PAPERS FOR RETENTION

When Adam delved and Eve span—and probably did most of the digging, too, for her lord and master—worries perchance did assail them, but we may be sure that their family business did not create archives which they had the trouble of storing. At some intermediate stage in history, when archives had accumulated, a genius hit on the idea of destroying them to avoid clutter. Now, every day in every clime somebody makes a similar decision, and despite what I have to say to this distinguished audience, will continue to do so, and in doing so will destroy material for history. Where it not so, record repositories would cover far more valuable soil than cemeteries. The trouble is not that so many business records are destroyed, but that the tiny proportion having potential historical interest goes as well as the rest.