A STUDY IN LEGAL ADMINISTRATION AND RECORDS SHARON ...

een undertaken on records and record keeping. A few archival writers have
investigated these themes, using mat might be called the contextual approach.
The contextual approach examines the broad societal and administrative origins
of records, and the record keeping systems that generated and held the records.
This approach also focuses on the nature of the individual record, its physical
characteristics, and the interrelationships between medium and content. The
latter aspect of the contextual approach is known as diplomatic analysis. The
various aspects of the wntextual approach can be studied and employed
separately or together, since they are complementary.
The contextual approach emphasizes the investigation of the
administrative structures and functions of the records' creator. This inquiry often
tâkes the forrn of "administrative history" which assists in understanding the
meaning of records. In the early hiventieth century, noted British archivist Hilary
Jenkinson declared the importance of the administrative history. "Administrative
history," he said, "is in general ... al1 important for elucidating the meaning of
records . . . ."' He also acknowledged the need for diplomatic analysis and
suggested a balance of the two methods:
I will also Say that no description of an administrative
department . . . can be complete without a description
(probably including specirnens) of the foms of
document it produced and the way in which they were
written (including facsimiles) .2
Jenkinson's assertion has b en elaborated by Canadian archivists Tom
Nesmith and Terry Cook. Each has affinned the importance of the