Understanding Original Order

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  • Original order implies that records should be maintained in the order in which they were originally kept when in active use.

     

  • Original order is NOT the order imposed on the material by someone who was not involved with the records while they were in active use, but rather it is the order in which they were maintained by those who used the materials.

     

  • When original order is maintained, you are in fact preserving existing relationships and evidential significance [Example: Victorian photo album; the arrangement of R.B. Bennett's prime ministerial papers in Ottawa]

     

  • The principle of original order requires that the original order be preserved or reconstructed, unless it is absolutely clear that there was no original order and that the records had been a) accumulated and organized haphazardly by the creator or b) added to or rearranged by successors/custodians [often the case - what archivists refer to as "a dog's breakfast"]

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