2015 Volume 23 Pages 4-22
This article refers to the procedure of archival arrangement and descriptionusedintheWestasthe “western style of archival processing,”and it is aimed at comparing this style to the gradual processing that is the methodology of Japan, clarifying the difference between them. Firstly, by reviewing the history of gradual processing, it is pointed out that its development is based on the argument of Michael Cook. Secondly, Cookʼs book and the manuals of the US, France and International Council on Archives (ICA) are investigated to demonstrate the details of the western style of archival processing, and this is then compared to gradual processing. Finally, this article discusses the background of the methodology used in the West, based on the reports of the ICA Conference in 1964, to examine how the archivists in the West recognized the fundamental principles of archival science : respect of provenance and original order.
