Macro-appraisal and functional analysis: Documenting governance rather than government

Macro-appraisal encompasses a new theory, strategy and methodology for doing appraisal, which was first adopted at the National Archives of Canada in the 1990s. After a summary of the broader concept of macro-appraisal, this article explores the 'functional analysis' that is the theoretical and methodological core of macro-appraisal. The argument suggests that archivists in appraisal should focus on issues of governance, thus going beyond trying to understand (and document) what a government (or other institution) does. It seeks thereby to put the 'citizen' back in the citizen-state relationship, and among the archival records identified through macro-appraisal for a long-term archival preservation.