9 Archival Practices. Producing Knowledge in

early modern repositories of writing

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I '1 lntroduction: New perspectives for the history of archives

Archives have a very special place in the heart of historians. Archival work is

still considered the bedrock of historical research. As Jol-rn Elliott recentl)r wrote:"T'he sight, the touch and even the smeli of sixteenth, or seventeenth-centun,documents, the dried brorvr-r ink, the paper itself son:retimes crr-rn-rbling in ones

hand - all these sensory qualities enhanced, at ieirst in my orvn experience, thatimaginative and intuitive sense n hlch is so irnportant for the historical recons-

truction of past societies."r ,A r,r'ide variety of critical theories notwithstanding,historians still define ihemselves to a great deal through archival work.

Their fascination u,ith archives, though, has usually not 1ed historians to study

the history of archives * we use archives, but rarely s/url1,them, a point u,e1l r.nade

in Randolph Headt paper. Work in the field usually tends to be occasional, iso-

lated, often positivist, and frequently focused on questions that seem to be mostrelevant fiom a contemporary perspective. Thus it is no rvonder that tl-re historl'of archives is still a fairly marginal field. As Willried Reininghaus has lamouslysaid, it is (at best) a "submerged subdiscipline (r"rntergründige Subdisziplin)'11

Only in the iast feu'years l-ristorians have begun to take a fresh look at archives

and acknowledged them as interesting objects fbr historiographical investigation.r

Elliott, John H.: History in the making. New Haven (CT) zorz, p. r5.

Reininghaus, Wilfried: Arcirir.geschichte: Urnrisse einer untergrüncligen Subdiszipiin, in:

Der Archivdr 6r (zoo8), pp. ,152-360.A briel surr-e1. of new n'ork can be öurd in Wellrnann, Anrrika: Theorie de r Ar:chive - Archir.e cier Macht. Aktueiie -Iendenzen

der Archir.geschichte, in: Neue Politische LiteratLn'57(zorz), pp.385 4or. See norv also Schenk, Dietrlar: 'AuJheben, wos nicht vergessen wertlen

darl". Archive vom ahen Europa bis zur digitolen I,!'elt. Stuttgart zot3.

(nowledge

writing

istory of archives

storians. Archival work is

lohn E,lliott recently wrote:I- or seventeenth-centuryLetimes crumbling in one'.s

r my own experience, thatt lbr the historical recons-theories notwithstanding,rgh archival work.not led historians to studyly them, a poir"rt well made:nds to be occasional, iso-tions that seem to be mostto r'r,onder that the historyleininghaus has famouslyrgründige Subdisziplin)'1rke a lresh look at archivesriographical investigation.'

012, p. 15.

ttelgründigen Subdisziplin, in

'l'heorie de r Archive Arin: Neue Politische Literatur 57

was nithl ycrtc\\cll r1,L r.Ielj20r 3

introduction: New perspectives {or the history 0f archives

9.1.l Archives and archival mentality

Archives, together with libraries and museums, are among the most important

infrastructures created to enhance the 'survival chance' of select documents''

As physical structures, archives are built to protect fragile materials such as

pup., o, parchment; as epistemic structures, they help to order knowledge so

ihut,1o..rrrr.nts can be retrieved. Neither long-term survival nor accessibility of

written documents is self-evident. Archives thus add something significant to

writing, and they have been very successful in doing so - in fact, the long-term

availaüi1ity of many tlpes of documents has become a key aspect of European

civilization. Archives have been crucial for this process: They make it plausible

and reliable for people to assume that many documents, once produced, will be

there in the future, ready for inspection if needed. This had important cultural

implications.: As people became accustomed to assume that older documents

.ould in principle be retrieved at wil1, they increasingly had to reckon, too, with

the fact that the knowledge contained in those documents u'ould be available

whenever required. The past could now be documented and'looked up', whether

for legal, religious, or political purposes - a fact people learned to appreciate and

fear ai the same time, depending on w-hat they expected from the archived past'

From the late Middle Ages onward, this habit of 'thinking with archives' began

to influence an ever-growing set of social practices. Archives came to permeate

economic and legal life; archives started to influence religious life - not only

did the administration of the churches become bureaucratic, but also individual

believers now had to keep and preserve (that is: to archive) at least a few relevant

clocuments, for instance the so-called B eichtzettel,certificates that an individual

had confessed at a given time;6 archives also contributed to establish and control

Esch, Arnold: Überlieferungs-Chance und Überlieferungs-Zufä1l als methodisches Problem

desHistorikers, ln:HistorischeZeitschriftz4o(rs8s),pp 529-57c'Thehistoryofarchives

and the history oflvriting are very closely connected but they are not the same. There is,

for instance, a history ofwriting that is not connected to archives - many types of wlitten

documents have been and are produced for immediate consumption and destructiol]'

shopping lists, cinema tickets, and scrap paper in general'

For a recer.rt illuminating philosophical discussion of the importance of documents see

Ferraris, Maurizio: Documenlaltty. Whv it i, necessory to leLtvc !ra'es' New York z ot3 Fer

raris, who never discusses archives in any depth, however, seems to simply assume that

documents (which include, according to him, mental states like memories) inherently have

staying-power. He does not investigate how the efrdurance of docLlments so important for

his theory is made Possible.In the miädle ages, priests had been required to keep registers ofpenitents. The Beichtzettel

shiftecl the b.,Äooof proof/control from the priest to the penitent, cl Kittl, Reinhard:

Der Beichtzettel im Wandel der Zeit. Reith im Alpachtal 1999. Lederer, David: Madness,

Religion ancl the State in Early Modern Europe' A Bavarian Beacon' Cambridge zoo6'

pp.82 92.

Markus Fnedr ch

sociai order - archival documents r'vere increasingly relevant as prools of nobilitr,in France, Germany., and elservirere.t Archives, long befbre the French Revolu-

tion, became closely tied to political ideas about accountabiiity and, atier r789,

to democracy, aithough onlv slorviy and often in trvistecl lvays.f

in many areas, the conservation of written documents rhus has, though not

r,vithout n-ruch debate abor-rt limits and feasibility, atrrlost become the deiäultcultural option for European societies; it is norv often the <lestroying, forgetting

and vanishing of infbr-rlation that needs explanation.'' Archivir.rg and the con-

stant avaiiability of documentation, in many areas, are taken tbr granted and

have acquired an aura of self-evidence in our'infbrnation agel Horv this hap-

pened and how'thinking rvith archives' becaile cultr"irally tbrmative, is one oithe major new questions in the emerging history of archives. Future scholars

in this field should look beyond the technologies and institr.rtions of ei-rhancecl

record-keeping and also stari an investigation itrto the history and origins ofEurope'.s'archival mentaiityl

9.1 2 Practices and the place of archives in eve ryday life

If archlves have at al1 been discussed with broader historical cluestions ln mind,this happened mostly in the tleld of administrative history. Archives have oc-

casionaliy, received in-depth treatntent as kev elements of the history of admi-r-risti-ative bureancratization."' A future histor,v of archives should not neglect

this contert, but might also want to move beyoncl it. To do so, the concept ol'practices' is helpful because it lbrces us, in very specific and concrete ways, to

situate 'the' :rrchive in the daiiy routines of human activitv. The concept invites

historians to establish in detail r,vhat people did (and did not) r,n'ith archives on a

t0

Harding, Elizabeth/Hecht, N,lici-rael (ed.): Die Ahttettprobe in der ltbrntoderrte. Selektion -Initit:ttion Repräsentütion. Ä,{ünster zorr.C)n paper-based accountabilitv as a new tbmratir.e aspect of Europeirn political cultLtre

after rroo see Bissorr, 'f hontas N.: Iäe crlsis o.i the tweiJih centurlt. pplys1', lordship, atul the

origins of Europeon goverilfttent. Princeton (N.].) zoo9.See the brief remark b1'Blair, Ann: 'I'oo much to know. Managing scholttrh,'lnfortnatiortbelore the tnodern age . Neu'Flar.en (O't-) 2oio, pp. rr-r4. Of course, there are signrficantiirnits irt our acceptar.rcc of archiving. Pe'rsonai clata is one such lleici rvhele archir.ingand datir-mining, r,vhether by the state ol bv corpolations, is generallv and ibr exccllent

reasons I'iewecl ver)'critical. Br.rt then, on the other hand, proiects and services ililorr,inginclividuals to "arcl-iive evert thittg" continue to tascinirte, sce Wilkilsorr, Alec: Rernenrber'

This? A project to record ever,vthrng rve do in lif'e, in: ihe New lbrker, Nlav u8 (zoo7)

PP. 38-44.For a recerrt contribution to this genre see Grebe, Malc,And16: AkterL;\rchit,e, Altsolutistnus?

L)as Kronarchit von Simantts irn I[urschaftsuefüge dt:r spanischen HabsbtLrger (ryp 695).Frankfiirt a. M. zorz.

roofs of nobilityFrer.rch Revolu-and, afier r789,

ras, though not,me the clefar-rlt

ying, fbrgettingLg and the con-or granted andHow this hap-

Lative. is one ofluture scholars

rs ofenhancedand origins of

I ife

;tions in mincl,hives have oc

story of admiLld not neglectthe concept ofrcrete ways, to:oncept invitest archives on a

lerne. Selektiort

political culturelordsh{p, and the

arLtt inJörmation

:e are significantwhere archivingmd for excellentervices allorvingAlec: Remember', May z8 (zoo7)

ve. Absolutismus?

rger (ry4t-t598).

lntroduction: New perspectives for the history of archives :f

dailybasis;ithelpstoshiftourfocusfromarchivesasinstitutionstoarchivesasarenas ibr and elements of human behavior. |ake Solr has shown how the social,

erudite,andpoliticalpracticesofearlymodern..informationmasters',suchas|ean-BaptisteColbert\^/ereShapedbytheirintimateclosenesstoarchives.''Butthe lives and social practices of many other Europeans were affected by archives

as well. lvlarc-Andrö Grebe notes' fär instance' that the Spanish crown archive

in the town of Simancas became a key factor in the rocal economy, at least for

some time.,, carpenters ancl bookbinäers built lives around archives as did the

producersofpaper,parchment,ink'andothermaterials(seealsoMeganWilliams'

;;;;;t lur.,tt, .ttup.d their children's education with an eye on archival careers

and families built dynastic strategies around the social opportunities available in

archives. Archives thus became lites of social placement and (moderate) social

."r,'rny'Criminalsalsolearnedhowtousearchives.Resellingstolenparchment,pup.., ur-rd wax was a risky, but potentiallyprofitable business'

Theseexamplesleadtoa-o'"gt"ttulobservation:Archiveshavebeen(andare) made useful by people i" moit than one way' and archival history should

explore as many of them as possible' Put even more generally: There is no 'na-

tural,or.inherent,functionofarchives.Theirfunctionisdeterminedbythewaysinwhichtheyare.activated,bytheirusers,aSEricKetelaarhaswritten.'.Their impact clepends upon the ways in which people incorporate them into

their daily activities' fili fti*oty of u"hiut' should take this point seriously

and follow the myriad *uy' l" *hltft people lived with archives' The concept of

'archival practices' can be helpful for doing this'

9 1.3 Critical functions of archival history

Looking at the ways in which archives were used and usable in daiiy life has an

importantcriticaifunctionbecauseithelpstodeconstructthewell'establishedml.thofarclrivesastokensof(bureaucratic)rationality.If.informationmasters,such as corbert, walsingham, or the Austrian Habsburgs collected huge amounts

ofdata through impressive bureaucratic procedures, a history ofarchival practices

will also point to the limits of these achievements' The case of Walsham studied

in Elisabeth Williamsons paper demonstrates how hard and difficult it was to

keep archives effective' Cotttttittg information and putting it into an archive

was one thing. Uncovering lt froJ the archive in order to use it in meaningful

11 Sol1, Jacob: The Inforrnation Master lean-Baptiste Colberts Secret State lntelligence System

Ann Arbor zoro.

12 Grebe, Akten, P. i7o'

l3 Ketelaar, Eric: Records or-rt and archives in: early modern cities as creators ofrecords and-

as communities ofarchives' in: Archival Scienceto (zoro)' pp 2o7-21o'

i r',:' Markus Friedrich

ways was something quite different. A closer look at the daily life of archives

illustrates that the "sinews of power"'n, at ieast to the degree they consisted of

papers stored in archives, were often stretched, torn, and not functioning so wel1.

A close look at archival realities highlights information overload, entropy, chaos

(see also Randolph Head's paper). It indicates that archival history is not only the

story of keeping, preserving, and storing but also of destroying and neglecting

documents, whether intentionally or unintentionally. The history of archives

is also the story of loss; it is the story of papers and parchment eaten by rats,

mice, and other animals. Archives frequentiywere dysfunctional and ambivalent

spaces of fear, uneasiness, and ambiguity because no one knew in totality what

might be found in the documents. Archives were often inaccessible and, from

the vantage point of many early modern users, contained largeiy incomprehen-

sible knowledge - quite literaliy, since many early modern users were lacking

the most basic palaeographic skills and could not read older handwriting. It

was nol seif-evident for archives to be efficient as spaces of knowiedge. Archives

were (and are), at the same time, much more and much less than simply storage

houses ofknowledge.The history of archives is thus at least in part also a history of (temporary)

forgetting. Archives themselves do not remember, in fact they allow to postpone

the actual act of remembering. Archives are sites of potential remembrance, as

all historians know - unless 'activated', most of the archive's content is not part

of memory and, thus, history. Archives can therefore be seen as an invitation to

partially disentangle the past from the present. The invention ofa complex social

infrastructure - the archive - that in principle allowed individuals and society

at large to unburden itself at least for a time from constant, 'hot' remembering

might in fact be a key aspect of European history with significant consequences,

as cultural theorist Borys Groys has suggested." Because'the past'is understood

to be safely deposited in archives it does not need to be constantly remembered

actively, thus freeing enormous amounts of cultural energy for other tasks' Ac'

cording to Groys, Europe's increasing reliance on archives to safeguard the past

helped turn its eyes on the future. Europe's culture of archives and its culture

of innovations, he thinks, are something like two sides of the same coin. If this

is the case, then un-activated and in-active archives are of significant cultural

importance. This, in turn, should challenge archival historians to move beyond

the well-established focus on active archives - the (temporarily) forgotten, closed,

or dormant archives might be just as revealing and interesting'

Brewer, John: The Sinews of Power. War, Money, and the English State, ß88-t78j' Cambridge

(MA) tqqo.Groys, Boris: Über das Neue. Versuch einer Kulturökonomie. Munich et al' ry92'

14

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9.3 Structure and practice in the emergence of Registratur:

the genealogy and implications of Innsbruck registries' 1523-1565

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8.4 Contact Zones. Überlegungen zum

frühneuzeitlicher Reiseberichte

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8.5 Akzent. Sprechen und seine Wahrnehmung als sensorielle Praktiken des Sozialen

Situationen aus Frankreich im r8' lahrhundert " '

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eines Architekten aus Ulm " " '

Archival Practices.

Producing Knowledge in early modern repositories of writing ' " 468

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9.r Introduction: New perspectives for the history of archives

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9.4 Unfolding Diplomatic Paper and Paper Practices in Early Modern Chancellery

Archives

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