Digital Artifactual Value - Intrinsic Value in Analog Materials

Intrinsic Value in Analog Materials

With respect to analog or non-digital materials, artifacts are determined to have singular research or archival value if they possess qualities and characteristics that make them the only acceptable form for long-term preservation. These qualities and characteristics are commonly referred to as the item’s intrinsic value and form the basis upon which digital artifactual value is currently evaluated. Artifactual value based on this idea is predicated upon the artifact’s originality, faithfulness, fixity, and stability. The intrinsic value of a particular object, as interpreted by archival professionals, largely determines the selection process for archives. The National Archives and Record Administration Committee on Intrinsic Value in “Intrinsic Value in Archival Material” classified an analog object as having intrinsic value if it possessed one or more of the follow qualities:

1. Physical form that may be the subject for study if the records provide meaningful documentation or significant examples of the form.
2. Aesthetic or artistic quality.
3. Unique or curious physical features.
4. Age that provides a quality of uniqueness.
5. Value for use in exhibits.
6. Questionable authenticity, date, author, or other characteristic that is significant and ascertainable by physical examination.
7. General and substantial public interest because of direct association with famous or historically significant people, places, things, issues or events.
8. Significance as documentation of the establishment or continuing legal basis of an agency or institution.
9. Significance as documentation of the formulation of policy at the highest executive levels when the policy has significance and broad effect throughout or beyond the agency or institution.

Other archival professionals such as Lynn Westney have written that the characteristics of materials exhibiting intrinsic value include age, content, usage, particularities of creation, signatures, and attached seals. Westney and others have stated that paper-based artifacts can be thought to have evidentiary value, or significant contextual markings, insofar that the original manifestation of the artifact can attest to the originality, faithfulness or authenticity, fixity, and stability of the content.

For other analog materials, properly articulating intrinsic value remains essential for determining artifactual value. Similar to paper-based objects in many respects, artifactual value for images typically takes into account artistic value, age, authorial prestige, significant provenance, and institutional priorities. Analog audio preservation is based upon similar factors, including the cultural value of the item, its historical uniqueness, the estimated longevity of the medium, the current condition of the item, and the state of playback equipment, among other things.