Destruktionens ädla konst : Motiv för gallring hos svenska statliga myndigheter

Sammanfattning

For the better part of 100 years, destruction of public records has been an inescapable part of archival work. By careful selection of what to keep and what to destroy archivists ensure that the remaining collection is manageable, both regarding upkeep and accessibility. In a world where we can no longer keep records of everything a government produces, what decides which records are kept and which are not? This thesis examines the grounds for destruction of public records given by Swedish government authorities in matters of appraisal inquiry to the Swedish archival authority, Riksarkivet. Using content analysis, this thesis seeks to identify what these grounds are, to examine what motivates government authorities to get rid of records they would otherwise keep or to keep records they would otherwise destroy. The material is analysed through the lens of the analytical framework developed for the thesis, which is based on previous research and a deep reading of the material. The analytical framework takes shape in three themes, into which the different motivations described in appraisal inquiries are sorted. These themes are function, content and form. The results of the analysis are interpreted through previous research, the analytical framework and the laws and regulations that govern destruction of public records in Sweden. The results point to a discrepancy in the occurrence of motivations of destruction of public records related to one of three purposes of archives, as established by the Archives act (arkivlagen). Specifically, there is a greater occurrence of motivations related to the purpose of providing for the needs of administration of justice and the management of government authorities. In return, the purposes related to seeing to the needs of research and the right of citizens to access public records are less often mentioned as grounds for keeping or destroying public records. This shows that the three purposes established in the Archives act are skewed in the favour of one of them, which impacts the workings of archives and society as a whole.