‘Archivalius affectus’. A practitioner’s reflections on emotions in the archival profession

Archives and working in them are commonly associated with monotony, routine and boredom. Yet emotions accompany the entire life cycle of archival records and the various stages of an archivist’s work; they also influence the decisions they make. Reading files containing information about specific individuals is often a veiled form of peering into their lives, which provides grounds for both praise and fame, as well as shame and embarrassment at the behaviour of those observed. This is the source of the dilemmas and controversies surrounding the publication of private correspondence or denunciations dating from the period of the communist regime in Poland. A paradox of the modern age remains the fact that, at a time of increasing openness of archives to public needs, excitement is aroused not only by issues related to legal restrictions on the disclosure of certain types of records, but also by descriptions of their contents in the basic archival tool, namely the inventory. In view of the above, the discussion concluded by addressing the issue of the influence of emotions on a sense of professional responsibility and the application of ethical standards in the work of archivists.