Diplomatics and Archives

Diplomatics is an auxiliary science of history created by the French monk Dom Jean Mabillon in 1681 to establish the authenticity of medieval charters. It played a major role in legitimizing archival documentation for historical research and in the education and work of European archivists, many of whom in the twentieth century have come to recognize its potential value for the study of modern and contemporary records. Special diplomatics could be developed to assist American archivists in understanding and working with legal documents, accounting records, and other distinctive forms of record-keeping; the same could be done to aid in the identification of forgeries and the authentication of electronic records.