The need for conservation is accepted - but of what? it is essential that an archives, whther it be business or, as in this case, a publicly funded grant agency (the National Endowments for the Humanities and Arts, USA), have a clear policy on what is to be kept, and for how long. From the moment a piece of paper enters an archives it costs money to keep, and the expense has to be justified. There must also be consistency between different sections of the same organisation on the policy to be adopted. -- ICCROM