Publication Reviews

Making Archives in Early Modern Europe: Proof, Information, and Political Record- Keeping, 1400–1700. By Randolph C. Head. [Review]

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Abstract

Over an academic career beginning in the early 1990s, Randolph Head (University of California, Riverside) has unpacked and interrogated the ways that early modern Europeans, particularly those in central Europe and the Swiss Confederation, thought about the past. Making Archives in Early Modern Europe culminates decades of research in the field of central European history, extended in this text to a handful of rather disparate and idiosyncratically chosen locales; namely Lisbon, Simancas, Leiden, Paris, and Berlin. While Head may find through this latest effort audiences beyond historians of Europe—including professional archivists, librarians, and cultural heritage curators—it is questionable whether he provides enough of a narrative for readers unfamiliar with European history to follow the book through its many glancing case studies and comparative analyses. At a price of $32.99, the paperback edition (released in August 2020) significantly reduces the entrance fee to Head’s provocative, if unfulfilling, scholarship.

How to Cite:

Stoykovich, E. C., (2021) “Making Archives in Early Modern Europe: Proof, Information, and Political Record- Keeping, 1400–1700. By Randolph C. Head. [Review]”, Archival Issues 41(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/archivalissues.13214