Crossing the Rubicon in archival sciences. Redefining the scope of state archivists in the 21st century Poland (with Ukrainian reflection)

The archivist’s profession has been shaped by its relations with historic sciences. In the 19th century, where first archival institutions were founded, they attracted numerous historians. It was them who primarily joined the ranks of archives’ personnel and contributed to their development. It constitutes a foundation for the traditional archival methodology, the perception of archives themselves and the self-identification of their employees. Nowadays, the world is changing more rapidly than ever before affecting the archives. Polish state archives influenced by both techno-logical and cultural revolutions are faced with a difficult choice for further advancement of their scope and activities. This article outlines the principle reasons behind the discernible changes in the Polish archival realism. The authors try to answer the question of what these changes are, in which spheres of archival work take place and on what levels. They also prepare a portrait of an employee of the modern state archive in Poland and describe the transformations in the consciousness, self-esteem and intellectual and professional condition of archivists. They confront this picture with the situation in Ukrainian archives operating in a similar geographical area, although with the experience of the realities of the Soviet Union and a different systemic path after 1991. This comparative study was based on an analysis of the scientific literature on Polish and Ukrainian archivists and the results of research conducted by the authors among employees state archives.