Archivists are in the business of preserving the past and like most people, they tend to overvalue what they are familiar with. But most old art, like all art,

Archivists are in the business of preserving the past and like most people, they tend to overvalue what they are familiar with. But most old art, like all art, is mediocre and very much of its time. After that, it quickly loses its value. And therefore preserving old art is only somewhat useful. Some works are good enough to stand the test of time, but those are in no danger of disappearing, because continuing interest means that natural commercial forces keep producing copies from generation to generation. Even if all the archivists of the world lost their minds for a generation, we would be in no danger of losing the works of the Beatles, Hemingway, and Scorsese. What we might lose are large numbers of works by their less accomplished contemporaries. Would that be a real loss? Yes. A big one? No. And that's why it's simply not that important that the archivists succeed in preserving everything.