The times are dark: war, pestilence, floods and famine. Truly, the world seems to be sliding into catastrophe.
However: I argue that the archival profession is based on hope. We hope for the sustained significance of the archival profession and its associations; we hope for the allocation of resources that allow archival institutions and archivists to flourish; and, most of all, we hope that we are acquiring and preserving materials that will be used and useful in the future. Hope in this latter sense is a political hope: that we are wise enough to save the materials (from all sources, of all kinds) that will allow people, now and in the future, to preserve and protect their human rights. We want to live in just societies, and archives play a key role in sustaining justice.