Archival theory in the English-speaking world has a long and varied history.

While today, archival theory is permeated with postmodern ideas and philosophies,

borrowing from fields as diverse as anthropology and computer science, even just a few

decades ago, this was far from the case. In the 1960s and 1970s, and to some extent the

1980s, archival theory served more as a professional guide to best practices and "how to"

methodology. This transition was pioneered and strongly influenced by the imaginative

and thought-provoking essays of Hugh Alexander Taylor, an English-born Canadian

archivist who developed a worldview that positioned archives at centre stage. Taylor was

able to do so as a result of his fascination with the works of the media theorist, Marshall

McLuhan, whose ideas Taylor found directly applicable to archives and archival theory.