A professional who appraises and edits permanent records and historically valuable documents, participates in research activities based on archival materials, and directs safekeeping of archival documents and materials. Responsibilities include:

• Analyzes documents, such as government records, minutes of corporate board meetings, letters from famous persons, and charters of nonprofit foundations, by ascertaining date of writing, author, or original recipient of letter, to appraise value to posterity or to employing organization.
• Directs activities of workers engaged in cataloging and safekeeping of valuable materials and directs disposition of worthless materials.
• Prepares or directs preparation of document descriptions and reference aids for use of archives, such as accession lists, indexes, guides, bibliographies, abstracts, and microfilmed copies of documents.
• Directs filing and cross indexing of selected documents in alphabetical and chronological order.
• Advises government agencies, scholars, journalists, and others conducting research by supplying available materials and information according to familiarity with archives and with political, economic, military, and social history of period.
• Requests or recommends pertinent materials available in libraries, private collections, or other archives.
• Selects and edits documents for publication and display, according to knowledge of subject, literary or journalistic expression, and techniques for presentation and display.
• May be designated according to subject matter specialty as Archivist, Economic History; Archivist, Military History; Archivist, Political History; or according to nature of employing institution as Archivist, Nonprofit Foundation.
• In smaller organizations, may direct activities of libraries.