Discusses the importance of locality to American archival practice, looks at primary methods archivists have used to acquire documentation about localities, examines the practical basis of the archival documentation strategy as a better approach to archival appraisal, and suggests a schema for conducting such documentation work. Written as a companion to the author's Managing Institutional Archives: Foundational Principles and Practices (Greenwood Press, 1992). Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR