Archives provide an important service in the preservation of our heritage, but the core archival processes involved in making literary papers accessible are essentially invisible to researchers. This essay outlines issues relating to archival appraisal, arrangement, and description because these processes directly affect the organization and subsequent interpretation of archival materials. What materials have archival value? How does an archivist respect original order while ensuring organized access? To what extent can and should finding aids as well as facsimiles of documents be made available in digital format? Discussion of these questions is illustrated with examples from Dalhousie University Archives and Special Collections' literary holdings, which include the papers of William R. Bird, Frank Parker Day, Thomas Head Raddall, and Budge Wilson. Les archives fournissent un service unique important qui permet de preserver note patrimoine mais les principaux processus archivistiques qui visent a rendre des documents litteraires q sont essentiellement invisibles aux chercheurs. Le present article veut donner un apercu des problemes relies a l'evaluation, a l'arrangement et a la description des archives parce que ces processus influent directement sur l'organisation et l'interpretation subsequente du materiel d'archives. Quel materiel a une valeur archivistique? Comment un archiviste respecte-t-il l'ordre original tout en assurant un acces organise? Jusqu'a quel point les instruments de recherche et la telecopie de documents devraient-ils etre permis en format nurnerique? Devraient-ils l'etre? La discussion de ces questions est illustree avec des exemples de documents litteraires de la section des archives et des collections speciales de l'universite Dalhousie, qui comprennent des documents de William R. Bird, Frank Parker Day, Thomas Head Raddall et Budge Wilson.