The article, starting from Claudio Pavone ideas, evaluates the deve­lopments of the archival science in the decades following his central con­tributions. It focuses in particular on the evolution of the historical me­thod in the years following Pavone’s studies in this regard. The pragmatic and methodological consequences of the transformations that affected the archives in the period under consideration are also assessed, with particu­lar reference to the debate on archival standards, the diffusion of informa­tion technologies in the archival world and the growing attention to the public role of archives.