Colonial archive density was driven by emotional standards for agents.

Evidence

Investment in the distribution of sentiment was equally apparent in the bureaucratic protocols of governance—in the “emotional standards” that policymakers imagined their agents needed to rule. Evaluations of internal comportment—evidence of integrity, reserve, and trustworthiness— generated and motivated the density of the colonial state’s archival production, its empathetic or intemperate narrative tone, and the scope of bureaucratic labors. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 397

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s purpose: connects internal comportment evaluation to the sheer volume and tone of archival production.