In recent decades, the history of information has developed into a distinct field in its own right, spurred in part by technological transformations that have bestowed the designation “Information Age” upon the recent past and present. But scholars of the history of information have also taught us that the tools and practices we associate with information management and use possess a far deeper history. This roundtable will examine aspects of that history, focusing on 1) information preserved in documentary form and 2) the archival systems constructed to house and organize such documents and facilitate—or hinder—their use. It brings together scholars working across contexts we now label “pre” or “early” modern; case studies will explore everything from state archives in ancient Rome and collections of notarial documents in late medieval Provenance to the use of bishops’ archives at sixteenth-century synods and the performative strategies of early modern financial account books. Participants will address a set of common questions and themes: in what ways did various documentary cultures encourage (or inhibit) forms of use/user experience? How did they navigate questions concerning the retrievability, availability and accessibility of the information they gathered? In what ways were documents vulnerable to manipulation or forgetting? How did scribes and archivists leverage everything from common paleographical styles to such bookish devices as marginalia, indexes, titles, and more? When were archives “activated,” and when were they not? Finally, given the expertise of our various participants, this roundtable will also consider how methods from the history of information can help us reexamine longstanding topics and tropes in pre- and early-modern history, from the nature of state-formation and displays of religious authority to narratives of the rise of capitalism and more.