David -
Stored information MATTERS!  A BP discussion recently went over some of the
easier methods of filing information the BP packrats keep.  Of course, no
expects anyone to remember absolutely everything in those files, however -
some kind of "system" to stuff it into will help tremendously.
When does it matter?  For exactly the reasons you stated: "I frequently
investigate problems with buildings built within the past ten years where
nobody can find any of the documents associated with the production of the
building elements, be it a specification, architectural drawings, shop
drawings or even a maintenance manual outlining the nature of the particular
building element.

Similarly, I am often flabbergasted by the lack of research to establish what
has worked in the past ... and so architects and builders frequently try to
reinvent the flashing, often unsuccessfully."

The point is David, that archived material is accessible - it may be
difficult, frustrating, and seem impossibly time consuming - but the stuff is
there.
I was recently doing historical archeaological research on a long forgotten
plot of land and an African burial ground associated with a house built in
the early 1700s.  Although I was able to locate a significant amount of
information, most of it was "filed" under other criteria and subject headings
unrelated to my field of query - those that were appropriate at the time the
information was saved.  The "name" of the property had changed over time as
had the name of the intersecting streets.  The streets themselves had been
rerouted (curves straightened - topography altered); some discontinued for
use and left to grass over and new roads cut in.  So "my" property of 1770,
had a different name, street, size, architectural style and topography - BUT
It's Information Was There!

Leland Torrence can tell you how he found otherwise unknown architectural
specs buried inside an archived bound volume of papers on a historic
structure he was investigating. Someone many years ago had the sense to save
the works - undoubtedly not for the same reasons Leland needed the papers -
but stuck the stuff on a shelf and forgot all about them.  Thank goodness
they did.  Did it Matter? Yes indeed!

For those of you caught up in the computer phenomenom  - I am a firm believer
in paper archives.  Call me old fashioned or whatever. We somehow need both.
The computerized data saved countless hours of time putting related material
together and all sorts of other goodies.  It saves handling the "real" thing.
 It saves those dreary hours of decifering white-on-black microfilm. It makes
information more accessible by cyberspace.  WHAT a BOOST!
Problems lie in archival storage, however.  Museums are going nuts trying to
find the "right" process.  A museum I work with, received the files of a
defunct museum (only in operation from around 1988 - 1996).  The files? The
research/library stuff is paper; The operations and collections management is
on computer disc - 5 1/2" I might say.  Needless to say - our computers can't
read their files.  Stacks of nameless floppies are waiting for us to find an
old working machine to see what is on them.   For you Mac lovers - how about
that new one with NO Floppy slot At All?

Does it matter? Yes it matters.  As BPers we save it all.  As new trades
methodology is learned and old ones discredited - stuff saved in file "stone
consoliation" is relegated to "stone consolidation - obsolete".  Time (and
quite possibly because some didn't have "Advanced Office Management Training
401" while learning the building trade) allows the saving and the filing -
but not always the cataloguing.

Yikes - I'll get off my horse.  By the way - considering the condition of my
own files; I'll use the old saying: "do as I say, not as I do".

CB