Don't forget you can add an empty constructor constraint in c# generics.

public T AssignLiteItem<T>(ArchivingItem archivingItem ) where T : Item, new() {

T myITem = new T();

myITem.ItemReference = new ItemReference(archivingItem.Id);

return myITem;

}

I do wish the compiler handled constraints for arbitrary constructor signatures on generic types, however...