Running Head: Organization of Archives Materials

Maureen Pardee Redfield

Annotated Bibliography Organization of Archives Materials Maureen Pardee Redfield LI 804 Emporia State University

Introduction: Archives, as Arlene G. Taylor and Daniel N. Joudrey explain in The Organization of Information, preserve records of enduring value that document organizational or personal activities accumulated in the course of daily life and work. (p11). These records are unique items of every shape, size and format. Since their collections are not limited to the sorts of materials generally found in libraries, archives can present many unique intellectual and practical challenges for the un-initiated. Basic library usage skills are part of our educational program for even the youngest students. In contrast, ones first exposure to archives may not be until graduate school (if at all). This bibliography is designed to provide an introductory access point to the field of archives for graduate library science students or anyone else in a related profession (historian, researcher, administrator), that is in need of an introduction to the field. This document is organized into several categories from an overview of the field, through history and theory to some more specific issues. It is recommended that the reader generally follow the path as laid out but once one has read the overview and theoretical sections he should have no trouble with pursuing the more specific sections in any order. Overview: Fox, M. J., & Wilkerson, P. L. (1998). Introduction to archival organization and description. S. R. Warren, (Ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Getty Information Institute. This slim volume gives a very clear overview of the field of archives without being simplistic. Published by the Getty Information Institute as a response to a perceived need of introductory guides to the different aspects of preserving our cultural heritage collections, this book aims to provide an introduction to educators and students as well as professionals in fields related to the work of archives. The authors, both experienced archivists, give concise treatment to the essential activities and theories of archival work, providing groundwork for further exploration of the theories and issues at work in the archive world. An interesting and unique section to this book is the appendix that walks through an example of a day in the life of an archivist. The
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authors assert that the best way to grasp the steps involved, and their theoretical underpinnings, in processing and organizing archival material is by watching it be done. The appendix allows us a peek inside this process. History: Posner, E. (1940). Some aspects of archival development since the French Revolution. American Archivist, (3)2, 159-172. Ernst Posner, a Prussian archivist who immigrated to the United States before WWII, can be credited with bringing recognition to the profession of its own history, building connections between the more established European archival traditions and the emerging one in the United States, and creating one of the first programs in North America where students could study the practice of archival work in a scholarly manner. This article, while published over seventy years ago, provides a clearly written illustration of the growth and development of some modern archival concepts. The French Revolution brought about huge changes in thinking about a wide range of topics with the development of the modern world. Little was untouched by the sweep of intellectual and social changes. Notions about what an archive was, who it was for, and how it should be organized were not excluded. Posner discusses the emerging accessibility of archives to public (and scholarly) examination, and the evolution of the character of archival work away from work that resembled librarians work. Perhaps most importantly, Posner gives us an idea of where the most basic and important principle of archival work arose from: respect des fonds. Theoretical Considerations: Bearman, D. A., & Lytle, R. H. (1985). The power of the principle of provenance. Archivaria, 21, 14-27. Arguably, the most important theory in the archival world is the principle of respect des fonds or provenance. Provenance is the principle by which archivists recognize the original entity that created and gathered the items being archived and preserve the order in which they were used and created. The idea is that the original context is what provides meaning and importance and that contextthe relationships between the itemsmust be preserved and made as apparent as possible to give the archived items meaning. For most archives, this is the basic principle under which materials are organized. Bearman, a leading archival thinker and prolific writer in the field, and Lytle, a well respected archivist with ties to the Smithsonian and Drexel University, argue in this article that this principle of provenance has much further reaching applications to other areas of information management. They give an evaluation of the principle as it is applied as a method for archival retrieval and come to assert that, rather than being a historical hold-over, archival methodologies and principles such as provenance hold the conceptual key to a world now drowning in a sea of decontextualized computerized data [p. 20. Cook, T. (1997). The impact of David Bearman on modern archival thinking. Archives and Museum Informatics, 11(1), 15-37.] For the authors, the problems evidenced in archival practice can be remedied by a more aggressive application of the principle, including using it as a means of providing access points to the materials. David Bearmans work and the principle of provenance are two important

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Maureen Pardee Redfield

elements to understand in order to obtain a grasp of archival theory and practice today. The reader would be well served to pursue this article. Schellenberg, T. R. (1961). Archival principles of arrangement. The American Archivist, 24(1), 11-24. T.R. Schellenberg, Assistant Archivist to the United States for the National Archives and author of two classic archival texts, gives us an overview of the two primary principles of archival arrangement: provenance and original order. He discusses the importance of the two principles, their differences and some brief examples of their employment in arrangement. One of the major differences between the two, which is often lost in discussions and basic instruction, is the latitude afforded the archivist in their implementation. The principle of provenance should be executed strictly and inflexibly. Preservation of the organic character of the records must be preserved in all ways possible; there is little room for archivist discretion. On the other hand, for Schellenberg, the principle of original order is mainly a matter of convenience of use. The archivist is likely to run into situations in which the original order is ineffective, disorganized and inconsequential. The archivist has the liberty to, with great care and after much consideration, re-assign order to records within the archive as long as the provenance is kept clear and it is done to make the records more useful and accessible to the patrons. After some introductory work, the interested reader would be well served to read this article by one of the fathers of American archival thought to gain a better understanding of the principles behind the arrangement of archival materials. Critique of Theory: Roberts, J. W. (1987). Archival theory: Much ado about shelving. The American Archivist, 50(1), 66-74. Roberts, an archivist at the National Archives, pens a critique of archival theory as a whole in this article. He argues that the move to develop a body of archival theory is more a matter of an emotional need to provide validity to the profession in the academic world. For Roberts, most of the archival theories in existence are simply practical tools and codifications of techniques rather than philosophical matters for debate. The rest largely fall under the category of historiography. True archival theory is a slim field at best. The author asserts, not that there is little in archivy to think about but rather, there is little to nothing to theorize about and that it is, essentially, a waste of time and energy. Roberts gives us an interesting and thought provoking perspective on the field. For an opposing view of the ways in which the contemplation of and work on the theoretical aspects of archiving bring value to the discipline see Richard PearceMoses The Archival Lexicon from A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology. (http://www.archivists.org/glossary/Lexicon.asp) The Internet Age and Digital Access: Pitti, D. V. (1999). Encoded Archival Description: An introduction and overview. D-Lib Magazine, 5(11). Retrieved from http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november99/11pitti.html

Organization of Archives Materials

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Daniel V. Pitti, the Associate Director at the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the University of Virginia and the principle investigator for the project at the University of California, Berkley Library that laid the foundation for a machine readable encoding standard for archives, does a good job of clearly illustrating in this article many of the complexities of archival records. By beginning with this discussion we can see both how they differ from a librarys bibliographic record and why it has taken so long for an encoding standard to be developed for archives. He gives us a sense of what the benefits will be of having Encoded Archival Description (EAD) adopted by archives universally. By adopting this machine readable encoding standard, archives will be able to open the doors to union databases, indexes and the global sharing of information about their collections. Pitti also manages to succeed in giving a technical explanation of EAD that is not lost on those of us who struggle with programming terminology and acronyms. Since the publication of this article a revised version of the EAD has been released. Please see the Library of Congresss EAD: Encoded Archival Description Version 2002 Official Site available at http://www.loc.gov/ead/ for the most current iteration. Stevenson, J. (2008). The online archivist: The positive approach to the digital information age. In L. Craven (Ed.), What are archives? Cultural and theoretical perspectives: A reader (pp. 89-108). Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited. In this chapter, the author, Co-Ordinator of the Archives Hub (http://archiveshub.ac.uk/) in the UK, argues that the archival discipline needs to focus on attracting people with strong technical interests and abilities to the profession. As more and more information is created and accessed digitally, and technology continues to be a growing influence on the behaviors and expectations of the users of archives, the archival profession needs to be aware of how these changing behaviors and expectations are impacting the effectiveness, usefulness and satisfaction with the traditional tools and access points for archival material. Even more importantly for Stevenson, as every aspect of our world becomes more and more digitally based, if the archivists themselves do not have the working skills, good understanding of and comfort with the whole scope of considerations that fall under the broad umbrella of technology, then it will increasingly be people without archival training who will be making important decisions about things like points of access, how relations between materials are displayed, the dissemination of information and the promotion of archives. In the end, archivists themselves will end up with very little control over how their archives are managed. Stevenson has a very interesting point of view in the discussion of the ways in which archives, and on a broader scale, all information science professions, are figuring out the new balances and interactions between their disciplines and the rapidly growing technological world we currently inhabit. The issues surrounding archives in the digital age are something of rising importance that the reader should give some thought to in order to gain an understanding of archivy and, more broadly, information science. How Patrons Use Archives: Duff, W. M., & Johnson, C. A. (2002). Accidentally found on purpose: Information-seeking behavior of historians in archives. Library Quarterly, (72)4, 472-96.

Organization of Archives Materials

Maureen Pardee Redfield

In order to provide better access to materials, we must have an understanding of who our patrons are, how they are approaching the materials, and what their needs are. Unfortunately, much less research has been done focusing on the use by and information needs of archive users than the information needs of library users. Duff and Johnson, a professor and doctoral candidate from the University of Torontos Faculty of Information Studies, have attempted to add to the slim body of work. This article gives some insights in to the users of archives and their needs by focusing on ten historians and how they use archives. The authors include a brief literature review in their article. This section is helpful to discover, in a condensed format, what research has been done in the areas of archival use and information needs. The authors wisely recognize that their limited sample size precludes the generalization of their findings to a larger scale but their findings can point the way for further, more extensive, studies. Issues in the Education of the Archivist: Ruth, J. E. (1988). Educating the reference archivist. The American Archivist, (51)3, 266-276. Janice E. Ruth, curator at the Library of Congress and former reference librarian, asserts in this article that the education of the archivist as a reference professional has been sorely neglected. One of the important ways to ensure access in the information science world is through the abilities of the disciplines professionals to provide reference services to their patrons. Until the late 1980s, little attention had been paid to the question of how archivists provided those services and tools to improve archivists reference abilities. The discipline was, and continues to be, far more focused on other archival issues. The author provides an interesting over-view on the literature and suggests directions for needed research, and the needs for improving finding aids and the education of archivists in reference skills. It appears that the field has made some strides in this direction in the last couple of decades but the authors criticisms have not all been appeased. If you are interested in helping this discipline to move forward to better access of its materials, better services to its patrons and broader utilization of archives you cannot go wrong with reading this article and giving some thought to the authors points. Archival Ethics: Benedict, K. (1988). Archival ethics. In J. G. Bradsher (Ed.), Managing archives and archival institutions (pp. 174-184). Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press. The author, the Chairperson for the SAA (Society of American Archivists) Committee on Professional Ethics, asserts that a profession needs more than a code of ethics to cultivate a full understanding of ethical concerns and to develop the ability to make ethical judgments when faced with conflicts. She believes that it is a disservice to the profession that so little emphasis is placed on the need of archivists to gain a firm ethical grounding. Archivists are charged to walk a narrow line that balances access to archival materials with an individuals legal rights to both privacy and the freedom of information. One cannot help but notice that the issues have only grown more complex since the publication of this book. The SAA has since revised their code of ethics in 2005 (current Code of Ethics for Archivists is available online at: http://www.archivists.org/governance/handbook/app_ethics.asp). Despite the datedness of this essay, Benedict provides a clear discussion of the importance of attention to ethical
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considerations beyond the construction of a formalized code. She advocates for an education in ethical philosophy for would-be archivists. Any person interested in understanding archives also needs an understanding of the ethical issues surrounding the profession.