What is Archival Theory?
Jenkinson Approach
Schellenberg Approach
Dutch Manual Approach
What is an "archive?"
"Materials created or received by a person, family, or organization, public or private, in the conduct of their affairs and preserved because of the enduring value contained in the information they contain or as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator..." Society of American Archivists
Provenance: the individual, family, or organization that created or received the items in a collection. Society of American Archivists
Appraisal
"The process of identifying materials offered to an archives that have sufficient value to be accessioned."; "The process of determining the length of time records should be retained, based on legal requirements and on their current and potential usefulness." Society of American Archivists
Why?
Why not?
Features of Extraordinary Value (Jenkinson, 1965, p. 12)
Authenticity: an archive should be free of suspicion of forgery, tampering, etc. and should have an established chain of custody (Jenkinson, 1965, p. 12)
Impartiality: archives do not reflect views of archivist, historian, interpreter, or any other user but are objective reflections of the administration or operation of the creator (Jenkinson, 1965, p. 12)
Who selects (appraises) documents?
Impartiality (Jenkinson, 1965, p. 12) #
The sheer volume of information available makes it impossible to keep everything .
Selection is inherently subjective, which alters the authenticity of archives (Bell and Brown, 2014, p. 25)
An organic whole (Muller, Feith, and Fruin, 2003)
No one can know what information will be important to future scholars and recordkeepers (Jenkinson, 1965, p. 139)
Core Concepts, "defining the fonds" (Horsman, 2002, p.xvii)
As Initial Document of modern Archival Theory: Impetus and Rationales #
Definition of the Object - “Provenienzprinzip” or Principle of Provenance #
Archive reflects the administration of the producing entity #
Archive evolves with the administration and not the entity #
Respect du Fonds #
Legal
Administrative
Evolved Rationales
History
Patriotism
Morality
Civics
Arrangement
No mixing of archives
Reflection of the organization of the administration
No blending of systems
Organic Whole: “The archive arises as a consequence of the activities of the person who formed it.” (Horsman 2002, p. xx) #
Archive as "Living Organism"
Archive as collection of "Sediment of Functions"
The Organization and the Archive: “the various tasks of an organization will be allocated to different organizational components and that each of these units can create its own archive, which is part of the greater whole. Whenever two or more units are involved with the same subject or object, then they will each be so from their own field of responsibility. The documents can only be understood from the point of view of the task involved, and therefore they may not be thrown together according to object or subject, but they should primarily be classified according to organizational unit.” (Horsman, 2002, p.xxi)
Description: Map of the physical arrangement which is, in itself a reflection of the logical organization
Establish Signposts
Standardize Vocabulary
Records: material produced by an institution in the course of it's regular duties and preserved as evidence of the institution's actions or for the sake of the information contained within (Schellenberg, 1956) **
Archives: the records that are considered worth permanent preservation (Tschan, 2002)
Records also have both primary and secondary value
Secondary: Importance to secondary research by later users (Cook, 1997)
Secondary value is further divided into evidential and Informational value
Evidential: evidence of the organization itself for secondary researchers
Informational: incidental content; evidence of other people, subjects, ect. (Bell& Brown, 2013)
“The element of selection should be implicit in the definition of archives” (Schellenberg, 1956, p. 16)
Who selects (appraises) documents?
Schellenberg suggested selection based on the value of records for perceived research needs of those other than the creator. (Bell & Brown, 2013, p. 25-26)
Archivists should consult with experts on what to preserve (Bell & Brown, 2013, p. 25-26)
There is considerable subjectivity and judgment implied in this understanding of appraisal, and Schellenberg welcomed it, as he thought that this very inconsistency between archivists and archives would preserve a wider range of material (Bell & Brown, 2013, p. 25-26) #
Unbroken Custody (Jenkinson, 1965: p. 11) #
Documents forming an official transaction and preserved for reference. (Jenkinson, 1965, p. 4) #
Depositories have different missions and archival needs, and these can be taken into account when preserving archives
"Appraisal" is inherently subjective, which reduces impartiality. The creator is the only one in a place to conduct such activities. (Bell and Brown, 2014, p. 25)
Irrefutable evidence
Organization of Archives
By government - local bodies, province, state
Subject - charters, maps, finances, etc.
Inventories - systematic summary of records
Chronological Registers
Community as creator of archives
Damaging to integrity of records #
Integrity: Archivists' job to keep moral and physical integrity intact; cannot destroy records (Bell and Brown, 2014, p. 25)
According to Schellenberg, “To be archives, materials must have been created or accumulated to accomplish some purpose” and must be “preserved for reasons other than those for which they were created or accumulated” (Schellenberg, 1956, p. 13)
It is the creator's job to determine the value of records (Gibbons, 2017).
Archivists are only the keepers (Gibbons, 2017).
Respect des fonds: records of different origins (provenance) should be kept separate to preserve their context