SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION
SCIENCE
Instructor: Richard J. Cox
Telephone: 412-624-3245
Office Hours: By appointment; generally, I will be in my office
Monday through Wednesdays and available for walk-ins.
Course Rationale
This course introduces students to the theoretical principles, methodologies, and practical administration of archives and manuscripts, the institutional programs that care for these materials, and the professional community that supports this work. A considerable emphasis in this course is on the history and changing nature of recordkeeping. It is essential that individuals preparing for careers in records management, information resources management, knowledge management, and archival administration understand what a record is, how the concept of a record has changed or remained the same, and how systems governing the creation and use of records have changed and are changing. Archival and current records relate to, but are not exclusive to, the concept of “documents” many information professions now use to characterize their work (for an orientation to the documents approach students can examine my syllabus for the LIS 2000 Understanding Information course). Readings on this topic have been assigned throughout the course, and there will be class discussions of these readings.
Course Goals
Students will learn about the differences and similarities between archivists, records managers, librarians, and practitioners in related information fields; how organizational records and personal manuscripts share common traits and principles as records; the importance of records in the modern information age; what records management is and what records professionals do; the history and development of recordkeeping systems; the place of records professionals in the information professions; how archives and records management is broadly applied in a variety of institutional settings (government, corporate, college and university, and non-profit); and records management as an important function in archival administration.
This
course will also prepare students to take more advanced courses in archival and
records administration and to be able to work effectively in environments that
include archival and historical records programs. The course is an introduction only, and students seriously
considering careers in archival and related records work must plan to take
additional courses offered by the School.
There are courses in archival appraisal; archival representation;
archival access and advocacy; library and archives preservation; preservation
management; digital preservation; and records and information resources
management. The instructor can provide
additional information about the archival science concentration to those
students who are interested or consult his personal homepage with a link to a
description of the archives and records specialization.
Course Outline
This
course has five parts.
§ Part One provides an introduction to the nature of historical manuscripts and records, the programs that care for such materials, the archives profession, and this profession's relationship to other information and historical disciplines.
§
Part Two is an analysis of the history of
recordkeeping. Students will learn
about the historical context of the development of information technology,
understanding that the recent development of the computer and its uses in
recordkeeping is but another phase in the evolution of information systems
supporting records creation, maintenance, and use.
§
Part Three introduces students to the basic
concepts and principles archivists and records managers have developed to
reflect and capture the nature of records and archives. Key concerns, sometimes taken for granted,
will be considered, such as the definition of a record. In this part there will also be a
consideration of the basic principles supporting the management of
records. Students will consider how
records are defined and the differences between recordkeeping and information
systems, the basic notion of the life cycle of records and how the life cycle
concept has been challenged, how records have been traditionally managed, and
the basic administration of records management programs and how the
administration of these programs is likely to change. This section also includes some orientation to the field of
records management and its relationship to archives and its broader place in
the information professions. Records
management emerged from the archives profession, separated into its own
professional discipline, and has evolved (according to some) into information
resources management and knowledge management.
This course will consider the implications of the identity of the
records field and the primary nature of its business and responsibilities.
§
Part Four is the main focus of this
course. It provides an in-depth
introduction to the basics of administering archives or historical records
programs and the fundamental archival principles, theories, and practices that
support this administration. This part
of the course focuses on the key principles underlying archival work. There are
other courses offered in this school that concentrate on the more important of
the basic archival functions, so what is being provided in this course is very
introductory; however, in order to understand these functions it is necessary to
understand these principles and concepts. Each class session will provide an
overview of the general aspects of this function and relate it to the
requirements for administrating a historical records program. Students should gain some concept of the theory
(the why) that shapes these functions and their application (the how) to the
running of any archival program.
Students will also learn about the management of archival programs.
§
Part Five will briefly summarize the course,
examine the future of the archives profession, and provide information on
career opportunities and archival education options. We will consider the present nature of the issues before the
archival profession.
Course Requirements and Grading:
General.
Course
requirements include the following:
§
adequate
preparation to discuss required reading assignments and full participation in
class discussions
§ research and writing of a major (25-35 page) paper reviewing and evaluating the existing literature in any aspect of the history, basic principles, or core functions of an archival or historical records program; analyzing a current, critical, or contested archival and records management topic, such as authentic electronic records or records and accountable information management systems; or reviewing and evaluating the existing literature in any aspect of the history, basic principles, or core functions of archives and records management (see below for more information).
Class participation sometimes causes problems for
students. Class participation is
critical because it enables the Instructor to assess verbal communication and
interpersonal skills (something always asked about in references for
prospective employers), as well as enriching the learning environment of the
classroom. This grade will be dependent
on the instructor's evaluation of the student's participation in class and
other opportunities to assess the student's progress (such as individual
meetings and discussions). To
facilitate this evaluation, students will be occasionally called upon to
discuss specific readings during the course, relating the content of the
publications to the week's topic; every student will have the opportunity to
participate in these discussions.
Course Requirements and Grading: The Major Paper on An Archival Function
The major paper is intended to enable the student to do in-depth reading and study on a single aspect of archival administration. These papers should consist of at least four parts:
Students
must show evidence of having read thoroughly at least twenty articles and, if
appropriate, several monographs or textbooks for this paper. In reality, students will probably need to
scan the professional literature on any given topic far beyond this quantity of
publications in order to identify the most important writings, research, and
theory on the topic. Students should
plan on meeting with the instructor to discuss their paper in order to evaluate
their progress; this meeting can be in-person or via e-mail.
Students
can consider one of the following subjects or a more defined topic such as the
following:
In
each of these areas, there are major debates and continuing discussions about
theory, methodology, and professional issues.
Students also could focus on the contributions of a major figure or
figures in these debates or major issues, such as David Bearman, Terry Cook, Luciana
Duranti, Margaret Hedstrom, James O’Toole, and T. R. Schellenberg.
Students may also elect to write a paper on some aspect of a core archival principle or element of a basic definition. For example, archives students might research any aspect of the definitions of record-keeping requirements, such as the
· notion of a "reliable" record or record-keeping system;
· "structure" of a document; concept of a record's "integrity";
· notion of the "auditability" of records systems;
· or some other aspect of records and recordkeeping systems either buttressed by or challenged by the use of modern information technologies.
Students interested in this would be required to write papers on these basic concepts as reflected (or not reflected as the case may be) in the traditional archival and records management literature.
These topics are also excellent candidates for work throughout the three-term program in preparation for a publishable article in the professional literature. A number of publications have emanated from students in the University of Pittsburgh archives and records management courses, including, for example, Kimberly J. Barata, “Questioning Aesthetics: Are Archivists Qualified to Make Appraisal or Reappraisal Decisions Based on Aesthetic Judgments?” Provenance 12, nos. 1 and 2 (1994): 63-82; Kimberly J. Barata, “Managing Intellectual Assets: The Identification, Capture, Maintenance, and Use of the Records of Federally Sponsored Scientific Research,” Archival Issues 21, no. 2 (1996): 129-143; Wendy Duff. “Steadying the Weathervane: Use as a Factor in Appraisal Criteria,” Provenance 12, nos. 1 and 2 (1994): 83-129; Jennifer A. Marshall, "Documentation Strategies in the Twenty-First Century?: Rethinking Institutional Priorities and Professional Limitations," Archival Issues 23, no. 1 (1998): 59-74; David S. Miller, “Oral History: Provenance and Intellectual Access,” Provenance 12, nos. 1 and 2 (1994): 129-150; Diane Shannon, “Privacy Issues Affecting Lesbian and Gay Archival Collections,” Provenance 12, nos. 1 and 2 (1994): 21-62 and David Wallace, “Archivists, Recordkeeping, and the Declassification of Records: What We Can Learn from Contemporary Histories,” American Archivist 56 (Fall 1993): 794-814. The instructor may identify papers completed for this course possessing possibilities for expansion into a publishable article in a subsequent archives course. Students should make every effort to contribute to their professional literature as this is both an attribute of a serious professional and helpful in future job searches and career development.
Course Requirements and Grading:
Doctoral Students
The
primary assignment for doctoral students taking this course is to prepare a
major publishable paper of 25-35 pages on any aspect of archives and
manuscripts management approved by the Instructor. Papers completed by doctoral students should possess greater
depth in reading, understanding, methodology, and other aspects characterizing
a scholarly essay. The doctoral student
should be able to explain why and how the paper fits into a longer plan of
study leading to the dissertation topic.
Doctoral students must identify their topic by the third class
session. They must also participate in
class discussions.
Course Requirements: Deadlines for the
Major Paper
Students
will be required to inform the instructor of their choice of topic by the fifth
class. Students who are working at archives/historical manuscript repositories
or records management programs may select the option of writing an analysis of
some aspect of their employing institution; if the student is interested in
this, he or she must be prepared to reflect the relevant literature and must
present to the instructor a proposal for his approval, also due by the fifth
class. The final paper is due on week
14 of the course. Papers only
describing a particular institution's activities will not be acceptable for
this course; such papers must place the institution or program into its
professional and historical context, reflecting a strong foundation in the
appropriate professional literature.
Course Requirements: General
Requirements for Writing Papers
All
the various papers should be well written, footnoted, and prepared according to
the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. Citations should conform to the recent
edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. It is the student's
responsibility to meet these requirements, representing graduate level
work. While the Instructor is open to
advising students about the preparation of such papers, the student taking
courses at the graduate level is expected to be able to prepare acceptable
essays conforming to a particular style manual. However, there are a number of issues students should keep in
mind as they write their papers, including the following:
§ Explain why you are selecting a particular published or unpublished source: is it representative, atypical, or what?
§
Make
sure you do not make broad assumptions without searching the literature to
support such a view.
§
Do
not make broad statements that are the subject of another disciplinary areas'
research; examine such literature to support your assertions.
§
Identify
the authority of the individuals you cite in your papers; consider their
background and the perspective they may represent.
§
Make
sure the paper has a logical structure with a thesis or focus.
§
Proof
for careless spelling and grammatical mistakes.
§
Do
not try to develop a paper by stringing extensive quotations throughout the
paper; instead, you should summarize and evaluate the sources you cite. It is more important that you reflect your
thinking about the topic.
§
Make
sure you have done adequate bibliographic searches.
§
Do
not rely too heavily on assigned readings provided in the course syllabus.
§
Visit with the course instructor if you think you are
missing an important area or to discuss leads to relevant literature.
§
Distinguish
between research and opinion-based literature.
§
Make
sure you note the time periods essays and books were published; do not treat as
current an essay published in 1977 unless you have substantial evidence that it
represents a current viewpoint.
§
You
do not need to footnote every reference to every publication.
§
Do
not cite class notes as authorities in your papers.
§ Make sure you have examined the mainstream archival or records management literature.
During the last class, some students may be asked to make presentations about their research.
Course Requirements: Advice on
Selecting a Paper Topic
Because
many students struggle in the identification of an appropriate topic for the
major paper, the instructor is offering some additional guidance about the
assignment. The student should seek to narrow his or her topic as much as
possible. In other words, the student
should avoid selecting a subject as broad as "archival arrangement and
description," a topic that has been discussed in hundreds of articles,
numerous books, and many special reports.
A much better focused subject would be something like a "comparison
of authority control concepts and perspectives in library and archival
science." Students should expect
to be continually narrowing or focusing their paper topics as the course
progresses, and this will require that students begin in-depth reading (beyond
the course reading assignments) as soon as the course starts.
Students
sometimes also struggle to determine how to prepare and present their major
papers. There are examples of published
essays students could examine and use as general guides. Some students will write essays that are
reviews of the published literature on a particular topic; I urge students to
look at my "American Archival History: Its Development, Needs, and
Opportunities," American Archivist 46 (Winter 1983): 31-41 as an
example of this kind of essay. Other students
might wish to write essays that compare basic archival functions to related or
similar functions in other fields; an example of this type of essay is my
"Researching Archival Reference as an Information Function," RQ
31 (Spring 1992): 387-97. Finally, some
students might endeavor to write about a particular archival concept; an
example of this is James O'Toole, "On the Idea of Permanence," American
Archivist 52 (Winter 1989): 10-25.
Students who are committed to the concentration in archival studies in the MLIS program should plan on (if possible) researching an area that can be explored through the course of the three- term program. For example, a student interested in macro-appraisal approaches could prepare a preliminary general paper on this topic in this class, expand the paper in the Archival Appraisal course offered in the Spring Term by analyzing how macro- appraisal has been utilized in science, technology, and medical archives, and explore this matter still further by completing a related fieldwork in an area archives in the Summer Term. There may be the possibility for a student to finish the program with a publishable paper based on a thorough review of the archival and other appropriate literature and research application in a particular area repository.
Course Requirements: Class
Participation and Discussion
Class
discussion will primarily focus on the readings required for this course. Each
week's list of readings also includes some basic questions to guide the student
in his or her thinking. However, students will also be required to read weekly
the discussion on an electronic bulletin board that is devoted to archival
theory and practice. To subscribe to
the Archives ListServ, students need to obtain an electronic mail account from
the SIS Labs and then do the following:
To
subscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
In
body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
You will receive a response that you have been subscribed and additional information on how to post messages and other activities. You can join the list via the World Wide Web by going to http://listserv.muohio.edu/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?SUBED1=archives&A=1 and following the instructions.
Students should review the network postings prior to class and be prepared to comment on them during the first part of each class. Students should bear in mind that the Archives ListServ is not completely representative of the American archival community; rather it reflects archivists who have ready access to the Internet and the small self-selected portion participating in its discussions. Students should also keep in mind that postings to the ListServ are not comparable to published research or conference presentations, but they tend to be more like chitchat in the employees' lounge. Still, the Archives ListServ can provide a glimpse into some of the opinions held by and attitudes reflected by archivists in this country. It also often features notices on recent publications, projects, and other activities that might be of use to archives students. Students can also search the Archives of the Archives & Archivists listserv at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html to examine past discussions.
Course Requirements
and Grading: Incompletes
Students
will not pass the course unless they have satisfactorily met all the
requirements described in this syllabus.
Students may opt to take an incomplete provided the following criteria
are met: 1) the instructor is informed of the student's interest or need to do
this by week twelve of the course; 2) the incomplete assignments are completed
within four weeks of the end of the course.
Extenuating circumstances or other valid reasons for not making up the
course assignments will be considered by the instructor, but the student will
be required to provide evidence of the severity of the circumstances preventing
the student from completing the assignments.
No incomplete grades will be given for this course, unless there
are dramatic or emergency circumstances affecting a student's ability to meet
course requirements. If an incomplete
is necessary, students will have until January 7, 2001 to complete the
requirements.
Students are expected to read a number of books and
many journal articles and reports in order to gain a firm understanding of the
nature of archival knowledge as well its continuing evolution. Students should use this program as an
opportunity both to develop their own knowledge as well as to build a
professional library for their own future use.
One
basic textbook is being recommended.
Judith Ellis, ed., Keeping Archives, 2nd ed. Rev. (Melbourne, Australia: D. W. Thorpe,
1993) is the best basic archives text students could read. Students are expected to be thoroughly
familiar with this and the other required readings listed under each session.
Ellis provides a good orientation to the archival profession and practice.
Students should bear in mind that no basic textbook on archival studies
can be effective apart from the other professional literature. While there are classics in the field, the
nature of archival theory, methodology, and practice is changing very
rapidly. Students should order the
Ellis volume directly from the Society of American Archivists in order to
obtain a reasonable price and to ensure prompt acquisition; the SAA publications
list is available at http://archivists.org/catalog/catalog/index.html.
Students
are also expected to read other volumes: David Bearman, Archival Methods
(1989) and Electronic Evidence: Strategies for Managing Records in
Contemporary Organizations (1994). Electronic
Evidence can be purchased directly from the publisher, Archives and Museum
Informatics, located in Pittsburgh (ordering information is available at http://www.archimuse.com/publishing/elec_evid.html)
while Archival Methods is available free via the publisher's Web site at
http://www.archimuse.com/publishing/archival_methods/
James O'Toole, Understanding Archives and Manuscripts (1990) and Thomas
Wilsted and William Nolte, Managing Archives and Manuscripts Repositories
(1991) are both available through the Society of American Archivists at
significantly reduced prices.
Other books to be read can be ordered from the online bookstore of the student's choice, such as Amazon.com, or acquired at a local bookstore. The Instructor encourages students to purchase as many archives texts and related publications as possible to support the development of personal professional libraries. Students can save money on these purchases by acquiring these texts through one of the online bookstores. Students might also check at second hand bookstores in and around Pittsburgh or through one of the online second hand bookstores, such as www.powell’s.com.
These
other books include
All
readings are also available on
reserve at the SIS Library.
Students
should also acquire a copy of Lewis J. and Lynn L. Bellardo, A Glossary for
Archivists, Manuscript Curators and Records Managers (1992) -- also
available through the SAA -- and become familiar with professional terminology.
There will be discussions of the basic terminology, and students should be
prepared to address such matters in their written assignments.
The
Instructor will also add readings to the course as new publications become
available or as class discussion or student interest suggests the need to
consider other articles, studies, and reports.
In addition, the instructor will place on reserve newsletters,
announcements, conference advertisements, and other related material for the
perusal of the archives students; the Instructor will indicate when a
particular item is available and whether it is a requirement to be
examined. Students should check with
the SIS Library staff for a box labeled "Recent Items of Professional
Interest" with the appropriate course number.
"Recommended
Readings," listed weekly, have not been put on reserve. They are provided in order to guide students
to related and other important readings.
The Course
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
Week One (8/29/00)
Orientation
to the Course; Review of Course Requirements
Week Two (9/5/00) The Importance of Records to Each of
Us; The Nature of Archival Knowledge; Preliminary Thoughts About Educating
Records Professionals
Required Readings
Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen, The Presence of the
Past: Popular Use of History in American Life (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1998).
Luciana
Duranti, "The Archival Body of Knowledge: Archival Theory, Method, and
Practice, and Graduate and Continuing Education," Journal of Education
for Library and Information Science 34 (Winter 1993): 8-24.
J. Michael
Pemberton and Christine R. Nugent, "Information Studies: Emergent Field,
Convergent Curriculum," Journal of Education for Library and
Information Science 36 (Spring 1995): 126-138.
Tyler
O. Walters, "Rediscovering the Theoretical Base of Records Management and
Its Implications for Graduate Education: Searching for the New School of
Information Studies," Journal of Education for Library and Information
Science 36 (Spring 1995): 139-154.
Richard J.
Cox, "The Masters of Archival Studies and American Education Standards: An
Argument for the Continued Development of Graduate Archival Education in the
United States," Archivaria 36 (Autumn 1993): 221-31.
Richard J.
Cox, "An Analysis of Archival Research, 1970-1992, and the Role and
Function of the American Archivist," American Archivist 57 (Spring
1994): 278-288.
Mary Sue
Stephenson, "Deciding Not to Build the Wall: Research and the Archival
Profession," Archivaria 32 (1991): 145-151.
Students
should also examine the papers and other resources at the Working Meeting of
Graduate Archival Educators at http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/~gaeconf/.
The Working Meeting of Graduate Archival Educators was sponsored by The Archival Studies Program The Department of Library and Information
Science School of Information Sciences University of Pittsburgh and The Society of American
Archivists
with funding from The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation
August 24, 1999. The theme of the Working
Meeting of Graduate Archival Educators was “research in and research about
graduate level archival education.” The two major topics addressed were “ (1)
to begin to assess how effective graduate level archival programs are in
preparing their graduates to work as records professionals and (2) to identify
the process and problems associated with establishing research programs within
graduate archival education programs.”
Papers by educators Terry Eastwood, Anne Gilliland-Swetland, Peter Wosh,
Elizabeth Yakel, David Wallace, Sue McKemmish, Eric Ketelaar, Angelika
Menne-Haritz, Richard J. Cox, and Terry Cook make up the conference proceedings
and are scheduled for publication in a future issue of the American
Archivist. The origins of this
conference stem from a growing dissatisfaction by some archival educators about
the existing mechanism for deliberations about graduate education within
existing professional structures like the Society of American Archivists. The growth and increasing maturity of North
American graduate programs had outraced the annual reporting session of the
Archival Educators Roundtable at the Society of American Archivists and the
continuing work of the Society’s Committee on Education and Professional
Development. The 1999 conference was
the second of such meetings, the first being held in San Diego in 1996.
Students should also examine the National Forum on Archival
Continuing Education (NFACE) (http://www.coshrc.org/nface/) web site.
“The Council of State Historical Records Coordinators
(COSHRC), in partnership with the American
Association for State and Local History (AASLH), has undertaken a
project to organize and present a National
Forum on Archival Continuing Education (NFACE). COSHRC and AASLH received funds from
the National Historical Publications and Records Commission in November 1998 to
support planning for this Forum. The goals of the Forum were to: Inform these
organizations about what educational services and information resources are
already available; Encourage collaboration and coordination among providers in
developing additional offerings that address gaps in existing educational
opportunities, and Improve the accessibility to information resources about
best practices in the care of historical records that support these educational
efforts, and Develop an action agenda for archival continuing education in the
next decade. This agenda will be shared with federal funding agencies, resource
allocators, and key stakeholders in archival continuing education.” The NFACE project builds from a 1998 COSHRC
report, Where History Begins, building a profile of both repositories
and the individuals working in these repositories. This report suggested that there existed professional archivists
and manuscript curators, allied professionals with records responsibilities,
and people with responsibilities with a minimum of training or education. The
conference held in late April 2000 to examine the training needs of this
diversity of individuals working in historical records repositories developed
an agenda including the establishment of a nationwide clearinghouse of
information to support the development, delivery, and accessibility of archival
continuing education; pursuing partnerships and cooperation among professional
archival organizations and with organizations serving allied professions; creating a “diverse and well-educated next
generation of archival leadership”;
improving the “quality and accessibility of archival continuing
education and information resources” for “grass-roots organizations and the
volunteers who work to collect and preserve historical records in community-based
organizations,” “individuals from
diverse communities or who work with records documenting diversity,” and
“allied professionals, including public librarians and museums curators, who
bear responsibility for historical records as an adjunct to their primary
duties”; improving the “quality and availability of archival continuing
education by incorporating effective adult learning methods, leveraging
appropriate technologies, and exploring non-traditional approaches to
delivery”; providing a “firm foundation for ongoing assessment and analysis of
archival continuing education needs by initiating research and evaluation of
existing survey data and ensuring the collection of data to support
longitudinal analysis”; developing
“collaborative approaches to providing archival continuing education on
specific topics or issues for which limited or no educational opportunities
currently exist”; strengthening
“electronic records training by developing collaborative projects in support of
the existing NHPRC initiative on electronic records”; developing “collaborative
approaches to providing archival continuing education in specific geographic
regions particularly west of the Mississippi, in which individuals and
repositories are located at great distances from each other and from potential
sources of education and assistance”; and identifying “sources for both
short-term and sustainable funding for collaborative archival education
initiatives.”
PART TWO: HISTORY OF ARCHIVES AND RECORDS AND RECORDKEEPING SYSTEMS
Week Three. (9/12/00)
Required Readings
McKemmish,
"Introducing Archives and Archival Programs," in Ellis, chapter 1
Luciana
Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers," Records Management
Quarterly (July 1989): 3-6, 8-11; (October 1989): 3-6, 8-11. You can also read this two-part essay online
at http://www-chs.cowan.edu.au/scis/mb/RecEnv/reader/html/module_01_02.htm
and http://www-chs.cowan.edu.au/scis/mb/RecEnv/reader/html/module_01_03.htm.
James O'Toole,
Understanding Archives and Manuscripts (Chicago: Society of American
Archivists, 1990).
M. T. Clanchy,
"'Tenacious Letters': Archives and
Memory in the Middle Ages," Archivaria 11 (Winter 1980/81): 115-25.
If possible, obtain M. T. Clanchy, From Memory to Written Record:
England, 1066- 1307 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979; rev. ed.
1991 Blackwell) for your personal library and read chapters two, three, four,
five, and nine (although the Geary book ought to be your reading priority).
Lawrence J.
McCrank, "Documenting Reconquest and Reform: The Growth of Archives in the
Medieval Crown of Aragon," American Archivist 56 (Spring 1993):
256-318.
Patrick J.
Geary, Phantoms of Remembrance: Memory and Oblivion at the End of the First
Millennium (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994).
Denise
Schmandt-Besserat, "The Earliest Precursor of Writing," in William
S-Y. Wang, ed., The Emergence of Language: Development and Evolution (New
York: W.H. Freeman and Co., 1991), pp. 31-45.
James M.
O'Toole, "Herodotus and the Written Record," Archivaria 33
(1991-92): 148-160.
David Cressy,
"'A constant intercourse of letters': The Transatlantic Flow of
Information," in Coming Over: Migration and Communication Between
England and New England in the Seventeenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1987), pp. 213-34.
James H. Cassedy,
"Colonial Bills of Mortality, 1700-1775," in Demography in Early
America: Beginnings of the Statistical Mind, 1600-1800 (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1969), pp. 117-147 or Patricia Cline Cohen, "Colonial
Counting," in A Calculating People: The Spread of Numeracy in Early
America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), pp. 47-80.
Week Four (9/19/00)
Maynard
Brichford, "The Origins of Modern European Archival Theory," Midwestern
Archivist 7, no. 2 (1982): 87-101.
Richard C.
Berner, "Historical Development of Archival Theory and Practices in the
United States," Midwestern Archivist 7 (no. 2, 1982): 103-17.
JoAnne Yates, Control Through Communication: The Rise of System in American Management (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989), chapters one through three and conclusion.
David D. Van
Tassel, Recording America's Past: An Interpretation of the Development of
Historical Studies in America 1607-1884 (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1960), chapter eleven.
Walter Muir
Whitehill, Independent Historical Societies: An Enquiry Into Their Research
and Publication Functions and Their Financial Future (Boston: Boston
Athenaeum, 1962), chapter eighteen.
Margo J.
Anderson, The American Census: A Social History (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1988), chapters four and five.
Margarey W. Davies, Woman's Place Is At the Typewriter: Office Work and Office Workers 1870-1930 (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1982) and James R. Beniger, The Control Revolution: Technological and Economic Origins of the Information Society (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986). Examine for discussions about office technologies.
Week Five (9/26/00)
E. Wayne Carp, Family Matters: Secrecy and Disclosure in the History of Adoption (Cambridge: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998).
David Bearman
and Margaret Hedstrom. "Reinventing Archives for Electronic Records:
Alternative Service Delivery Options." Electronic Records Management
Program Strategies, ed. Margaret Hedstrom (Pittsburgh, PA: Archives and
Museum Informatics, 1993), pp. 82-98.
Terry Cook,
"Electronic Records, Paper Minds: The Revolution in Information Management
and Archives in the Post-Custodial and Post- Modernist Era," Archives
and Manuscripts 22 (November 1994): 300-328 and Terry Cook, "Easy to
Byte, Harder to Chew: The Second Generation of Electronic Records Archives,"
Archivaria 33 (Winter 1991-92): 202-216.
David Osborne
and Ted Gaebler, Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is
Transforming the Public Sector (1993).
Read as much as is necessary to understand the principles of
"reinventing" or Michael
Hammer and James Champy, Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for
Business Revolution (1993). Read as
much as is necessary to understand the principles of “reinventing” and
"reengineering."
Ernst Posner, American
State Archives (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964), chapter one.
Donald R.
McCoy, The National Archives: America's Ministry of Documents 1934-1968
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1978), chapters one, three,
five, six, seven, twelve, seventeen, and twenty.
Victor Gondos,
Jr., J. Franklin Jameson and the Birth of the National Archives 1906-1926
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981), chapters two, four,
five, and eight.
TOPIC FOR
LONG PAPER IS DUE ON WEEK FIVE OF CLASS .
Each student should submit a two-page description of the topic, its
importance to the archival profession, the bibliographic searches to be done or
underway, examples of writings to be used, and any related issues or concepts
to be explored.
Week Six (10/3/00)
What Does the Future Hold for the Record and the Records Professional? A Speculative Side Trip Providing a Framework for Understanding Archival Principles and Practices
Required Reading
William J. Mitchell, City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995). You can read this as an electronic book at http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-books/City_of_Bits/.
Read any articles or books on the purpose and nature of professions and come prepared to discuss them. William Sullivan, Work & Integrity: The Crisis & Promise of Professionalism in America (New York: HarperBusiness, 1995) is now out of print but second hand copies may be available. This is one of the finest statements on the nature of professionals that can be read.
Anne
J. Gilliland-Swetland, Enduring Paradigm, New Opportunities: The Value of
the Archival Perspective in the Digital Environment (Washington, D.C.:
Council on Library and Information Resources, February 2000), also available
full-text at http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub89abst.html.
Browse through James A. Dewar,
“The Information Age and the Printing Press: Looking Backward to See Ahead,” Ubiquity
25 (August 15 - 21, 2000),
available at http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/j_dewar_1.html. Using Elizabeth Eisenstein’s history of the
printing press, Dewar, a senior mathematician at RAND, suggests that there are
“compelling” parallels between the printing press era and the contemporary
Information Age. He concludes that
there will be “changes in the information age. . . as dramatic as those in the
Middle Ages in Europe,” the “future of the information age will be dominated by
unintended consequences,” “it will be decades before we see the full effects of
the information age,” and “the above factors combine to arguer for: a) keeping
the Internet unregulated, and b) taking a much more experimental approach to
information policy.”