6615 weeki nature of records

8/6/2019 6615 WeekI Nature of Records

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Week I: The Nature of Records January 26, 2011


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What is a Record?Organic by-product of human activity created tocapture meaningful information preserved for longvalueA written or printed work of a legal or official naturethat may be used as evidence or proof

Data or information in a fixed form that is created orreceived in the course of individual or institutionalactivity and set aside (preserved) as evidence of thatactivity for future referenceA record has fixed content, structure and context.

***Last three are from

the Society of American Archivists website


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Understanding Archives &Manuscripts

Record Latin Roots Heart (cor) with verb to give (dare) To give back to the heart and mind after the passage

of timeThe Oral WorldThe Rise and Spread of LiteracyReasons for Recording InformationThe Impulse to Save

Technology of Record MakingCharacteristics of Recorded Info in the ModernAgeThe Usefulness of Archives


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The Oral World/The Rise of Literacy

Humans are natural speakers.

Oral communication exists only as it isgoing out of existence.Inescapable fallibility of human memory.

Techniques had to be developed.Writing is external and technological.In a fixed form.

Words are fleeting, written letters remainReliability, legality and proof depended onwriting


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Reasons for RecordingInformation

Personal

SocialEconomic

LegalInstrumentalSymbolic


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The Impulse to SaveWhy do we save records after the original

usefulness has ceased? They might be useful in the future? Information might be needed again? Unpredictability of the future makes us want

to save? Saved because they are a form of individual or

collective memory? Relics personal or symbolic meaning?


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Technology of Record Making

PaperWriting MaterialsPrintingMechanical Record MakingCopying Machines

Filing SystemsPhotographic RecordsAltered Record Formats

Recording SoundComputerized InformationUnrecorded Information


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Discussion Question???(Ashley Staley)

Has the introduction of technology weakened

the archival profession? Can materials createdwith technological innovations be fully acquired,accessed, and made available for public use?

How does the cost of maintaining atechnologically enhanced collection influencethe archives capability of caring for it?


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Discussion Question???(Rachel Morris)

When confronted with the core of archival

knowledge, do advancements in thetechnology of record making, such as copymachines and altered record formats, make

the concept of the original obsolete? If so,does it make authentication unnecessary? If an original is obsolete in the sense of being

useful (for research or public purposes),could this make the concept of an archiveobsolete?


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Characteristics of RecordedInformation in the Modern Age

Abundance rather than ScarcityCollective rather than IndividualMore Decentralized and Democratic

Interrelatedness of Records MoreApparent & RealShifting Usefulness


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Growth of Traffic on the InternetPetabyte = 1 Million

GB1990 = .001 Petabyte1991 = .002

1993 = .0081994 = .0161995 = .15

1996 = 1.51997 = 2.5 to 4.01998 = 5.0 to 8.0

(Estimates are per

month)1999 = 10 to 162000 = 20 to 35

2001 = 40 to 702002 = 80 to 1402003 = 130 to 210

2004 = 200 to 3002005 = 300 to 5002006 = 450 to 800


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The Usefulness of ArchivesLarge Numbers of People with a Great

Range of InterestsSource of Personal, Individual IdentityLarger Society Benefits

Corporate & Legal BenefitsAdvertising & Promotional EffortsPure ResearchInform, Entertain, Enlighten, EducateNo Archives, No History


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Archives??? Meaning???Materials

PlaceAgencyHow also is this term used by othersoutside of the archival profession?


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The Archival MissionTo Identify Records and Papers of

Enduring ValueTo Preserve ThemTo Make Them Available to Patrons


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Cyclical Expression of the ArchivalMission

Reappraisal

Outreach &Promotion

Access &Reference

Description

Security

PreservationArrangement

Accessioning

Acquisitions

Appraisal

ConductingSurveys

MakeAvailable

Preserve

Identify


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Discussion Question???(Dallas Hanbury)

How has the massive amount of records

generated by the technological revolution madethe archivists job of evaluating records for longterm informational value harder? How is it

possible to really determine what records willhave great informational value over a period of time when there is so many records to evaluate,

even if the archivist views the recordscollectively?


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Some Differences

Libraries

PublishedItems judged individually

Items collected are alsoCollected by other libraries

Multiple creator (differentindividuals and

organizations)Explicitly created

Open access for patrons

Archives

Largely unpublished Judged as a collection or awhole

Collect groups of items andare generally uniqueGenerally recordsgenerated by parentorganization or institutionGrow OrganicallyClosed stacksitems donot circulate


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Brief History of ArchivesAncient WorldAthens and Rome

Modern Archives (1543) at Simancas in SpainFrench RevolutionEnglish Public Records Office (1838)U.S. National Archival Repository (1934)Manuscript Collecting

Rome Medieval Period Monks Vatican Library & Bibliotheque Nationale in Frnace Harvard Massachusetts Historical Society Editor-Collector Autograph CollectorWebsite ( http://tinyurl.com/sqgtl )


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The Archivists PerspectiveThey see the big picture (compared to creators and recordusers)

Knowledge of Individuals, Organizations & Institutions Experience Unfamiliar Places & Events Expand Their Sense of the PossibleKnowledge of Records

Scholars of Records & Recordkeeping Life Cycle of Records Creation, Use, Storage & Disposition Records Continuum archival records never really disposed of Knowledge of the Uses of RecordsKnowledge of Archival Principles

Provenance Original Order


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Discussion Question???(Brigitte Eubank)

James OToole and Richard Cox, inChapter 3, explain the elements thatmake up an archivists perspective(knowledge & values). In what ways wouldan archivists perspective differ from thatof an historian or librarian? Whatsimilarities do they share?


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ValuesArchival records exist to be USED and NOT merely saved fortheir own sake

Some records ought to be preserved long term even aftertheir immediate usefulness has passed.Archival records ought to be preserved as completely andcoherently as possible (with critical info about context andconnections preserved)

Archival Records ought to be organized properly and in atimely way/fashionSensitive info should be protected from use as long as thatsensitivity remains

Archivists should administer their collections equitably andimpartiallyArchival repositories ought to cooperate in preservinghistorical records.


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Discussion Question???(Crickett Harmer)

What is missing from the list of valuesmention by OToole and Cox in thechapter The Archivists Perspective:Knowledge and Value?


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Differences in the AuthorsDiscussion Questions (Rachel Drayton)

Does the reader gain more from aninterdisciplinary look into archives than astep-by-step guide?

Are the two books targeting differentaudiences?

6615 weeki nature of records

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