College and
University Archives
There are two really big functions of college and university archives, (1) act as a
repository for records from known people of letters, leaders, or other outside sources,
and (2) archiving school materials from administrative documents, registration,
transcripts, alumni contributions, and other material created by students, faculty, and
others connected with the institution. It is the last function that is most recent.
Typically, these archives may be part of the school's library system and managed by a
single librarian (or sometimes archivist) with the help of student assistants. Because the
archives maybe part of the library, and not a separate entity, funding, mission,
structure, and other administrative functions may be pre-determined by the library
director or non-archives administrator. Also the library may assign a librarian to the
post, who is also responsible for "library" functions as well as
"archive" functions.
See what a couple of college and university archivists have said about
their work:
"Various task for a one person shop. Cataloging collections, sort papers, assembling shelving, moving collections, meeting people, fielding research questions."
"Since I have a library degree and the archives is located in the library, I do a wide variety: assist 1 evening a week (or more) at the reference desk (general collection--not archives), handle the binding of our Master's theses, and manage both Archives & Special Collections. Since the Archival collection is used more than special collections, I spent most of my time with the archives. (I am a "lone arranger" with one student assistant--10 hrs per week). I assist visiting researchers, provide information services to campus offices, and answer request received via phone, mail, email. With the rest of my "free" time (ha ha ha!), which isn't much, I try to improve the organization of the collection and update or create new finding aids. I'm also doing a bit of records management--no formal program or policies yet but I encourage offices to call me regarding what they need to send. I also try to do a couple of displays each year and make the collection available for class visits and work with students writing their theses, doing independent studies or internships in the Archives."
"Presently, as an archivist in a university setting I work with a/v, photo, art,
3-dimensional, book, manuscript, and textile collections in the capacity of archivist and
records manager. I process, accession, write web based finding aids, write general web
pages, produce retention schedules, visit departments, work with instructors and classes,
answer reference questions, supervise student workers and archives interns, order
supplies, develop policies, and whatever else needs to be done."
Religious Archives
For this August R. Suelflow's Religious Archives: An Introduction, SAA: Chicago,
was a major source and quotes with page numbers reflect passages from her 1980 work.
p.6, Archivists "administer large collections, some small. Some [archives] offer an excellent range of professional services, others are no more than a closet open to the public for a few hours on an afternoon."
p.7, "Collection practices of religious archives are still diverse, but generally four basic types of agency can be identified.
Religious archives and archivists provide the following services:
From the informal survey one person described their work as so :
"I collect, arrange, describe, and make available to researchers historical materials relating to the history of the Catholic Church in southeast Texas. I am responsible for the microfilming of parish sacramental records (baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, marriage
and death), and for making these available as needed. I serve as a resource for parishes, institutions, organizations, and individuals within the Diocese who are doing historical research, and I advise parishes on records management."
There are other resources you may want to view such as the SAA's Archives of Religious Sections webpage [wp]. From their webpage you can find out more about their group, their officers and read their section newsletter.
Also known as corporate archives, these archives remain fairly small in number. Part of this could be due to the way business is operated and how archives are perceived. Some executives have looked at archives with a squinted eye, believing that they are expensive, they may hold things that may be used against the company, or that its fluff. But in articles found in Archival Issues and Cox's Managing Institutional Archives explain that archives are a necessary part of the corporation.
According to Richard Cox:
"Archivists working in corporations hold to the concept that archival records are vital to the organization's ongoing business, as well as to related concepts that have already been noted above such as the public relations value of such records. Records managers have traditionally held to a sense that they were enabling an institution to use its records in an economical and efficient manner. Records managers have also supposedly utilized the principle of the life cycle of records as a management device; however, while this concept incorporates that portion of records which have archival value, records managers have also been more prone to view their organization's records primarily through legal requirements rather than other perspectives which would provide more focus on archival records. Finally, public historians have viewed themselves as bringing the historical perspective to organizations and the greater public. Their work encompasses working to ensure that organizations do not neglect the value of the long- term view on their activities, and they have traditionally seen the preservation and use of archival records as falling within their domain."
In Steven L. Wright's article he mentions the Cincinnati Museum Center's Business Archives Program [wp]. This program helps local companies create archives, providing them with an idea of what to put in an archive. When looking at the sampling of the documents they recommend keeping you can see how it is applicable to a business.
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Because the environment is not an area where the value of history is a foregone conclusion
the corporate archivist must be an activist. S/he must remind the executives in various
parts of the corporation that the archives have a practical utility. Failure to do so will
continue to instill in the minds of executives that archives are only useful for
anniversaries and are unnecessary.
You can go to the Directory of Corporate Archives in the United States and Canada [wp] sponsored by the SAA's Business Archives Section. The directory also allows you to find a particular corporate archivist.From the directory site, you can also find links to the annual Conference Archives Forum (CAF). Looking at the 1999 CAF you can get some idea of what's going on in this field of archives.
Further Reading:
Jones, Arnita A. and Philip L. Cantelon, eds., Corporate Archives and History: Making the Past Work (Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Company, 1993)
Wright, Steven L., "Love Me or Leave Me: Businesses Interested in Archives," Archival Issues 21:2 (1996), 159-168.
The National Archives is a large employer of archivists, but not the only employer. The Smithsonian and other federal agencies (US Holocaust Memorial Museum [wp], Defense Department, National Park Service and other agencies) have archivists performing various duties.
At the National Archives, archivists and archival staff, protect, describe and make available the documents and records created by the government. The two main branches, Archives I [wp] and Archives II are located within the Washington, D.C. beltway. Regional branches [wp] and presidential libraries [wp] are located in various areas of the country. The main branches work with material created by the agencies, even agencies no longer in existence. The classification system is based on these agencies or sources creating the records. Private donations, which are accepted are in RG (record group) 200. Presidential libraries key in on a president, people associated with him/her, and subjects related to that person's administration.
The people using the records at the National Archives are varied. In the downtown D.C. branch there are records for genealogists such as ship records, census records, and other pre-WW II documents. But genealogists are not the only patrons of the Archives. Researchers make use of agency created film and photographs, paper based documents, and electronic databases. And with such wealth of information, researchers vary from documentarians (such as people who work for Ken Burns), private/paid researchers, legal staff, journalists, academics, government/military personnel, and the average citizen.
Depending on how the state system is organized the state archives may be a separate agency or under another agency like the state library. State archives are simply diverse as the states they are in by function and budget.
Records management is one concern of the archives, since in some states, that professional duty is fairly new. Although there is a difference between records management and archival work a state archive may wind up doing both jobs. The records management leadership comes due to the lack of enthusiasm by many state agencies to turn over records. Some states, such as South Carolina, are very supportive giving their archives the power to determine how agencies deal with their records and allotting them with budgets necessary for proper functioning.
Those budgets and support can determine the strength of the archives program. If the records management system is strong then there s more control over those records, lest they wind up in private or other hands. A strong budget may allow for a professional staff who can properly accession, describe, and protect the records of the state.
According to a 1984 NAGARA [wp] report on state archives reference work is one of the better services offered by the state archives. The community served by reference work tend to be genealogists, a group that would be interested in local history and local records.
Further Reading:
Monypenny, Phillip. The Library Functions of the States (Chicago: American Library Association, 1966), p. 114-128.
Weber, Lisa. Documenting America (Atlanta: NAGARA, 1984), p.1-18.
Museum Archives
Museums hold a double job at times being a bit like their university and college
counterparts. They deal with materials created by outside sources, donated items, that
relate to their institution's mission. And like the university and college archives,
preserving records created by the institution itself, if it is a private entity.
Unlike a college archive the materials in the archives may show up in an exhibit. Exhibit items may be archive material and archival material may be exhibits. This opens up the possibility of objects of various sizes being part of the archives. Depending on the size of the institution the archivist and the curator or conservator may be the same person.
For more material on museum archives go to the SAA's museum division web page [wp] find the museum division and follow the instructions.
So what do consultants do? How is their work different. In a informal survey, one person working for History Associates described their work as a little bit of everything. When asked about the type of work they did they replied...
"working in many different areas: local government, [and] private associations primarily." They did a little bit of everything, " accessioning, appraisal, description, arrangement, reference, outreach, cataloging & all administrative tasks & responsibilities ."
For this I called up History Associates, a private firm that hires archivists, and they sent me a few pages about what they and their employees do. History Associates Incorporated does a fair amount of research work including archival management. On this they write:
"Archives Management. Certified HAI archivists with degrees in history:
This is inserted to give an idea about what a consultant service does in the way of archives. For more information check out their web site [wp].
Want to add to this? E-mail me.
Last edited 01/17/00