Abstract

This article deconstructs Sir Hilary Jenkinson's arguments in support of archival characteristics that determine record value and inform appraisal theory—especially interrelatedness and impartiality—and analyzes critics' arguments, such as those of T. R. Schellenberg, W. Kaye Lamb, F. Gerald Ham, and Hans Booms. In the process, these reactions to Jenkinsonian appraisal are assessed for relevance against Jenkinson's original arguments. The article concludes that, in the conflicted space between Jenkinson's refusal to allow archivists to engage in licit appraisal activities and his critics, fruitful conditions have been created for development of appraisal solutions.

Abstract

This article argues that the convention of archival description has been to hide the variety of shaping processes that lead to the eventual formation of an archival aggregation. It suggests that archivists need to more carefully consider three types of archives shaping: shaping by the archiving I; shaping by other interested parties; and shaping by the archivist. After examining the extent to which such shaping is reflected in a number of archival finding aids created for writers' records, the article suggests means by which archival description could better account for the inevitable “constructedness” of the fonds.

Abstract

Although much published work assumes that independent community archives have an important impact on communities, little research has been done to assess this impact empirically. This article begins to fill this gap by reporting the results of a series of qualitative interviews with academic members of one ethnic community regarding their responses to one community archives. More specifically, this article reports on interviews conducted with South Asian American educators regarding their responses to the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA), an independent, nonprofit, community-based organization that operates the websites www.saada.org and www.firstdaysproject.org. The article reports on several emergent themes: the absence of or difficulty in accessing historical materials related to South Asian Americans before the emergence of SAADA; the affective and ontological impacts of discovering SAADA for the first time; the affective impact of SAADA on respondents' South Asian American students; and SAADA's ability to promote feelings of inclusion both within the South Asian American ethnic community and in the larger society. Together, these responses suggest the ways in which one community archives counters the symbolic annihilation of the community it serves and instead produces feelings of what the authors term “representational belonging.” The article concludes by exploring the epistemological, ontological, and social levels of representational belonging.

This work sets out to review expectations and strategies of companies, academia, and the public about using company history for communication and marketing purposes in part to “redress the sometimes unconscious bias of some recent archival literature towards the public sector and especially central government” (p. ix). Twelve brief essays based on presentations by European marketing specialists, corporate archivists, and scholars at the Symposium of the International Council on Archives, Section on Business and Labour Archives (14–16 April 2013), discuss the role of corporate history in business, approaches to historiography, and interactions between business leaders, historians, and researchers. Using case

Reconsidering Archives

Why Archives?

On Impartiality and Interrelatedness: Reactions to Jenkinsonian Appraisal in the Twentieth Century

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Toward More Honest Description ¹

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“To Suddenly Discover Yourself Existing”: Uncovering the Impact of Community Archives ¹

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Tracking Color Shift in Ballpoint Pen Ink Using Photoshop Assisted Spectroscopy: A Nondestructive Technique Developed to Rehouse a Nobel Laureate's Manuscript

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Perfume and Vinegar: Olfactory Knowledge, Remembrance, and Recordkeeping

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When Archivists and Digital Asset Managers Collide: Tensions and Ways Forward

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Archival Descriptions through the Looking Glass: Paratexts in Wonderland

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Archivists and Thespians: A Case Study and Reflections on Context and Authenticity in a Digitization Project

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Uncovering Social History: An Interdepartmental Approach to Scrapbook Digitization

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Donors and Archives: A Guidebook for Successful Programs

Preserving Our Heritage: Perspectives from Antiquity to the Digital Age

Through the Archival Looking Glass: A Reader on Diversity and Inclusion

Crisis, Credibility and Corporate History

The Archive Thief: The Man who Salvaged French Jewish History in the Wake of the Holocaust

To the Editor

To the Editor:

The American Archivist Editorial Policy

New Directions in Queer Oral History: Archives of Disruption

Turning Archival: The Life of the Historical in Queer Studies

Digital Preservation Practices and Challenges at University Archives in the United States

Draft No. 4: Thinking about Our Writing 1

Journalism History and Digital Archives