LIS 2223 Archival Access and Advocacy, Spring
Term 2006
Instructor: Richard J. Cox
Office
SIS 614
Telephone: 412-624-3245
Office Hours: Mondays
E-mail: rcox@mail.sis.pitt.edu
or rjcox111@comcast.net
The successful application of the
archival functions of reference or access and advocacy is essential to the use
of archival records and historical manuscripts and the adequate management (and
health) of the programs caring for them.
Archival reference or access to
archives and historical records is a fundamental and necessary function of the
professional archivist and the archival repository. This archival
function possesses significant differences from related functions in other
information professions because of the nature of the records being
serviced.
Archival advocacy, often called public
programming or outreach, which archivists have adopted to build public support
for their programs, is a closely related function. Advocacy is particularly
important to archivists, manuscripts curators and other records professionals
because of the many competing information sources and because of technological
and other changes to the manner in which archives and historical records are
made accessible.
Archival access and advocacy are the
archival functions bridging the professional work of archivists and other
records professionals to a variety of publics interested in the welfare of the
documentary heritage. Archival access and advocacy depends on the quality
of appraisal and descriptive work while also enhancing both the meaning and
understanding of archives as a public good. These functions also
highlight the value of records for evidence, information, societal and
organizational memory, and accountability.
Given the nature of these archival
functions, ones certainly not unique to the world of archives and records
administration, it is logical that a considerable portion of the focus of this
course will be on public policy and ethics issues as well. The archivist’s and records
manager’s interest in and investment of energies in policy and ethical matters
has increased dramatically in the past two decades, and this course will
reflect these changes.
The purposes of this course are to
introduce students to the theoretical foundations, principles,
and practices of archival access and advocacy so that they are proficient in
carrying out these crucial functions.
Students will learn about
§
how archival records series and
manuscript collections are handled in the reference room setting
§
increasing use of online systems and
the Internet/World Wide Web to provide both access to and advocacy on behalf of
archives and historical manuscripts programs
§
factors supporting the importance of
understanding actual and potential use of archival records
§
how use relates to archival advocacy
§
issues such as media coverage of
archives and historical manuscripts, tensions between privacy and access, national
security and the implications for records professionals, and intellectual
property and copyright
§
influence of public policy and applied
ethics on archival access and advocacy
§
other critical matters affecting the
use of archives and historical records.
Course Outline
This course will consist of two
sections:
§
detailed review of the basic
principles and methodologies of archival reference and
access
§
consideration of archival public
programming, outreach, and advocacy, with a focus on particular case studies
regarding the importance of records and archives.
Course Requirements and Grading: Masters Students.
There are a number of requirements for
the course. Students will be expected to be able to discuss the reading
assignments and to participate in class discussions. The class will
generally be run like a seminar, with discussions focusing on the assigned
readings; the instructor will provide formal introductory lectures on key
aspects of archival arrangement, description, and reference throughout the
course. Each student will be expected to complete one major assignment.
Failure to complete this assignment will result in a failing grade in the course.
The major assignment can be an analysis
of use of records in a particular archives or records repository, a review of a
case study reflecting the value of records and archives in society, or a
critical evaluation of the use by archives of Web homepages for providing
access to their records (an examination of at least five to ten archives
homepages on the World Wide Web). This assignment is due by session 14
(April 18, 2006) of the course.
The analysis of the archives homepages includes the writing of a
critical evaluation of how the repositories are treating finding aids, the
tools being offered for determining holdings, how the value of records are
being described, and any other aspects the student believes are relevant to the
topic of archival access and advocacy. Students deciding to do this assignment
should use http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html
, which is a master web site for archives home pages. Students should use
the home pages to contact the archivist or archivists involved in its design in
order to write the evaluation. And, the students should consider the
effectiveness, potential or real, of making traditional finding aids available
over the Internet. This paper should be at least 15 pages. The paper needs to be a critical assessment,
not merely a descriptive one.
In this assignment, students could
focus on one repository homepage, compare three to five homepages of similar
repository type (such as state government archives or regional historical
societies), or compare and contrast three to five homepages of different types
of repositories (such as contrasting municipal government to state government
repositories or evaluating the differences and similarities of private local
historical societies to publicly funded government records programs). For examples
of such
essays, students should read William Landis, “Archival Outreach on the World
Wide Web,” Archival Issues 20, no. 2
(1995): 129-147, Jenni Davidson and Donna McRostie, “Webbed Feet: Navigating
the Net,” Archives and Manuscripts 24
(November 1996), and David Wallace, “Archival Repositories on the World Wide
Web: A Preliminary Survey and Analysis,” Archives
and Museum Informatics 9, no. 2 (1995): 150-168 (bearing in mind
that these are early explorations of the Web and its use). It is expected that students will
carry out this evaluation by examining scholarly and other critical evaluation
of the Web, the topical areas or programmatic types represented by the archival
repositories, and other relevant literature necessary for producing a
thoughtful and comprehensive analysis.
The review of the case study must focus on one particular incident,
event, movement, or controversy that stresses the importance of records and
archives in society. The case study should review the history and details
of the particular case, consider how or if archivists and other records
professionals were involved in the case, and summarize what the case adds to
our understanding of the value of records in society. Examples of article
length analyses of such case studies are David Bearman, "The Implications
of Armstrong v. Executive Office of the President for the Archival Management of
Electronic Records," American
Archivist 56 (Fall 1993): 674-689 and Bruce P. Montgomery, "Nixon's
Legal Legacy: White House Papers and the Constitution," American Archivist 56 (Fall 1993):
586-613. Students should also review the various essays in Richard J. Cox
and David A. Wallace, eds., Archives and
the Public Good: Accountability and Records in Modern Society (
The analysis of use of records in a particular archives or records
repository must result in a detailed description of use in a particular
archives or records repository, based either on three days of observation of
reference interactions or an analysis of user records the archives or records
repository maintains. The student is responsible for contacting and
working out arrangements for conducting the user analysis. The student
needs to determine a particular methodology for the study, such as David
Bearman, "User Presentation Language in Archives," Archives and Museum Informatics 3
(Winter 1989-90): 3-7, and follow this particular methodology, producing a
comparison of findings.
Students who are expanding on papers
completed in LIS 2220, Records and Knowledge Management, should be more
specific in their written paper proposal handed in on session four (February 1,
2005). Students continuing to work on such papers must demonstrate a
considerably wider range of reading of the appropriate professional literature
and/or a more sophisticated research methodology (as well as demonstrating a
connection with the topics being treated in this course). In order to receive
a passing grade the student will have to present a paper that must reflect
deeper thinking about the topic and a greater grasp of the nuances of
professional debate, theory, methodology, and practice. It is also
expected that these papers will be longer than the 20-25 pages length because
of this fuller treatment by the student. The final version of this paper
is also due week 14 (
The final grade for Masters students
will be based on the following:
Class participation and discussion
40%
Project or Research
Paper
60%
Whatever major writing activity the
student is undertaking must be described in a page-long statement handed in on
week 4 (January 31, 2006) of this course.
Course Requirements and Grading: Doctoral Students
The primary assignment for doctoral
students taking this course is a major, publishable paper of 25-35 pages on any
aspect of archival access, reference, or advocacy that the student is
interested in or that relates to the student's ongoing dissertation research.
This paper should show a wide
reading of the existing literature and can look at the topic from a theoretical
or applied perspective. Broad examples of topics for this paper are as
follows:
§
citation analysis and the
implications for archival reference services and access
§
impact of electronic records and
other new information technologies on archival reference and access
§
implications of media coverage of archives
and records matters (such as Holocaust survivors’ assets, tobacco industry
litigation, or the Enola Gay exhibition controversy) for archival access and
advocacy
§
implications of issues like
intellectual property, privacy, and government secrecy for archival access and
advocacy
Students should hand in a one page
description of what they intend to look at and write about in this paper by the
fourth class session (January 31, 2006). The paper is due the last week
of the course (April 25, 2006).
Doctoral students working in, or who
have worked in, archival repositories are encouraged to select topics for this
longer assignment relating to these institutional settings and repositories.
Students interested in pursuing this kind of focused assignment should plan to
make prior arrangements with the
Instructor.
In writing this paper students are
required to have mastered the readings in this syllabus, and they should be
able to demonstrate that they have examined relevant literature and studies in
related fields such as library and information science and historical studies.
Doctoral students who go beyond the archival literature in their background
reading will do better on these papers, producing something with potential for
publication.
The final grade for Doctoral
students will be based on the following:
§
Class participation and discussion
(30%)
§
Research paper (70%)
Students should adhere to the latest
edition of the Chicago Manual of Style
in the preparation of their papers. Students should acquire, if they do
not have a copy already, the latest edition of Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses,
and Dissertations published by the
Any paper submitted not meeting the
standards of this style manual will lose
one letter grade for the particular assignment.
Course Requirements and Grading: Class Participation and
Discussion
Class participation and discussion,
as the final grade weighing reflects, are extremely essential for this course's
success and the student's educational experience:
Each student will be expected to
participate fully and regularly in class discussions about the readings,
session topics, and other matters related to archival science.
Each student will be expected to
meet at least once during the course
with the Instructor in order to discuss his or her progress and work on the
assignments.
Students who do not fully participate in class discussions will receive no higher
than a "B" for this course.
The Instructor will take into account
the possibility of a larger class size affecting class participation when
considering the grade for the course.
Each student also will be expected
to read the daily national edition (seven day coverage) of the New York Times, making note of news and
other coverage of stories with implications for archives and records
management. Students will be expected to bring to class relevant articles
for discussion and analysis. A portion of the beginning of each class
will be devoted to these discussions. Students should check into the
availability of a subscription to this newspaper, or make arrangements with a
local bookstore or newsstand for reserving a daily copy of this newspaper for
purchase. Students also can read the
newspaper online, but the online version is different from the print edition
and provides a different experience.
If students need to take an
incomplete, they must request permission to do so from the Instructor by Week
14 (April 18). Students, unless there are extremely adverse or emergency
situations, will have until
Each week includes a set of required
readings. Students should read the required essays and books and be
prepared to discuss them in class and to draw on them for their writing assignments.
The reading list is not intended to be comprehensive, but it is rather intended
to introduce students to the classic writings and most important texts on the
topic of archival access and advocacy.
A number of books are recommended
for purchase through the Society of American Archivists, including
Mary Jo Pugh, Providing Reference Services for Archives and Manuscripts (
Elsie Freeman Finch, ed., Advocating Archives: An Introduction to
Public Relations for Archivists (Metuchen, New Jersey: Society of American
Archivists and the Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1994).
Karen Benedict, Ethics and the Archival Profession: Introduction and Case Studies (
Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt and Peter J.
Wosh, eds., Privacy and Confidentiality
Perspectives: Archivists and Archival Records (
Other volumes should be purchased
through any online or other bookstore of the student's choice (some of these
volumes also may be available for purchase through the Society of American
Archivists); the required volumes include:
Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt, Margaret
Jacob, Telling the Truth About History
(New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1994).
Erna Paris, Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History (
Deborah Lipstadt, History on Trial: My Day in Court with David
Irving (
Richard J. Evans, Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust, and
the David Irving Trial (
Athan G. Theoharis, ed., A Culture of Secrecy: The Government Versus
the People’s Right to Know (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998).
Timothy W. Luke, Museum Politics: Power Plays at the
Exhibition (
Barbie Zelizer, Covering the Body: The Kennedy Assassination, the Media, and the
Shaping of Collective Memory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1992).
Janna Malamud Smith, Private Matters: In Defense of the Personal
Life (Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc., 1997).
Edwin Black,
Richard J. Cox and David A. Wallace,
eds., Archives and the Public Good:
Accountability and Records in Modern Society (
Richard J. Cox, Flowers After the Funeral: Reflections on the
Post-9/11 Digital Age (
The books are available at the
Course Schedule
INTRODUCTION
Session 1 (January 10, 2006)
Introduction to Course and Course
Requirements
Lecture: “
Recommended
Mark Edmundson, Why Read? (
Richard Rhodes, How to Write: Advice and Reflections (New York: Quill, 1995).
Session 2 (January 17, 2006)
What Are Archival Access, Reference,
and Advocacy? History and Definitions; Their Place in Archival Institutions;
Their Relationship to Each Other; Issues and Debates.
Lecture: “The Demise of the Archival Field
of Dreams in the Late Twentieth Century”
Required
Sue E. Holbert, Archives and Manuscripts: Reference & Access (Chicago: Society
of American Archivists, 1977).
Ann E. Pederson and Gail Farr, Archives & Manuscripts: Public Programs (Chicago: Society of American
Archivists, 1982).
Elsie Freeman Finch, ed., Advocating Archives: An Introduction to
Public Relations for Archivists (Metuchen, New Jersey: Society of American
Archivists and the Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1994).
Trudy H. Peterson, “
David B. Gracy, “Archivists, You Are
What People Think You Keep,” American
Archivist 52 (1989): 72-78.
Recommended
Lucille Whalen, ed., Reference Services in Archives (New
York: Haworth Press, 1986). Read selectively.
Philip C. Brooks, Research in Archives: The Use of Unpublished
Primary Sources (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969).
SECTION ONE: ARCHIVAL REFERENCE AND
ACCESS
Session 3 (January 24, 2006)
Administering Archival Reference
Programs
Lecture:
“The Reference Room as Archival Research Laboratory”
Required
Paul Conway, “Facts and Frameworks:
An Approach to Studying the Users of Archives,” American Archivist 49 (Fall 1986): 393-407.
Mary Jo Pugh, Providing Reference Services for Archives and Manuscripts (
Bruce W. Dearstyne, “What Is the Use
of Archives? A Challenge for the Profession,” American Archivist 50 (Winter 1987): 76-87.
Elsie T. Freeman, “In the Eye of the
Beholder: Archives Administration from the User’s Point of View,” American Archivist 47 (Spring 1984):
111-23.
Linda J. Long, “Question Negotiation
in the Archival Setting: The Use of Interpersonal Communication Techniques in
the Reference Interview,” American
Archivist 52 (1989): 40-50.
Avra Michelson, “Description and
Reference in the Age of Automation,” American
Archivist 50 (Spring 1987): 192-208.
Recommended
Laura B. Cohen, ed. Reference Services for Archives and
Manuscripts (New York: Haworth Press, Inc., 1997). Read selectively.
Frank G. Burke, Research and the Manuscript Tradition (Metuchen, New Jersey:
Scarecrow Press, 1997)
Janice E. Ruth, “Educating the
Reference Archivist,” American Archivist
51 (Summer 1988): 266-76.
Mary Jo Pugh, “The Illusion of
Omniscience: Subject Access and the Reference Archivist,” American Archivist 45 (Winter 1982): 33-44.
Susan L. Malbin, “The Reference
Interview in Archival Literature,” College
and Research Libraries (January 1997): 69-80.
Session 4 (January 31, 2006)
Testing Archival Access and
Reference: Research and Case Studies
Lecture:
“Do We Know Why Archival Records Are Used?”
Required
William J. Maher, “The Use of User
Studies,” Midwestern Archivist 11,
no. 1 (1986): 15-26.
Paul Conway, Partners in Research; Improving Access to the Nation’s Archives
(Pittsburgh: Archives and Museum Informatics, 1994). Read selectively.
Richard H. Lytle, “Intellectual
Access to Archives: I. Provenance and Content Indexing Methods of Subject
Retrieval,” American Archivist 43
(Winter 1980): 64-75; “Report of an Experiment Comparing Provenance and Content
Indexing Methods of Subject Retrieval,” ibid.
(Spring 1980): 191-206.
David Bearman, “User Presentation
Language in Archives,” Archives and
Museum Informatics 3 (Winter 1989-90): 3-7.
Ann D. Gordon, Using the Nation’s Documentary Heritage (Washington, D.C.:
Historical Documents Study, 1992). Read selectively.
Elizabeth Yakel and Laura L.
Bost. “Understanding Administrative Use and Users in University
Archives,” American Archivist 57
(1994): 596-615.
Wendy Duff and Catherine A. Johnson,
“Accidentally Found on Purpose: Information-Seeking Behavior of Historians in
Archives,” Library Quarterly 72
(October 2002): 472-496.
Recommended
Dianne L. Beattie, “An Archival User
Study: Researchers in the Field of Women’s History,” Archivaria 29 (Winter 1989-90): 33-50.
Paul Conway, “Research in
Presidential Libraries: A User Survey,” Midwestern
Archivist 11, no. 1 (1986): 35-56.
Clark A. Elliott, “Citation Patterns
and Documentation for the History of Science: Some Methodological
Considerations,” American Archivist
44 (Spring 1981): 131-42.
Jacqueline Goggin, “The Indirect
Approach: A Study of Scholarly Users of Black and Women’s Organizational
Records in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division,” Midwestern Archivist 11, no. 1 (1986): 57-67.
Fredric M. Miller, “Use, Appraisal,
and Research: A Case Study of Social History,” American Archivist 49 (Fall 1986): 371-92.
Topic for Longer Assignment Due
Session 5 (February 7, 2006)
Ethics, Access, and the Relationship
of the Researcher and the Reference Archivist
Lecture:
“The Evolving Relationship of Archivists and Researchers”
Required
Pugh, Providing
Reference Services for Archives and Manuscripts, chapters four through
nine.
Karen Benedict, Ethics and the Archival Profession: Introduction and Case Studies (
Page Putnam Miller, Developing a Premier National Institution: A
Report from the User Community to the National Archives ([
Mary N. Speakman, “The User Talks
Back,” American Archivist 47 (Spring
1984): 164-71.
Helen Tibbo, “Interviewing
Techniques for Remote Reference: Electronic Versus Traditional Environments,” American Archivist 58 (Summer 1995):
294-310.
Wendy M. Duff and Catherine A.
Johnson, “A Virtual Expression of Need: An Analysis of E-mail Reference
Questions,” American Archivist 64
(Spring/Summer 2001): 43-60.
Janna Malamud Smith, Private Matters: In Defense of the Personal
Life (Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc.,
1997). Read selectively, focusing on aspects related to the questions of
access to her father’s papers.
Recommended
Elena S. Danielson. “The Ethics of
Access,” American Archivist 52
(Winter 1989): 53-62.
Barbara C. Orbach, “The View From
the Researcher’s Desk: Historians’ Perceptions of Research and Repositories,” American Archivist 54 (Winter 1991):
28-43.
Helen Tibbo, “Interviewing
Techniques for Remote Reference: Electronic Versus Traditional Environments,” American Archivist 58 (Summer 1995):
294-310.
Wendy M. Duff and Catherine A.
Johnson, “A Virtual Expression of Need: An Analysis of E-mail Reference
Questions,” American Archivist 64
(Spring/Summer 2001): 43-60.
Students should read the Society of
American Archivists Code of Ethics, available at http://www.archivists.org/governance/handbook/app_ethics.asp
and the
ALA-SAA Joint Statement on Access: Guidelines
for Access to Original Research Materials, available at http://www.archivists.org/statements/alasaa.asp
Session 6 (February 14, 2006)
Security and Legal Issues in Access
to Archival Records
Lecture: “Security, the Marketplace, and the
Inconsistencies in Archival Practice”
Required
Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt and Peter J.
Wosh, eds., Privacy and Confidentiality
Perspectives: Archivists and Archival Records (
Recommended
Miles Harvey, The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime (
Heather MacNeil, Without Consent: The Ethics of Disclosing
Personal Information in Public Archives (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press,
1992). Peruse.
Roland M. Baumann, “The
Administration of Access in Confidential Records in State Archives: Common
Practices and the Need for a Model Law,” American Archivist 49 (1986): 349-69.
Irene Kearsey. “Some Problems in
Placing Modern Medical Records in Public Archives,” Archives and Manuscripts 17, 2 (November 1989): 183-196.
Raymond H. Geselbracht. “The Origins
of Restrictions on Access to Personal Papers at the Library of Congress and the
National Archives,” American Archivist
49, 2 (Spring 1986): 142-162.
Eric Ketelaar. “The Right to Know,
the Right to Forget? Personal Information in Public Archives,” Archives and Manuscripts 23, 1 (1995):
8-17.
Sara S. Hodson, “Private
Lives: Confidentiality in Modern Manuscript Collections,” Rare Books and Manuscripts Librarianship
6 (1991): 108-18.
Diane S. Nixon, “Providing
Access to Controversial Public Records: The Case of the Robert F. Kennedy
Assassination Investigation Files,” Public
Historian 11 (Summer 1989): 29-44.
Michael Les Benedict, “Historians
and the Continuing Controversy over Fair Use of Unpublished Manuscript
Materials,” American Historical Review
91 (October 1986): 859-81; “A Different Perspective on Copyright,” Journal of Policy History 5, no. 2
(1993): 302-06.
Kenneth D. Crews, “Unpublished
Manuscripts and the Right of Fair Use: Copyright Law and the Strategic
Management of Information Resources,” Rare
Books & Manuscripts Librarianship 5, no. 2 (1990): 61-70.
Session 7 (February 21, 2006)
Archival Access, Reference, and
Advocacy in a Changing Culture
Lecture: “Archivists: Should They Be
Documenting or Commemorating 9/11?”
Required
Richard J. Cox, Flowers
After the Funeral: Reflections on the Post-9/11 Digital Age (
Recommended
Edward T. Linenthal, The Unfinished Bombing:
Kenneth E. Foote, Shadowed Ground: America’s Landscapes of
Violence and Tragedy (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997)
SECTION TWO: ARCHIVAL PUBLIC
PROGRAMMING, OUTREACH, AND ADVOCACY
Session 8 (February 28, 2006)
Lecture: “Where
Is the Truth in the Record?”
Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt, Margaret
Jacob, Telling the Truth About History
(New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1994). Read selectively.
Erna Paris, Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History (
Recommended
The notion of public memory has
become a major industry in historical and sociological scholarship, with
tremendous implications for archives and records management. Other volumes
worth looking include:
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the
Origin and Spread of Nationalism, rev. ed. (New York: Verso, 1991).
John Bodnar, Remaking
Stewart Brand, The Clock of the Long Now: Time and Responsibility (New York: Basic
Books, 1999).
Ian Buruma, The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in
Paul Connerton, How Societies Remember (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1989).
Frances Fitzgerald,
Todd Gitlin, The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America is Wracked by Culture Wars
(New York: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Co., 1995).
David Glassberg, Sense of History: The Place of the Past in
American Life (
James Green, Taking History to Heart: The Power of the Past in Building Social
Movements (
Maurice Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, ed. & trans.
Lewis A. Coser (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992).
Patrick H. Hutton, History as an Art of Memory (Hanover:
University of Vermont, 1993).
Jacques Le Goff, History and Memory, trans. Steven
Rendall and Elizabeth Claman (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992).
George Lipsitz, Time Passages: Collective Memory and
American Popular Culture (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
1990).
James W. Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your
American History Textbook Got Wrong (New York: The New Press, 1995).
David Lowenthal, The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of
History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
David Lowenthal, The Past Is A Foreign Country (New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1985).
Matt K. Matsuda, The Memory of the Modern (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1996).
Gary B. Nash, Charlotte Crabtree,
and Ross E. Dunn,. History on Trial:
Culture Wars and the Teaching of the Past (New York: Alfred B. Knopf,
1997).
Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen, The Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of
History in American Life (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998).
Raphael Samuel, Theatres of Memory. Volume 1: Past and Present in Contemporary
Culture (New York: Verso, 1994).
Peter N. Stearns, Meaning Over Memory: Recasting the Teaching
of Culture and History (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 1993).
March 6-10, 2006 is Spring Break, and there are no classes.
Session 9 (March 14, 2006)
On Trial: Archives and Evidence
Lecture:
“The Persistent Importance of Records as Evidence”
Required
Deborah Lipstadt, History on Trial: My Day in Court with David
Irving (
Richard J. Evans, Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust, and
the David Irving Trial (
Recommended
The Holocaust, the trial about the
veracity of this event and the issues of reparations for its victims, has led
to a large amount of scholarly and other analysis with insights into the value
of records for evidence. Students might want to read portions of the
following:
Tom Bower, Nazi Gold: The Full Story of the Fifty-Year Swiss-Nazi Conspiracy to
Steal Billions from Europe’s Jews and Holocaust Survivors (New York:
Harper Collins Publishers, 1997).
Hector Feliciano, The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to
Steal the World’s Greatest Works of Art (New York: HarperBooks, 1997).
Jeanette Greenfield, The Return of Cultural Treasures
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).
William H. Honan, Treasure Hunt: A New York Times Reporter
Tracks the Quedlinburg Hoard (New York: Fromm International Publishing
Corporation, 1997).
Itamar Levin, The Last Deposit: Swiss Banks and Holocaust Victims’ Accounts,
trans. Natasha Dornberg (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1999).
Lynn H. Nicholas, The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe’s
Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War (New York: Vintage
Books, 1994).
Jonathan Petropoulos, Art as Politics in the Third Reich
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996).
Jonathan Petropoulos, The Faustian Bargain: The Art World in Nazi
Michael Sherma and Alex Grobman, Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust
Never Happened and Why Do They Say It? (
Elizabeth Simpson, ed., The Spoils of War: World War II and Its
Aftermath; The Loss, Reappearance, and Recovery of Cultural Property (New
York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., in association with the Bard Graduate Center for
Studies in the Decorative Arts, 1997).
William Z. Slany, U.S. and Allied Efforts to Recover and
Restore Gold and Other Assets Stolen or Hidden by Germany During World War II:
Preliminary Study ([Washington, D.C.: Department of State, May 1997]).
Isabel Vincent, Hitler’s Silent Partners: Swiss Banks, Nazi Gold, and the Pursuit of
Justice (New York: William Morrow and Co., Inc., 1997).
Jean Ziegler, The Swiss, the Gold, and the Dead, trans. John Brownjohn (New York:
Harcourt Brace and Co., 1998).
Session 10 (March 21, 2006)
On Public Display: Archives and
Information
Lecture: “Never Publicly Displayed:
Required
Elizabeth Yakel, "Museums,
Management, Media, and Memory: Lessons from the Enola Gay Exhibit," Libraries and Culture 35 (Spring 2000):
278-301.
Timothy W. Luke, Museum Politics: Power Plays at the
Exhibition (
Recommended
Kai Bird and Lawrence Lifschultz,
eds., Hiroshima’s Shadow: Writings
on the Denial of History and the Smithsonian Controversy (Stony Creek,
Conn.: The Pamphleteer’s Press, 1998).
Edward T. Linenthal and Tom
Engelhardt, eds., History Wars: The
Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past (New York: Metropolitan
Books, 1996).
Steven C. Dubin, Displays of Power: Controversy in the
Martin Harwit, An Exhibit Denied: Lobbying the History of Enola Gay (New York:
Copernicus, 1996).
Philip Nobile, ed., Judgment at the Smithsonian (New York:
Marlowe and Co., 1995).
Robert Jay Lifton and Greg Mitchell,
Session 11 (March 28, 2006)
Archives, Records and Organizational
Memory
Lecture: “Illusions of Memory in the
Information Age”
Required
Edwin Black, IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and
America’s Most Powerful Corporation (
Recommended
Martha S. Feldman, Order Without Design: Information Production
and Policy Making (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989).
E. Wayne Carp, Family Matters: Secrecy and Disclosure in the History of Adoption
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998).
Arnita A. Jones and Philip L.
Cantelon, eds., Corporate Archives and
History: Making the Past Work (Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Co.,
1993).
Diane Vaughan, The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance
at NASA (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996).
Session 12 (April 4, 2006)
Records and Accountability
Lecture:
“The Most Documented Institution, the University, and the Shifting Sands
of Accountability”
Required
Richard J. Cox and David A. Wallace,
eds., Archives and the Public Good:
Accountability and Records in Modern Society (
Athan G. Theoharis, ed., A Culture of Secrecy: The Government Versus
the People’s Right to Know (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998).
Recommended
The notion of accountability has
become extremely important as a concept and practice in recent years, leading
to a great quantity of research and speculation, including the following:
Nancy Chang, Silencing Political Dissent: How Post-September 11 Anti-Terrorism
Measures Threaten Our Civil Liberties (
Lewis
H. Lapham, Gag Rule: On the Suppression
of Dissent and the Stifling of Democracy (
Shelley L. Davis, Unbridled Power: Inside the Secret Culture
of the IRS (New York: HarperBusiness, 1997).
A. Larry Elliott and Richard J.
Schroth, How Companies Lie: Why Enron Is
Just the Tip of the Iceberg (
Stanton A. Glantz, John Slade, Lisa
A. Bero, Peter Hanauer, and Deborah E. Barnes, The Cigarette Papers (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996).
Christopher Hitchens, The Trial of Henry Kissinger (
Philip K. Howard, The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is
Suffocating
Kevin P. Kearns, Managing for Accountability: Preserving the Public Trust in Public and
Nonprofit Organizations (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996).
Sue McKemmish and Frank Upward, eds., Archival Documents: Providing Accountability
Through Recordkeeping (Melbourne: Ancora Press, 1993).
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Secrecy: The American Experience
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998).
Michael Palumbo, The Waldheim Files: Myth and Reality (London: Faber and
Faber, 1988).
David Rudenstine, The Day the Presses Stopped: A History of the Pentagon Papers Case
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996).
John
Prados and Margaret Pratt Porter, eds., Inside the Pentagon Papers (
H. Jeff Smith, Managing Privacy: Information Technology and Corporate
Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production
of History (Boston: Beacon Press, 1995).
The 9/11 Commission Report:
Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the
Students should visit the Government
Accountability Project website at http://www.whistleblower.org/
“The Government Accountability Project’s mission is to protect the public
interest by promoting government and corporate accountability through advancing
occupational free speech and ethical conduct, defending whistleblowers, and
empowering citizen activists. Founded in 1977, GAP is a non-profit, public
interest organization and law firm that receives funding from foundations,
individuals, and legal fees. GAP is the nation’s leading whistleblower
organization. GAP promotes government and corporate accountability by
advocating occupational free speech, litigating whistleblower cases,
publicizing whistleblower concerns, and developing policy and legal reforms of
whistleblower laws.”
Session 13 (April 11, 2006)
In The News: The Media and Archival
Advocacy and Outreach
Lecture:
“Moving Target: The Changing Meaning of the ‘Archive” in Scholarship,
Public Memory, and Public Policy”
Required
Barbie Zelizer, Covering the Body: The Kennedy Assassination, the Media, and the
Shaping of Collective Memory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1992)
Recommended
Students might find any of the
following helpful to thinking about this topic:
Sara S. Hodson, "Freeing the
Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz, Media Events: The Live Broadcasting of
History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992).
Gary R. Edgerton, Ken Burns’s America (
Steven Naifeh and Gregory White
Smith, The Mormon Murders: A True Story
of Greed, Forgery, Deceit, and Death (New York: New American Library,
1988).
Robert Harris, Selling Hitler (New York: Penguin Books, 1986).
Michael Schudson, Watergate in American Memory: How We
Remember, Forget, and Reconstruct the Past (New York: Basic Books, 1992).
Edward T. Linenthal, The Unfinished Bombing:
Janet Malcolm, In the Freud Archives (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984).
Richard A. Posner, Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline
(
Session 14 (April 18, 2006)
Archives, Archivists, and the Public
Lecture: Archivists Caught in the Web
Required
Daniel J. Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig, Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the
Past on the Web (
Session 15 (April 25, 2006)
Wrapping Up
Lecture:
Archivists and Professionalism: Do We Need A New Model?
No
Course Policies
Academic Integrity:
Students in this course will be
expected to comply with the
Disabilities:
If you have a disability that requires special testing
accommodations or other classroom modifications, you need to notify both the
instructor and the Disability Resources and Services no later than the 2nd week
of the term. You may be asked to provide documentation of your disability to
determine the appropriateness of accommodations. To notify Disability Resources
and Services, call