UNIVERSITY OF
LIS
2222 Archival Appraisal, Spring 2008 Term
Instructor: Richard J. Cox; with Janet Ceja, PhD
student
Office Number/Telephone: SIS 614;
Office
Hours: Mondays 1:30-4:30
E-mail:
rcox@mail.sis.pitt.edu
or rjcox111@comcast.net
Homepage: http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/~rcox/
Course Rationale
Archival appraisal is the most
critical task facing the archivist. The archivist’s process in determining
continuing value affects all other archival functions, as well as makes an
impact on individual, organizational, and societal memory. Since this is one of
the most important responsibilities of the archivist, anyone intending to work
as an archivist must be knowledgeable about appraisal. Because of its significance for both archival
work and society, appraisal has been the function most debated and subjected to
experiments with new methodologies and theoretical models. It is a function that is both intellectually
stimulating and challenging, one fraught with problems and potential
misunderstanding.
Archival appraisal, and the
techniques and models that have developed to support this function, also
represents one of the unique contributions of the archivist to the information
professions -- the ability to determine what portion of information and
evidence needs to be saved to document institutions, communities, society, and
the people who make them up. The process involves not just thinking
of historical issues or values, but also about the value of records for
accountability and evidence. This
archival function also brings into focus the critical and difficult area of the
deliberate destruction of records and other documentary materials, reminding
archivists that they are not just preservers but destroyers as well. Reflecting on destruction should remind
archivists about how carefully they need to proceed with appraisal activities,
seeking assistance from other experts when necessary and always with an eye on
accountability to the public.
Archival appraisal, although it has
tended to develop somewhat independently from the librarian’s notion of
collection development and the records manager’s approach to retention or
disposition scheduling, is closely related to these and other selection schemes
concerned with information management.
Students taking this course will learn about how the appraisal function
relates and potentially enriches the selection or documentation efforts of
other disciplines such as librarianship, records management, museum curatorial
work, and knowledge management. The
emphasis, in terms of comparison, will be on the relationship between archival
appraisal and records management scheduling due to the necessity of having
fully integrated selection functions to support the concept of the records life
cycle or continuum.
Course Goals
The purposes of this course are to
introduce students to the basic theories, principles, techniques, and methods
that archivists use for identifying and selecting (appraising) information or
evidence with continuing or enduring value and to enable students to compare
and contrast archival appraisal to related activities in other fields, such as
library collection management and development, artifact selection by museum
curators, and the analysis of documentary evidence by historians. Students also will learn about how archives
and records management processes must be coordinated in order to ensure that
records in an organization are maintained for legal, fiscal, administrative,
and research purposes.
Students will learn about
§
various methods archivists use in
making appraisal decisions
§
societal, legal, and organizational
aspects affecting the appraising of records
§
different opinions held by archivists
in conducting appraisal
§
new and emerging approaches to
appraising records
§
how to evaluate any archives
appraisal and acquisition policy and activities
§
different evaluation approaches used
by records managers, librarians, and museum curators
Students will be introduced to the
definitions, theories, and principles that support archival appraisal with
discussion about the classic writings on appraisal theory and principles, the
challenges of selecting records that possess continuing or enduring value, and
the main debates about the purpose and practice of appraisal (especially the
issue of the ideology of appraisal and the objectivity versus subjectivity of
archival appraisal decisions); review the prevalent appraisal practices
and methods, from analysis of individual documents to institutional approaches
to multi-institutional, cooperative efforts to appraise; and learn about
various appraisal case studies in institutions such as government and college
and university, topical areas (science and technology; medicine and health),
the geographic context of appraisal (documenting localities), and the impact
and challenges of recording media on archival appraisal (electronic,
audio-visual, and visual records).
Throughout the course, students will learn about the debates and
controversies involving archival appraisal, an archival function that is not
only the most important but also the most contested archival process.
Course Outline
The course is divided into several
sections, reflecting the various appraisal approaches presently influencing
this archival responsibility, covering the use of collection or acquisition
policies, institutional records management retention or disposition scheduling
and its relationship to archival appraisal, sampling strategies, archival
triage and the analysis of endangered records, documentation strategy and
planning as a reflection of macro-appraisal approaches, and functional analysis
and the use of business processes. In
considering each of these approaches or methodologies, students will be
introduced to challenges impeding them, such as differing organizational
cultures, record technologies, and archival expertise and resources.
We will initially consider archival
appraisal definitions, theories, and principles, some of these dating back to
the early years of the modern archival profession. Then we examine various archival methods and
practices. And we will conclude by
considering a variety of appraisal applications and case studies.
Course Requirements and Grading: Masters Students
Each student will be expected to complete a lengthy set of readings and to participate regularly in class discussions and group projects. The course will consist of lectures by the instructor in the first part of each class, followed by a discussion of the assigned readings and other issues raised by the lectures or of interest to the students. Some time, usually the last half hour of the course, will be allowed for group meetings.
The student's grade will be based on
his or her participation in class, as well as successful completion of various
individual and group appraisal projects. The final grade is based upon the
instructor’s evaluation of the student’s written work and class
discussion. A significant portion of the
student's grade will be based on his or her participation in class; any student
not participating in the class discussions will receive no higher than a
"B" for the course. The remaining portion of the grade will be based
upon successful completion of the appraisal project (described below) by
formally declared archives students or a longer paper (also described below) by
the other (non-archives) students taking the course.
The final grade will be based on the following:
All declared archives students must do the appraisal report assignment by participating in a group of four students, selected by a process to be determined by discussion at the first class meeting (either by self-selection of students interested in evaluating the appraisal or acquisition policy of a particular repository or kind of repository or by a random drawing of students’ names). The appraisal report should evaluate the acquisition or appraisal policy of a Pittsburgh or another geographic area's archives, historical manuscripts, or records/information resources management program (excluding any program associated with the University of Pittsburgh). The nature of the program can be based on the student group's interests and selection. The paper (20 to 30 pages, not including appendices) should do the following:
1.
Describe the institution's policy (or practice if it lacks a formal policy)
2.
Evaluate the institution's policy and practice based on appropriate archival
and records management standards (with citations and discussion)
3.
Propose ways that the policy and practice could be strengthened
4.
Propose ways that the "success" of the policy and practice could be
measured or evaluated
Students should structure this paper according to the four elements listed above. Each student should visit the institution (in person or virtually), interview appropriate staff, and immerse him or herself in the relevant appraisal literature and, if available, literature concerning the particular archival program. A student can evaluate the policy of an archives or historical manuscripts program in another area of the country, conducting the relevant interview by telephone and examining appraisal policy documents provided by the institution. The paper is due on Week 13 (April 14). Student groups should hand in to the instructor the institution they have selected by Week 4 (February 4) of the course.
The instructor is willing to consider other research paper topics
for students building on papers completed in the Archives and Records
Management course (LIS 2220) during the Fall term or related to particular
career objectives held by the student.
The instructor may ask some students to continue to work on their papers
from the first term if they are deemed to have some merit for expansion into
publishable papers. However, even if
students are working independently on such paper assignments, they still will
be expected to participate in a working group as a fifth member, although they
will have no assignments in these groups often than meeting with them during
the class time.
Non-archives students (but not in
the preservation management program) who are taking this course must complete
the research paper assignment. The research paper should relate to an
in-depth treatment of some aspect of archival appraisal or the relationship of
archival appraisal to other disciplines’ selection methodologies (such as
library collection development). This paper is intended to enable the
student to do in-depth reading and study on a single aspect of archival
appraisal. These papers should provide critical definitions as needed; review
the literature that reflects both key points of this aspect of archival
administration and the development of archival theory on this principle or
function; and evaluate the literature's strengths and weaknesses, including any
conclusions about needs in the profession. 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. This paper is due on the next to last week of the
course (April 14); all masters level students doing a research paper are
required to hand in a one to two page statement of the intended topic of their
paper at Week 4 (February 4) for the Instructor's approval. Students falling into this category are still
expected to participate in one of the working groups (again as an extra
member), but they are not required, unless interested, to prepare any written
products for the working group.
Course Requirements and Grading: Doctoral Students
The final grade for Doctoral
students will be based on class participation and discussion and a research
paper. Doctoral students are expected to
participate in the working groups, but they are not required to complete any
written work for the group (unless they fail inclined to do so).
Doctoral students taking this course
will be required to prepare a paper (25-35 pages) on some aspect of archival
appraisal that interests them, relates to their broader dissertation research,
and that is publishable. The research
paper should be an in-depth review of a particular issue, technique or
application, or principle that is essential to the archival appraisal function.
Examples of acceptable subjects for this kind of paper include the matter of
objectivity in the appraisal process, the appropriateness of sampling as an appraisal
tool, and the importance of provenance to conducting archival
appraisal. There are many interesting topics regarding archival
appraisal that could be pursued, and doctoral students are encouraged to follow
their own interests and to be creative in selecting a topic. The choice of the
topic should have some relevance to the doctoral student’s own research
interests.
Students may also opt to write a
comparative analysis of archival appraisal with some other library or
information science function or activity in another discipline related to
selection approaches. Examples of acceptable subjects for this kind of
paper include a comparison of archival appraisal criteria to library
preservation selection criteria and the archival concept of intrinsic value as
compared to evaluation criteria used by material culture experts.
This paper is due on the last week
of the class (April 21). The preparation of an essay of publishable
quality will be the main evaluation criterion by the instructor. Doctoral students
are required to hand in a one to two page statement of the intended topic of
their paper at Week 4 (February 4) for the Instructor's approval.
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 most recent edition of Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses,
and Dissertations published by the University of Chicago Press. This
is a short hand version of the Chicago
Manual of Style. Any paper submitted not meeting the standards of
this style manual loses one letter
grade for this assignment.
Students also should be aware of the
School’s Academic Integrity guidelines regarding this and all other matters
concerning grades. These guidelines are available at http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/sisinfo/sisacint.html.
Course Requirements and Grading: Incompletes
If students need to take an
incomplete, they must request permission to do so from the Instructor by the
next to last week of the course. Students, unless there are extremely
adverse or emergency situations, will have until May 16, 2008 to complete all of
their assignments and other course requirements. However, given the nature of group work in
this course, it will be difficult for students to take an incomplete, and there
may be a requirement for an extra assignment to do this.
Course Requirements: Book Purchases
This course builds around half a
dozen major texts and key essays concerning the topic of archival
appraisal. The instructor has made some
other extensive recommendations for readings as well on each topic. While there is a considerable amount of
readings, the articles and books provide only
an introduction to the complexities and challenges of conducting archival
appraisal. The required assigned literature is intended to introduce the
student to the debates within the archival community about how appraisal should
be carried out. The recommended readings
will be commented on by the instructor during the course and are listed to help
guide students’ own exploration of archival appraisal. The students can
purchase a number of the texts from any online book dealer. A small quantity of copies of required
readings has been secured of the following for sale in the University of
Pittsburgh bookstore.
Richard J. Cox, Documenting Localities: A Practical Model for American Archivists and
Manuscripts Curators (Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1996). Also
available through the Society of American Archivists. Recommended.
Richard J. Cox, No Innocent Deposits: Forming Archives by Rethinking Appraisal
(Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2004). Also available through the Society of
American Archivists. Recommended.
Helen W. Samuels, Varsity Letters: Documenting Modern Colleges
and Universities (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1992). Also
available through the Society of American Archivists.
Sam
Kula, Appraising Moving Images: Assessing
the Archival and Monetary Value of Film and Video Records (Lanham, Maryland
and Oxford: Scarecrow Press, 2003).
Students might wish to buy other
volumes on Reserve or listed as recommended readings, but that is up to each
individual.
Students should order the Society of
American Archivists publications directly from the Society (check http://www.archivists.org for ordering
information). These publications include the following:
Frank Boles, Selecting & Appraising Archives & Manuscripts (Chicago:
Society of American Archivists, 2005).
Barbara Craig, Archival Appraisal: Theory and Practice (München: K. G. Saur,
2004). Note: This is an expensive book, and it is
recommended that you look for used copies or use the copy on reserve.
Terry Cook and Gordon Dodds, eds., Imagining Archives: Essays and Reflections
by Hugh Taylor (Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, Association of Canadian
Archivists, and Society of American Archivists, 2003).
All required readings will be on
Reserve in the SIS Library.
A Note About the Readings
Students need to focus on the
required readings in each section. The Instructor will comment on the
list of readings designated as recommended, but the student is not expected to
read these (unless they may be of value in their individual writing assignments
or group projects).
Course Schedule
INTRODUCTION
Session 1 (January 7,
2008)
Lecture: “The Evolving Nature of Archival
Appraisal: A Framework for the Course.”
Group assignments will be made and the nature of the appraisal projects
discussed.
ARCHIVAL APPRAISAL DEFINITIONS,
THEORIES, AND PRINCIPLES
Session 2 (January 14,
2008)
Lecture: “The Place of Appraisal in
Archival Administration, the Information Professions, and Society”
Required Readings
Boles, Selecting & Appraising Archives & Manuscripts, Chapters 1
and 2
Craig, Archival Appraisal, Chapter 1
Terry Cook, "Mind Over Matter:
Towards A New Theory of Archival Appraisal," in Barbara L. Craig, ed., The Archival Imagination: Essays in Honour
of Hugh A. Taylor (Ottawa: Association of Canadian Archivists, 1992), pp.
38-70.
Recommended Readings
Nancy E. Peace, "Deciding What
to Save: Fifty Years of Theory and Practice," in Archival Choices: Managing the Historical Record in an Age of Abundance,
ed. Nancy E. Peace (Lexington: D.C. Heath, 1984), pp. 1-18.
Maynard J. Brichford, Archives & Manuscripts: Appraisal &
Accessioning (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1977). A copy
is on Reserve.
F. Gerald Ham, Selecting and Appraising Archives and Manuscripts (Chicago: Society
of American Archivists, 1992). A copy is
on Reserve.
Richard J. Cox and Helen W. Samuels,
"The Archivists' First Responsibility: A Research Agenda for the
Identification and Retention of Records of Enduring Value," American Archivist 51 (Winter/Spring
1988): 28-42.
Terry Eastwood, "Toward a
Social Theory of Appraisal," in Barbara L. Craig, ed., The Archival Imagination: Essays in Honour
of Hugh A. Taylor (Ottawa: Association of Canadian Archivists, 1992), pp.
71-89.
Margaret Hedstrom, "New
Appraisal Techniques: The Effect of Theory on Practice," Provenance 7 (Fall 1989): 1-21.
Session 3 (January 28,
2008)
Lecture: “The Historic Foundations of
Archival Appraisal Theory and Practice”
Required Readings
Cox, No Innocent Deposits, Chapters 1-3
Craig, Archival Appraisal, Chapter 1 and 4
T. R. Schellenberg, "The
Appraisal of Modern Public Records," National Archives Bulletin 8 (Washington: National
Archives and Records Service, 1956). Students can read this online at the
NARA website at http://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/archives-resources/appraisal-of-records.html.
Recommended Readings
S. Muller, J.A. Feith, and R.
Fruin. Manual for the Arrangement
and Description of Archives (New York: H.W. Wilson, 1968), chapter
one. Students should consider acquiring a copy of this Manual for the Arrangement and Description
of Archives with new introductions by Peter Horsman,
Eric Ketelaar, Theo Thomassen and Marjorie Barritt published by the Society of
American Archivists in 2003.
Sir Hilary Jenkinson, A Manual of Archive Administration, rev.
2nd ed. (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., Ltd., 1966), pp. 136-55.
Thornton W. Mitchell, ed., Norton on Archives: The Writings of Margaret
Cross Norton on Archival & Records Management (Carbondale: Southern
Illinois University Press, 1975), pp. 231-65. Students should consider
acquiring the reissue of this publication by the Society of American Archivists
with the new introduction by Rand Jimerson.
Kevin M. Guthrie, The New-York Historical Society: Lessons
from One Nonprofit’s Long Struggle for Survival (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Publishers, 1996).
Ole Kolsrud, "The Evolution of
Basic Appraisal Principles -Some Comparative Observations," American Archivist 55 (Winter 1992):
26-39.
Walter Muir Whitehill, Independent Historical Societies: An Enquiry
Into Their Research and Publication Functions and Their Financial Future
(Boston: Boston Athenaeum, 1962).
Gary
Nash, First City: Philadelphia and the
Forging of Historical Memory (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 2002), along with Sally F. Griffith, Serving History in a Changing World: The Historical Society of
Pennsylvania in the Twentieth Century (Philadelphia: Historical Society of
Pennsylvania, 2001).
Session 4 (February 4,
2008)
Lecture: “What Do We Appraise For?
Archivists Debate Among Themselves about the Goal of Appraisal
Required Readings
Boles, Selecting & Appraising Archives & Manuscripts, Chapter 2.
Cox, No Innocent Deposits, Chapters 4 and 5.
Craig, Archival Appraisal, Chapters three and five.
Luciana Duranti, "The Concept
of Appraisal and Archival Theory," American
Archivist 57 (Spring 1994): 328-344 and Frank Boles and Mark A. Greene,
"Et Tu Schellenberg? Thoughts on the Dagger of American Appraisal
Theory," American Archivist 59
(Summer 1996): 298-310.
Leonard Rapport, “No Grandfather
Clause: Reappraising Accessioned Records,” American
Archivist 44 (Spring 1981): 143-150 and Karen Benedict, “Invitation to a
Bonfire: Reappraisal and Deaccessioning of Records as Collection Management
Tools in an Archives – A Reply to Leonard Rapport,” American Archivist 47 (Winter 1984): 43-49.
Terry Cook, “’Another Brick in the
Wall’: Terry Eastwood’s Masonry and Archival Walls, History and Archival
Appraisal,” Archivaria 37 (Spring
1994): 96-103 and Terry Eastwood, "Nailing a Little Jelly to the Wall of
Archival Studies," Archivaria 35
(Spring 1993): 232-252.
Recommended Readings
Daniel Boorstin, "A Wrestler
with the Angel," in Hidden History
(New York, 1988), pp. 3-23.
Kenneth E. Foote, "To Remember
and Forget: Archives, Memory, and Culture," American Archivist 53 (Summer 1990): 378-92.
Hans Booms, "Society and the
Formation of a Documentary Heritage," Archivaria
24 (Summer 1987): 69-107.
Elisabeth Kaplan, “We Are What We
Collect, We Collect What We Are: Archives and the Construction of Identity,” American Archivist 63 (Spring/Summer
2000): 126-151.
F. Gerald Ham, "The Archival
Edge," American Archivist 38
(January 1975): 5-13.
Richard J. Cox, "Archival
Anchorites: Building Public Memory in the Era of the Culture Wars,” Multicultural Review 7 (June 1998):
52-60.
Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt, Margaret
Jacob, "Truth and Objectivity," in Telling the Truth About History (New York: W.W. Norton & Co.,
1994), pp. 241-270.
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)
Peter N. Stearns, Meaning Over Memory: Recasting the Teaching
of Culture and History (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1993).
Lawrence W. Levine, The Opening of the American Mind: Canons,
Culture, and History (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996).
Hans Booms,
"Uberlieferungsbildung: Keeping Archives as a Social and Political
Activity," Archivaria 33 (Winter
1991-92): 25-33.
Lawrence Dowler,
"Deaccessioning Collections: A New Perspective on a Continuing
Controversy," in Archival Choices:
Managing the Historical Record in an Age of Abundance, ed. Nancy E. Peace
(Lexington: D.C. Heath, 1984), pp. 117-32.
F. Gerald Ham, "Archival
Strategies for the Post-Custodial Era," American Archivist 44 (Summer 1981): 207-16.
F. Gerald Ham, "Archival
Choices: Managing the Historical Record in an Age of Abundance," in Archival Choices: Managing the Historical
Record in an Age of Abundance, ed. Nancy E. Peace (Lexington: D.C. Heath,
1984), pp. 133-147.
David Lowenthal, The Past Is A Foreign Country
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985). Read selectively.
William Rathje and Cullen Murphy, Rubbish? The Archaelogy of Garbage (New
York: Harper Collins, 1992).
Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen, The Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of
History in American Life (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998).
James M. O'Toole, "On the Idea
of Permanence," American Archivist
52 (Winter 1989): 10-25.
James M. O'Toole, "The Symbolic
Significance of Archives," American
Archivist 56 (Spring 1993): 234-255.
Mark
Greene, “The Power of Meaning: The Archival Mission in the Postmodern Age,” American Archivist 65 (Spring/Summer 2002): 42-55.
ARCHIVAL APPRAISAL METHODS AND
PRACTICES
Session 5 (February 11, 2008)
Archival Appraisal Methods and Practices: Item and Collection Approaches; Collection Policies and Institutional Archives
Lecture: “Constructing and Deconstructing
Archival Appraisal Policies”
Required Readings
Intrinsic Value in Archival Material,
NARS Staff Information Paper 21 (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records
Service, 1982). You can read this at http://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/archives-resources/archival-material-intrinsic-value.html
Frank Boles and Julia Marks Young,
"Exploring the Black Box: The Appraisal of University Administrative
Records," American Archivist 48
(Spring 1985): 121-40.
Faye Phillips, "Developing
Collecting Policies for Manuscript Collections," American Archivist 47 (Winter 1984): 30-42.
Timothy L. Ericson, "At the
'rim of creative dissatisfaction': Archivists and Acquisition Development,"
Archivaria 33 (Winter 1991-92):
66-77.
Boles, Selecting & Appraising Archives & Manuscripts, Chapter 3.
Cox, No Innocent Deposits, Chapters 9 and 10.
Craig, Archival Appraisal, Chapters 5 and 6.
Recommended Readings
Terry Cook, "Many are called
but few are chosen: Appraisal Guidelines for Sampling and Selecting Case
Files," Archivaria 32 (Summer
1991): 25-50. You also can read Terry Cook, The Archival Appraisal of
Records Containing Personal Information: A RAMP Study with Guidelines, PGI-91/WS/3
(Paris: UNESCO, April 1991), available at http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9103e/r9103e00.htm#Contents.
David Klaassen, "The Provenance
of Social Work Case Records: Implications for Archival Appraisal and
Access," Provenance 1 (Spring
1983): 5-26.
Judith E. Endelman, "Looking
Backward to Plan for the Future: Collection Analysis for Manuscript
Repositories," American Archivist
50 (Summer 1987): 340-55. See also Christine Weideman, "A New Map
for Field Work: Impact of Collections Analysis on the Bentley Historical
Library," American Archivist 54
(Winter 1991): 54-60.
JoAnne Yates, "Internal
Communication Systems in American Business Structures: A Framework to Aid
Appraisal," American Archivist
48 (Spring 1985): 141-58.
Frank Boles, "Sampling in Archives,"