Research: And the Art of the Essay
My current research interests include various aspects of the history of archival studies and recordkeeping, evidence and accountability in recordkeeping, archival appraisal, the public awareness of archives and records in the modern information age, the administration of records and public policy, and archival ethics. The specifics of these interests can be found in the description of my publications.
Contributing to the scholarship supporting archival practice and theory has been a career-long objective. My first essay was "A History of the Calvert Papers, MS. 174," Maryland Historical Magazine 68 (Fall 1973): 309-22, and my interest in the history of archival work and the nature of records and recordkeeping has been a persistent focus of my work. On several occasions I have sought to summarize the importance of such historical research, including "American Archival History: Its Development, Needs, and Opportunities," American Archivist 46 (Winter 1983): 31-41; "On the Value of Archival History in the United States," Libraries & Culture 23 (Spring 1988): 135-51; and "The Failure or Future of American Archival History: A Somewhat Unorthodox View," Libraries & Culture, 35 (Winter 2000): 141-154.
A considerable portion of my scholarship has focused on the professional standards and education, perhaps first best articulated in my "Professionalism and Archivists in the United States," American Archivist 49 (Summer 1986): 229-47, with a sequel, "Professionalism and Archivists Revisited: A Review Essay," Midwestern Archivist 15, no. 2 (1990): 5-15. I have continued to reflect on the education of archivists, extending this interest to encompass the education of other types of information professionals; nearly all of my books include some discussion about professional education.
In the 1980s, I became interested in appraisal, especially the notion of broad-based, cooperative documentation approaches, first reported on in my essay, "A Documentation Strategy Case Study: Western New York," American Archivist 52 (Spring 1989): 192-200, and leading to "The Documentation Strategy and Archival Appraisal Principles: A Different Perspective." Archivaria 38 (Fall 1994): 11-36. An extension of this interest appeared with my recognition of public or collective memory as both a reflection of archives and a way for understanding archives in society, with an early indication of this my essay, "The Concept of Public Memory and Its Impact on Archival Public Programming," Archivaria 36 (Autumn 1993): 122-35. My interest in memory has been rekindled with the new “Working Memory” emphasis in our doctoral program.
In the early 1990s, when I became involved in a project to develop an approach to manage records in the electronic environment, my attention turned to wondering what the record represents and why it is important, such as with my early effort, "The Record: Is It Evolving?" Records and Retrieval Report 10 (March 1994): 1-16. This led to a variety of ideas about the role of archives and archivists, leading me to speculate more about the ethical dimensions of archival work than the technical issues. The ethical issues emerged because of the astute challenges posed by commentators from outside of the field, like Nicholson Baker and Anthony Clark, but also because of problems generated by our professional leaders such as the Society of American Archivists and the National Archives. However, much of this more recent focus comes from my own personal ethical and religious perspectives, the latter best reflected in my "Testing the Spirit of the Information Age," Journal of Information Ethics, 10 (Fall 2001): 51-66 and "Archival Ethics: The Truth of the Matter," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 59, no. 7 (2008): 1128-1133.
The ethical issues have been my focus over most of the past decade, and this will continue to be one of my main areas of research in the future. In my opinion, archival ethics will be the critical matter facing archivists, records managers, and other information professionals in the next generation.
Viewing the St. Johns' Site exhibit, St. Mary's, Maryland, September 2009. I was part of the excavation team, Summer 1971-1972.