Archival science

Archival science is the theory and study of storing, cataloguing, and retrieving documents and items. Emerging from diplomatics, Archival science also encompasses the study of past efforts to preserve documents and items, remediation of those techniques in cases where those efforts have failed, and the development of new processes. The field also includes the study of traditional and electronic catalogue storage methods, digital preservation and the long range impact of all types of storage programs.

Background

History

In 1540, Jacob von Rammingen (1510-1582) wrote the manuscript of the earliest known archival manual. He was an expert on registries (Registraturen), the German word for what later became known as archives. Rammingen elaborated a registry for the Augsburg city council — but could not be personally present there, and thus had to describe the structure and management of the archives in writing. Rammingen can be considered the father of archival science since this was the earliest published work dealing with that subject. However, Rammingen himself refers to earlier literature about records keeping. These earlier manuals were, however, usually not published. Therefore it is impossible to establish exactly when archival science was "born". Jacob von Rammingen's manual was printed in Heidelberg in 1571.

Traditionally, archival science has involved the study of methods for preserving items in climate-controlled storage facilities. It is also the study of cataloguing and accession, of retrieval and safe handling. The advent of digital documents along with the development of electronic databases has caused the field to re-evaluate its means and ends. While generally associated with museums and libraries, the field also can pertain to individuals who maintain private collections or business archives. Archival Science is taught in colleges and universities, usually under the umbrella of Information Science or paired with a History program.

Standards

When cataloguing archives, archivists are expected to follow a set of standards. Rules of Archival Description, also known as RAD, provides archivists with a set of rules which aim to provide a consistent and common foundation for the description of archival material within a fond, based on traditional archival principles. These standards are in place to provide archivists with the tools for finding and making accessible archival material to the public.

Metadata provides archivists with the contextual data surrounding a record or aggregate of records. Standards such as Machine-Readable Cataloguing (MARC format), Encoded Archival Description (EAD), and Dublin core are standards for archival metadata which provide archivists with appropriate descriptions in regards to collections.

Provenance in archival science

Provenance in archival science refers to the "origin or source of something; information regarding the origins, custody, and ownership of an item or collection." As a fundamental principle of archives, provenance refers to the individual, family, or organization that created or received the items in a collection. In practice, provenance dictates that records of different origins should be kept separate to preserve their context. As a methodology, provenance becomes a means of describing records at the series level.

The Principle of Provenance

Describing records at the series level to ensure that records of different origins are kept separate, provided an alternative to item-level manuscript cataloguing. The practice of provenance has two major concepts: ‘respect pour les fonds’, and ‘original order’. ‘Respect pour les fonds’ rose from the conviction that records entering an archive should be described at the series level, where archivists respect the person or office that generated and used the records. Records from former or existing units are given a separate archival grouping, or ‘fonds’, wherein their records are placed. ‘Original order’, refers to keeping records “as nearly as possible in the same order of classification as obtained in the offices of origin,” gives additional credibility to preserved records and to their originating ‘fonds’. Records must be kept in the same order they were placed in the course of the official activity of the agency concerned; records are not to be artificially reorganized. Records kept in their original order are more likely to reveal the nature of the organizations which created them, and more importantly, of the order of activities out of which they emerged.

Practices before the emergence of provenance

Following the French Revolution, a newfound appreciation for historical records emerged in French society. Speaking to the past, records began to “acquire the dignity of national monuments” and their care was entrusted to scholars who were trained in libraries. With an emphasis on historical research, it seemed obvious at the time that records should be arranged and catalogued in a manner that would “facilitate every kind of scholarly use.” To support research, artificial systematic collections, often arranged by topic, were established and records were catalogued into these schemes. With archival documents approached from a librarianship perspective, records were organized according to classification schemes and their original context of creation were frequently lost or obscured. This form of archival arrangement has come to be known as the ‘historical manuscripts tradition’.

Emergence of provenance

The principle of ‘respect pour les fonds’ and of ‘original order’ was adopted in Belgium and France about 1840 and spread throughout Europe during the following decades. Following the rise of state-run archives in France and Prussia, the rising volume of modern records entering the archive made the adherence to the manuscript tradition impossible; there were not enough resources to organize and classify each record. Provenance received its most pointed expression in the “Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives,” a Dutch text published in 1898 and written by three Dutch archivists, Samuel Muller, Johan Feith, and Robert Fruin. This text provided the first description of the principle of provenance and argued that ‘original order’ is an essential trait of archival arrangement and description.

Complementing the work of the Dutch archivists and supporting the concept of provenance were the historians of the era. Though subject-based classification aided research, historians began to concern themselves with objectivity in their source material. For its advocates, provenance provided an objective alternative to the generally subjective classification schemes borrowed from librarianship. Historians increasingly felt that records should be maintained in their original order to better reflect the activity out of which they emerged.

Debates

Although original order is a generally accepted principle, there has been some debate surrounding this theory in regards to personal archives. It has been argued that original order is not always ideal for personal archives as they are far more complex than organizational archives. However, others prefer to remain loyal to the principle of original order and maintain that personal records are created and maintained for much the same reason as organizational archives and should therefore follow the same principles.

Preservation in Archival Science

Preservation, as defined by the Society of American Archivists (SAA), is the discipline of protecting materials from physical deterioration or loss of information, ideally in a noninvasive way. The goal of preservation is to maintain as much originality as possible while maintaining all the information which the material has to offer. Both scientific principles and professional practices are applied to this technique to obtain maximum effectiveness. In an archival sense, preservation refers to the care of all the aggregates within a collection. Conservation can be included in this practice and often these two definitions overlap.

The Beginnings of Preservation

Preservation emerged with the establishment of the first central archives. In 1789, during the French Revolution, the Archives Nationales was established and later, in 1794, transformed into a central archives. This was the first independent national archives and their goal was to preserve and store documents and records as they were. This trend gained popularity and soon other countries began establishing national archives for the same reasons, to maintain and preserve their records as they were created and received.

Cultural and scientific change also helped to bring about the idea and practice of preservation. In the late eighteenth century, many museums, national libraries, and national archives were established in Europe; therefore ensuring the preservation of their cultural heritage.

Archival Preservation

Preservation, like provenance, is concerned with the proper representation of archival materials. Archivists are primarily concerned with maintaining the record, along with the context in which it was produced, and making this information accessible to the user.

Tout ensemble is a definition relating to preservation. This definition encompasses the idea of context and the importance of maintaining context. When a record is removed from its fellow records, it loses its meaning. In order to preserve a record it must be preserved in its original entirety or else it may lose its significance. This definition relates to the principle of provenance and respect pour les fonds as it similarly emphasizes the idea of the original record.

Metadata is key for the preservation of context within archival science. Metadata, as defined by the SAA, is “data about data.” This data can help archivists locate a specific record, or a variety of records within a certain category. By assigning appropriate metadata to records or record aggregates, the archivist successfully preserves the entirety of the record and the context in which it was created. This allows for better accessibility and improves the authenticity of the record.

Physical maintenance is another key feature of preservation. There are many strategies in place to preserve archives properly; such as rehousing items in acid-free containers, storing items in climate controlled areas, and copying deteriorating items. These preservation techniques are to be carried out with respect to provenance.

Digital Preservation

Digital preservation involves the implementation of policies, strategies, and actions in order to ensure that digitized documents remain accurate and accessible over time. Due to emerging technologies, archives began to expand and require new forms of preservation. Archival collections spread to include new media such as microfilm, audiofiles, visualfiles, moving images, and digital documents. Many of these new types of media suffer from a shorter life expectancy than paper. With the quick advancement of our technological society, old media is becoming obsolete. Therefore, migration from old formats to new formats is necessary for the preservation of these digital medias so they can remain accurate and accessible.

Metadata is an important part of digital preservation as it preserves the context, usage, and migration of a digital record. Similarly to traditional preservation, metadata is required to preserve the context, authenticity, and accessibility of a record.

Organizations

Professional organizations, such as the Society of American Archivists (SAA), seek to foster study and professional development. In 2002, the SAA published guidelines for a graduate program in Archival Studies, but these guidelines have not been adopted by the majority of universities. As a result, practitioners of archival science may come from a varied background of library, history, or museum studies programs.

• Association 
of 
Canadian 
Archivists

• International 
Council 
on 
Archives

• Society
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American 
Archivists

• Toronto 
Area 
Archivists 
Group

• Archives 
Association
 of 
Ontario

• Canadian 
Council 
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Archives

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ARMA International

See also

• Archival appraisal
• Archive
• Archivist
• Digital artifactual value
• Encoded Archival Description
• Library science
• Manuscript processing
• Media preservation
• Preservation (library and archival science)
• Provenance

External links

• Directory of Regional, State and Local Archival Organizations in the United States
• The Academy of Certified Archivists
• The Society of American Archivists