Annotation Summary for: 2011 Cook

In Uncategorized

Annotation Summary for: 2011 Cook

 

Page 1, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "The Archive(s) Is a Foreign Country: Historians, Archivists, and the Changing Archival Landscape Terry Cook0"

Comment: The Archive(s) Is a Foreign

Country: Historians, Archivists,

and the Changing Archival

Landscape

Terry Cook0

 

Page 1, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Historians and archivists approach the documentary past differently, as they consider, respectively, the “archive” (singular) and “archives” (plural). The former focuses on issues of power, memory, and identity centered upon the initial inscription of a document (or series of documents).The latter concentrates on the subsequent history of documents over time, including the many interventions by archivists (and others) that transform (and change) that original archive into archives."

Comment: Historians and archivists approach the documentary past differently, as they consider,

respectively, the “archive” (singular) and “archives” (plural). The former focuses on issues of

power, memory, and identity centered upon the initial inscription of a document (or series

of documents).The latter concentrates on the subsequent history of documents over time,

including the many interventions by archivists (and others) that transform (and change) that

original archive into archives.

 

Page 1, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "the two professions have drifted apart in recent decades. reasons for this divergence"

Comment: the two professions

have drifted apart in recent decades.

reasons for this divergence

 

Page 2, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "archives are not unproblematic storehouses of records awaiting the historian, but active sites of agency and power. archives. Both professions could benefit significantly, therefore, from a renewed partnership centered upon the history of the record to produce better history."

Comment: archives are not unproblematic storehouses

of records awaiting the historian, but active sites of agency and power.

archives. Both professions could benefit significantly, therefore, from a renewed partnership

centered upon the history of the record to produce better history.

 

Page 2, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "misunderstandings between two professions that should be natural allies."

Comment: misunderstandings between two professions that should be natural

allies.

 

Page 2, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "The “archive” (singular) is usually engaged by such scholars as a metaphoric symbol, as representation of identity, or as the recorded mem- ory production of some person or group or culture."

Comment: The “archive” (singular) is usually engaged by such scholars

as a metaphoric symbol, as representation of identity, or as the recorded mem-

ory production of some person or group or culture.

 

Page 3, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "  New  alliances  have  been  formed  with  records  managers  and information  technology  spe cialists  on  the  one  hand, and  with  librariansand  museum  curators  on  the  other,  while  the  traditional  historian-archivist bond  has  faded  as  somewhat passé.  "

Comment:  New  alliances  have  been  formed  with  records  managers  and information  technology  spe cialists  on  the  one  hand, and  with  librariansand  museum  curators  on  the  other,  while  the  traditional  historian-archivist bond  has  faded  as  somewhat passé.

 

Page 3, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "historians  (again,  with  those rare  excep tions)  have  lost  touch  with  many  changes  affecting  the  four  core archival functions of appraisal and acquisition; arrangement, pro cessing, and description; preservation; and public programming of the very primary sources central to both professions, to say nothing of the demographic, economic, and technological challenges facing today’s archives.3"

Comment: historians  (again,  with  those rare  excep tions)  have  lost  touch  with  many  changes  affecting  the  four  core archival functions of appraisal and acquisition; arrangement, pro cessing, and description; preservation; and public programming of the very primary sources central to both professions, to say nothing of the demographic, economic, and technological challenges facing today’s archives.3

 

Page 4, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "the archive(s) has become a foreign country for historians."

Comment: the archive(s) has

become a foreign country for historians.

 

Page 4, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Many in that earlier era certainly drew inspiration from the past, But they felt no great need to preserve the actual artifacts from that past."

Comment: Many in that earlier era certainly drew

inspiration from the past,

But they felt no great need to preserve the actual artifacts from

that past.

 

Page 4, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "nineteenth-century observers came to view the past, Lowenthal asserts, as a place quite different from the present. Attitudes toward the preservation of  artifacts  from  that  past  consequently  shifted  radically  as  well,  from  theantiquarian  to  the  professional, from  passive  neglect  to  active  col lecting. "

Comment: nineteenth-century observers came to view the past, Lowenthal asserts,

as a place quite different from the present. Attitudes toward the preservation of  artifacts  from  that  past  consequently  shifted  radically as  well,  from  theantiquarian  to  the  professional,  from  passive  neglect  to  active  col lecting.

 

Page 5, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "photography  paral leled  this  development,  by  creating  the  illusion  that one  could  capture—or  collect—life’s  “reality” with  factual  precision  throughvisually  truthful  images."

Comment: photography  paral leled  this  development,  by  creating  the  illusion  that one  could  capture—or  collect—life’s  “reality” with  factual  precision  throughvisually  truthful  images.

 

Page 5, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "This new collecting mentalité and reverence for a distant past led to the establishment in Western countries of “public” museums, gal leries, libraries, archives—even zoos—as major state institutions to preserve artifacts, specimens, images, books, and records."

Comment: This new collecting mentalité and reverence for a distant past led to the

establishment in Western countries of “public” museums, gal leries, libraries,

archives—even zoos—as major state institutions to preserve artifacts, specimens,

images, books, and records.

 

Page 5, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "these new nineteenth-century public institutions represented both a democrati- zation of culture and an exertion of social control over popular taste.10"

Comment: these new nineteenth-century public institutions represented both a democrati-

zation of culture and an exertion of social control over popular taste.10

 

Page 6, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "The very act of archiving, then, ensured that the past was perceived as different from the present, more foreign than familiar, and, equally, that the archiv ing act itself imbued the newly collected and accessible documents with different meanings and, accordingly, different uses."

Comment: The very act of archiving, then, ensured that the past was

perceived as different from the present, more foreign than familiar, and,

equally, that the archiv ing act itself imbued the newly collected and accessible

documents with different meanings and, accordingly, different uses.

 

Page 6, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "possibilities for fruitful cross-professional inter action to counter that divergence and improve accordingly work by both archivists and historians."

Comment: possibilities for

fruitful cross-professional inter action to counter that divergence and improve

accordingly work by both archivists and historians.

 

Page 6, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "The argument here is that the archive(s) is a foreign country to many historians. easy"

Comment: The argument here is that the archive(s) is a foreign country to many

historians.

easy

 

Page 7, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Nothing marks this divergence more starkly than the archival func tion of appraisal."

Comment: Nothing marks this divergence more starkly than the archival func tion

of appraisal.

 

Page 7, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Archivists thereby co-create the archive."

Comment: Archivists thereby co-create the archive.

 

Page 7, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Once records are appraised as having archival value and are acquired or protected by the archival institution, even being in that privileged state does not ensure their equal treatment thereafter."

Comment: Once records are

appraised as having archival value and are acquired or protected by the archival

institution, even being in that privileged state does not ensure their equal

treatment thereafter.

 

Page 7, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "And that same initial archival appraisal decides, with finality, which records are to be destroyed, excluded from the archives and thus from all these subsequent archival processes and enhancements, thereby effectually removed"

Comment: And that same initial archival appraisal decides, with finality, which

records are to be destroyed, excluded from the archives and thus from all these

subsequent archival processes and enhancements, thereby effectually removed

 

Page 8, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "from societal memory, from the “archive.”"

Comment: from societal memory, from the “archive.”

 

Page 8, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: " about 1 to 5 percent of the total available documentation of  major  institutions  is  preserved,  and  an  even  smaller percentage  from  thetotality of records of all possible private citizens, groups, and organizations.12 "

Comment:  about 1 to 5 percent of the total available documentation of  major  institutions  is  preserved,  and  an  even  smaller percentage  from  thetotality of records of all possible private citizens, groups, and organizations.12

 

 

Page 8, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Appraisal as a function challenges most fundamentally historians’ stereo- types and archivists’ self-perceptions (at least traditionally) about the archivist’s role in society.13"

Comment: Appraisal as a function challenges most fundamentally historians’ stereo-

types and archivists’ self-perceptions (at least traditionally) about the archivist’s

role in society.13

 

Page 8, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "archivists are  not  perceived  as constructing  social  memory  to  reflect  con temporary  needs,  values,  and assumptions; that is the role of histori ans and other users of the archive. Rather, the  archivist  is  viewed  by  historians  as  a  kind  of  honest broker,  or  informed tour  guide,  between  the  original  creators  of  the  record  and  its  later  use  byresearchers"

Comment: archivists

are  not  perceived  as constructing  social  memory  to  reflect  con temporary  needs,  values,  and assumptions; that is the role of histori ans and other users of the archive. Rather, the  archivist  is  viewed  by  historians  as  a  kind  of  honest  broker,  or  informed tour  guide,  between  the  original  creators  of  the  record  and  its  later  use  byresearchers

 

Page 9, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "designating the work he did arranging archival records as “purely mechanical,” requiring “no special qualifications.”16"

Comment: designating the work he did arranging archival records as

“purely mechanical,” requiring “no special qualifications.”16

 

Page 9, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "“purely mechanical,” requiring “no special qualifications.”16 This curatorial, neutered, and self-deprecating professional mindset held by archivists continued its grip well past the classic period of shaping archival theory."

Comment: “purely mechanical,” requiring “no special qualifications.”16

This curatorial, neutered, and self-deprecating professional mindset held

by archivists continued its grip well past the classic period of shaping archival

theory.

 

Page 9, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "“handmaidens of historians.”17"

Comment: “handmaidens of historians.”17

 

Page 9, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "archivists have remained invisible in the construction of social memory, their role poorly articulated and rarely appreciated, their self-image equally passive."

Comment: archivists have remained invisible in the construction

of social memory, their role poorly articulated and rarely appreciated, their

self-image equally passive.

 

Page 9, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "historians required archivists to be neutral, invisible partners of historical research to maintain unchallenged the central professional assump tions of historians."

Comment: historians required

archivists to be neutral, invisible partners of historical research to maintain

unchallenged the central professional assump tions of historians.

 

Page 9, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "The notion of the archives as virginal territory, a fetishism toward documents bordering on the obsessive, was evi dent."

Comment: The notion of the archives as virginal territory, a fetishism toward documents

bordering on the obsessive, was evi dent.

 

Page 9, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: " The  need  by  historians,  for  methodologi cal,  epistemological,  and gender reasons, to have a nonproblematic, pure, virginal archive, ready for the historian  to  discover  and  exploit,  almost  by  definition  required  the  archivist"

Comment:  The  need  by  historians,  for  methodologi cal,  epistemological,  and gender reasons, to have a nonproblematic, pure, virginal archive, ready for the historian  to  discover  and  exploit,  almost  by  definition  required  the  archivist

 

Page 10, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "to be an invisible caretaker, a docile handmaiden, the harem-keeper of the documentary virgins."

Comment: to be an invisible caretaker, a docile handmaiden, the harem-keeper of the

documentary virgins.

 

Page 10, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "W. Kaye Lamb, saw clearly the misconceptions across the historian-archivist divide."

Comment: W. Kaye Lamb,

saw clearly

the misconceptions across the historian-archivist divide.

 

Page 10, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "the archival function of appraisal:"

Comment: the archival function of appraisal:

 

Page 10, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Such appraisal, and especially the concomitant destruction of all other records not selected, was as frightening to historians"

Comment: Such appraisal, and especially the concomitant destruction of all other

records not selected, was as frightening to historians

 

Page 11, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "pres ent that David Lowenthal delineated for that earlier period. By con trast, the new scientific or professional history, best represented by von Ranke tried to re- create life in the past “as it really was” through rigorous scholarship, debate in the university graduate seminar, and the full immersion by the histo rian in archives."

Comment: pres ent

that David Lowenthal delineated for that earlier period. By con trast, the new

scientific or professional history, best represented by von Ranke

tried to re- create life in the past “as it really was”

through rigorous scholarship, debate in the university graduate seminar, and the

full immersion by the histo rian in archives.

 

Page 11, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: " Whatever patterns exist inhistory are ‘found,’ not ‘made.’’’21 "

Comment:  Whatever patterns exist inhistory are ‘found,’ not ‘made.’’’21

 

 

Page 11, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "curatorial and cleaning activities, such as Lamb mentioned. If records in archives were the critical portal to discovering the facts about the past, then the archive certainly could not be acknowledged as the product of the subjective process of archival appraisal, or of active interventions by archivists to shape and reshape the meaning of records in all the other subsequent archival activities across the never-ending life (dare I say, the history) of its documentary holdings."

Comment: curatorial and cleaning activities, such as Lamb mentioned. If records

in archives were the critical portal to discovering the facts about the past,

then the archive certainly could not be acknowledged as the product of the

subjective process of archival appraisal, or of active interventions by archivists

to shape and reshape the meaning of records in all the other subsequent

archival activities across the never-ending life (dare I say, the history) of its

documentary holdings.

 

Page 12, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Even  postmodernist  his-torians  rarely  confront  the  mediated  nature  of  archives  as  appraised  andselected  records,  as curatorial  institutions,  as  professional  activity,  or  as  a body of theoretical and practical knowledge. F"

Comment: Even  postmodernist  his-torians  rarely  confront  the  mediated  nature  of  archives  as  appraised  andselected  records, as  curatorial  institutions,  as  professional  activity,  or  as  a body of theoretical and practical knowledge. F

 

Page 14, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "major act of determining historical meaning—perhaps the major act—occurs not when the historian opens the box, but when the archivist fills the box, and, by implica tion, through the process of archival appraisal, destroys the other 98 or 99 percent of records that do not get into that or any other archival box. And, further, what of the layers of archival interpretation  animat ing  arrangement  and description—and  the  formative assumptions underpinning these processes—that lead the historian, or not, to the 1 or 2 percent of surviving records in that box, and all other rele vant boxes; and  highlight,  or  do  not,  the  complex  interrelationships  among  creators of records, their surrounding organizational cultures, patterns of contemporary record  communication  and  use,  and  the  record-shaping  characteristics  of information technologies and record ing media—all these deeply affecting the meaning of the surviving records. All these knowledge filters reflect in turn the depth, quality, and presentation of the archivist’s own research into the records’ many and continually altering contexts, and the social/cultural attitudes and backgrounds of the archivist—into, in short, the records’ own history and the archivist’s  need  and  ability  to  unravel  that  history  as  the  very  foundation  of performing well all the archival functions and processes"

Comment: major act of determining historical meaning—perhaps the major act—occurs not when the historian opens the box, but when the archivist fills the box, and, by implica tion, through the process of archival appraisal, destroys the other 98 or 99 percent of records that do not get into that or any other archival box. And, further, what of the layers of archival interpretation  animat ing arrangement  and  description—and  the  formative assumptions underpinning these processes—that lead the historian, or not, to the 1 or 2 percent of surviving records in that box, and all other rele vant boxes; and  highlight,  or  do  not,  the  complex  interrelationships among  creators  of records, their surrounding organizational cultures, patterns of contemporary record  communication  and  use,  and the  record-shaping  characteristics  of information technologies and record ing media—all these deeply affecting the meaning of the surviving records. All these knowledge filters reflect in turn the depth, quality, and presentation of the archivist’s own research into the records’ many and continually altering contexts, and the social/cultural attitudes and backgrounds of the archivist—into, in short, the records’ own history and the archivist’s  need  and  ability  to  unravel  that  history  as  the  very  foundation  of performing well all the archival functions and processes

 

Page 14, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "the archive is centered upon the original inscription, not the subsequent (includ-ing archival) history of the record"

Comment: the archive

is centered upon the original inscription, not the subsequent (includ-ing archival) history of the record

 

Page 15, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "archives as constructed and contested exercises in power and exclusion,"

Comment: archives as constructed and contested exercises in power

and exclusion,

 

Page 15, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "despite the impressive external theorizing on the “archive” in recent historical writing, what is still missing is the voice of the archivist, who, after all, is the principal actor in defining, choos ing, and constructing the archive that remains, and then in represent ing and presenting that surviving archival trace to researchers."

Comment: despite the impressive external theorizing on the “archive” in

recent historical writing, what is still missing is the voice of the archivist, who,

after all, is the principal actor in defining, choos ing, and constructing the archive

that remains, and then in represent ing and presenting that surviving archival

trace to researchers.

 

Page 15, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "historians studying the archive have marginalized the archivist."

Comment: historians studying the archive have marginalized the archivist.

 

Page 15, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Brien Brothman, asserted that historians are collectively— if maybe sub consciously—afraid to acknowledge, at least until very recently, contested archives because of their own professional mythologies."

Comment: Brien Brothman,

asserted that historians are collectively—

if maybe sub consciously—afraid to acknowledge, at least until very recently,

contested archives because of their own professional mythologies.

 

Page 16, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Brothman believes that this exclusion of actual archives from historians’ consciousness—archives as curatorial process, as institution, as profession, as assumptions and beliefs, and as archival records—is “a peculiar form of disciplinary repression or blindness.”"

Comment: Brothman believes that this exclusion of actual archives

from historians’ consciousness—archives as curatorial process, as institution, as

profession, as assumptions and beliefs, and as archival records—is “a peculiar

form of disciplinary repression or blindness.”

 

Page 16, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Without this distancing, he continues, “the differentiation between the archival object (the record or document, the artifact) and the historical object (the book, the article, knowledge [of the past]) begins to break down; archives and history begin to transgress each other, pollute each other,” threatening, if integrated too closely, “to cancel out the purity of each other’s intentions, each other’s object(ivity).”30"

Comment: Without this distancing, he continues, “the differentiation between

the archival object (the record or document, the artifact) and the historical

object (the book, the article, knowledge [of the past]) begins to break down;

archives and history begin to transgress each other, pollute each other,”

threatening, if integrated too closely, “to cancel out the purity of each other’s

intentions, each other’s object(ivity).”30

 

Page 17, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "The “public” archives of the nine teenth century existed primarily for history, not for administration.31"

Comment: The “public” archives

of the nine teenth century existed primarily for history, not for administration.31

 

Page 17, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "As archives evolved during the nineteenth century, this sense of the pristine quality of archival records was reinforced by contemporary Darwinian thinking."

Comment: As archives evolved during the nineteenth century, this sense of the pristine

quality of archival records was reinforced by contemporary Darwinian thinking.

 

Page 17, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "a kind of natural selection left over from administrative processes,"

Comment: a kind of natural selection left over from administrative

processes,

 

Page 17, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Jenkinson compared the archivist—when building the “backbone” of a “skeleton” for archival arrangement—to a paleontologist."

Comment: Jenkinson compared the archivist—when building

the “backbone” of a “skeleton” for archival arrangement—to a paleontologist.

 

Page 17, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "In this naturalized Darwinian world, appraisal and selection by the archivist of only a portion of the total record from the whole was viewed as anti-archival, for the inevi table subjective values of the appraising archivist would do violence to the allegedly organic character of the evolved archive."

Comment: In this naturalized Darwinian world, appraisal and selection by the archivist of

only a portion of the total record from the whole was viewed as anti-archival,

for the inevi table subjective values of the appraising archivist would do violence

to the allegedly organic character of the evolved archive.

 

Page 18, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "oft-repeated assertions of the archivist’s objectivity and neutrality: archivists work diligently, but quietly, behind the scenes, vacuuming and cleaning, storing and retrieving, but disturbing these natural orders and organic residues as little as possible."

Comment: oft-repeated

assertions of the archivist’s objectivity and neutrality: archivists work diligently,

but quietly, behind the scenes, vacuuming and cleaning, storing and retrieving,

but disturbing these natural orders and organic residues as little as possible.

 

Page 18, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "miscon ceptions:"

Comment: miscon ceptions:

 

Page 18, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Both scholars and archivists have had, until very recently, a vested interest in perceiving (and promoting) the archives as a value-free site of document collection and historical inquiry, rather than a site for negotiating power, memory, and identity."

Comment: Both scholars

and archivists have had, until very recently, a vested interest in perceiving

(and promoting) the archives as a value-free site of document collection

and historical inquiry, rather than a site for negotiating power, memory, and

identity.

 

Page 19, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "a"

Comment: a

 

Page 19, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "advancing the archival agenda in technical and methodological ways, rather than considering the theo retical and research-based knowledge posed by these new challenges—and with a focus that caused archivists thereby, perhaps not intention ally, to drive a wedge between themselves and historians."

Comment: advancing the archival agenda in technical and methodological

ways, rather than considering the theo retical and research-based knowledge

posed by these new challenges—and with a focus that caused archivists thereby,

perhaps not intention ally, to drive a wedge between themselves and historians.

 

Page 19, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Beyond appraisal, most major (and well-funded) archival research projects have,  over  the  past  two  decades,  focused  on creating  and  implementingconsistent descriptive standards and their display in a national network or on rules and models for managing contemporary digital records."

Comment: Beyond appraisal, most major (and well-funded) archival research projects have,  over  the  past  two  decades,  focused on  creating  and  implementingconsistent descriptive standards and their display in a national network or on rules and models for managing contemporary digital records.

 

Page 19, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "This focus on the methodologies, the technologies, and the mechanics of archival processes and of records preservation reveals an essential proclivity to means rather than ends, to managing rather than mediating, ends, "

Comment: This focus on the methodologies, the technologies, and the mechanics

of archival processes and of records preservation reveals an essential

proclivity to means rather than ends, to managing rather than mediating,

ends,

 

Page 19, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "—the  complex  research-"

Comment: —the  complex  research-

 

Page 20, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "based knowledge of the archivist needed to fill these empty shells will always, by  defini tion,  be  subjective  and interpretive.  And  it  will  always  be  historical. "

Comment: based knowledge of the archivist needed to fill these empty shells will always, by  defini tion,  be  subjective  and interpretive.  And  it  will  always  be  historical.

 

Page 20, Highlight (Green):

Content: "archivists are, in the core sub stance of their work, researching to contextualize over time (that is, historically) records creators, recording media and processes, and the resultant records. By doing so, archivists create new knowledge through history—not history as historians do from the record’s con- tent, but history as archivists do about the record’s context."

Comment: archivists are, in the core sub stance of their work, researching to

contextualize over time (that is, historically) records creators, recording media

and processes, and the resultant records. By doing so, archivists create new

knowledge through history—not history as historians do from the record’s con-

tent, but history as archivists do about the record’s context.

 

Page 20, Highlight (Green):

Content: "“a history of the record,”"

Comment: “a history of the record,”

 

Page 20, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "It aims at transforming content-centered information into context- rich knowledge, and applying the results to all facets of archival work."

Comment: It aims at transforming content-centered information into context-

rich knowledge, and applying the results to all facets of archival work.

 

Page 20, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Hugh Taylor’ “a new form of ‘social historiography’"

Comment: Hugh Taylor’

“a new form of ‘social

historiography’

 

Page 20, Highlight (Green):

Content: "“the recognition of forms and patterns of knowledge which may be the only way by which we will transcend the morass of infor mation and data into which we will otherwise fall.”35"

Comment: “the recognition of forms and patterns of knowledge which may

be the only way by which we will transcend the morass of infor mation and data

into which we will otherwise fall.”35

 

Page 21, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "the interrelationshipsamong records and their creators over time and across space. "

Comment: the interrelationshipsamong records and their creators over time and across space.

 

Page 21, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "the four core archival functions of appraisal and acquisition, arrangement and description, preservation and migration, and reference and public programming."

Comment: the four core

archival functions of appraisal and acquisition, arrangement and description,

preservation and migration, and reference and public programming.

 

Page 21, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "With considerable sophistication, his torians now recognize the silences in the surviving archival record, and the need to read “against the grain” to hear suppressed or mar ginalized voices."

Comment: With considerable sophistication, his torians

now recognize the silences in the surviving archival record, and the need to

read “against the grain” to hear suppressed or mar ginalized voices.

 

Page 21, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "historians are not, in these recent questionings, considering the impact of archivists or archival institutions or archival policies and concepts on those same records."

Comment: historians are not, in these recent questionings, considering the

impact of archivists or archival institutions or archival policies and concepts on

those same records.

 

Page 21, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Michel Foucault,"

Comment: Michel Foucault,

 

Page 21, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "the discursive patterns in the archival document, or in an entire information classification"

Comment: the discursive

patterns in the archival document, or in an entire information classification

 

Page 22, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "system, reflect the power structures of the records creator,"

Comment: system, reflect the power structures of the records creator,

 

Page 22, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "French historian Jacques Le Goff was one of the first to make archives explicitly a subject for historical inquiry, politics of archival memory"

Comment: French historian Jacques

Le Goff was one of the first to make archives explicitly a subject for historical

inquiry,

politics of archival memory

 

Page 22, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: " archives  had  their  institutional  origins  in  theancient world as agents for legiti mizing such power and for marginalizing those without power Harold Innis’s work on empires and their control of the means of communication."

Comment:  archives  had  their  institutional  origins  in  theancient world as agents for legiti mizing such power and for marginalizing those without power

Harold Innis’s work on

empires and their control of the means of communication.

 

Page 22, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Euro pean imperial powers more generally used records, from maps to censuses to royal commission reports, to legitimize and reinforce their own power by controlling the definition, naming, and categorizing of their subjects into marginal subaltern spaces.37"

Comment: Euro pean imperial powers more

generally used records, from maps to censuses to royal commission reports, to

legitimize and reinforce their own power by controlling the definition, naming,

and categorizing of their subjects into marginal subaltern spaces.37

 

Page 23, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "the “archive” is seen as reflecting those institutions that had the power (and resources) to articulate through written records and visual images their view of the world, and that, not surprisingly, used these recording tools in turn to order, control, name, map, depict, count, and classify that world to reflect their own assumptions and values and reinforce their own power, status, and control."

Comment: the “archive” is seen as reflecting those

institutions that had the power (and resources) to articulate through written

records and visual images their view of the world, and that, not surprisingly,

used these recording tools in turn to order, control, name, map, depict,

count, and classify that world to reflect their own assumptions and values and

reinforce their own power, status, and control.

 

Page 23, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "also the seeming naturalness of their own hegemony."

Comment: also

the seeming naturalness of their

own hegemony.

 

Page 23, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Gerda Lerner has traced how, from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, there has been a systemic exclusion of women from society’s memorytools,  including  its  archives. "

Comment: Gerda Lerner has traced how, from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, there has been a systemic exclusion of women from society’s memorytools,  including  its  archives.

 

Page 24, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "These and many similar works suggest possible openings for a his tory ofarchives (plural) and a history of archival records, as contrasted to the history of  the  archive,  and  one  done  with  a  perspective  from  inside  institutional archives. "

Comment: These and many similar works suggest possible openings for a his tory ofarchives (plural) and a history of archival records, as contrasted to the history of  the  archive,  and  one  done  with  a  perspective  from  inside  institutional archives.

 

Page 24, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "archivists need an intellec tual history of their own profession, from the inside out and the outside in: a partnership, of their own profession, from the inside out and the outside in: a partnership, respectively and ideally, of archivists and his torians, for they both have much to teach each other.40"

Comment: archivists need an intellec tual history

of their own profession, from the inside out and the outside in: a partnership,

of their own profession, from the inside out and the outside in: a partnership, respectively and ideally, of archivists and his torians, for they both have much to

teach each other.40

 

Page 25, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "to discover within the context of their time, and our own, the assumptions, ideas, and concepts that underpin archival work."

Comment: to discover within the context of their time, and our own, the assumptions,

ideas, and concepts that underpin archival work.

 

Page 25, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Analyzing this text over time and space prop erly forms the focus of an intellectual history of  archives.  Its  articula tion  will break  the  harmful  silence  between  historiansand archivists. "

Comment: Analyzing this text over time and space prop erly forms the focus of an intellectual history of  archives.  Its  articula tion  will break  the  harmful  silence  between  historiansand archivists.

 

 

Page 25, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "the first articula tions of professional archival principles strongly biased in favor of the state."

Comment: the first articula tions of professional archival

principles strongly biased in favor of the state.

 

Page 25, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Why are personal archives (and their archivists) not part of most countries’ national archives?"

Comment: Why are personal

archives (and their archivists) not part of most countries’ national archives?

 

Page 26, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "fundamental divisions within the internal organization of archival memory between public and private, text and images, written and oral, are alone stark evidence that the archival endeavor, as for mulated, practiced, and codified by the archival pioneers, was hardly as value free as they asserted."

Comment: fundamental divisions within the internal organization of archival

memory between public and private, text and images, written and oral, are alone

stark evidence that the archival endeavor, as for mulated, practiced, and codified

by the archival pioneers, was hardly as value free as they asserted.

 

Page 26, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "the archival pioneers ignored the appraisal function entirely. document The pioneering archival theorists all worked in an era of relative document scarcity."

Comment: the

archival pioneers ignored the appraisal function entirely.

document

The pioneering archival theorists all worked in an era of relative document

scarcity.

 

Page 26, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "“residue” approach favored retaining as archives the policy or legal or senior-level documents most important to the government officials who made the keep-destroy decisions, rather than more transient case files where citizens interacted with the state at the “bottom” of the classic hierarchical pyramid of organizational structure."

Comment: “residue” approach favored retaining

as archives the policy or legal or senior-level documents most important to the

government officials who made the keep-destroy decisions, rather than more

transient case files where citizens interacted with the state at the “bottom” of

the classic hierarchical pyramid of organizational structure.

 

Page 27, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Until the 1950s, the emphasis was, moreover, on the records of the legal, constitutional, fiscal, defense, and foreign policy dimen sions of the nation state, and much less on its social, natural resource, environmental, or cultural programs. This statist approach to definingarchives  evidently  also  marginalizes  purely  personal  papers, outside the purview national archives purview of"

Comment: Until the 1950s, the emphasis was, moreover, on

the records of the legal, constitutional, fiscal, defense, and foreign policy

dimen sions of the nation state, and much less on its social, natural resource,

environmental, or cultural programs.

This statist approach to definingarchives  evidently  also  marginalizes  purely  personal  papers,

outside the purview

national archives

purview of

 

Page 27, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "The archival rules for determining the evidence qualities and authenticity of records, and thus their “value” as reliable research sources, also reflected the state archives’ perspectives on (and thus naturalized assumptions about) well- organized, centrally controlled, and officially sanctioned govern ment records. thus favored textual documents in such registries, from which such rules were first derived, at the expense of other media,"

Comment: The archival rules for determining the evidence qualities and authenticity of

records, and thus their “value” as reliable research sources, also reflected the

state archives’ perspectives on (and thus naturalized assumptions about) well-

organized, centrally controlled, and officially sanctioned govern ment records.

thus favored textual documents in such registries, from which

such rules were first derived, at the expense of other media,

 

Page 27, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "The positivist and “scientific” values inhibited archivists from developing and document ing multiple ways of seeing and knowing and describing their records; “origi nal order” (a classic and cardinalarchival principle) was sought a"

Comment: The positivist and “scientific” values

inhibited archivists

from developing and document ing

multiple ways of seeing and knowing and describing their records;

“origi nal order” (a classic and cardinalarchival principle) was sought a

 

Page 27, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Records or series of records,"

Comment: Records or series of records,

 

Page 28, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "are arranged and described in very detailed general-to- specific hierarchies to reflect, allegedly, their original placement in the creating agency’s administra tive hierarchy;"

Comment: are arranged and described in very detailed general-to-

specific hierarchies to reflect, allegedly, their original placement in the creating

agency’s administra tive hierarchy;

 

Page 28, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "Eric Ketelaar this guardianship mentalite´ of archivists, stressing custody and control, has often made archival reference rooms and services more prisonlike than welcoming,444"

Comment: Eric Ketelaar

this guardianship mentalite´ of archivists, stressing custody and control, has often

made archival reference rooms and services more prisonlike than welcoming,444

 

Page 28, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "and archival public pro gramming until very recently passive and unimaginative,unsuited to the needs and possibilities of an online, information-hungry, and interactive age. "

Comment: and archival public pro gramming until very recently passive and unimaginative,unsuited to the needs and possibilities of an online, information-hungry, and interactive age.

 

Page 28, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "The neutral, impartial archive of classic archival theory, is, in reality, a place of order, control, hierarchy, reflect- ing the power of the state, or other sponsoring institution(a business, university, church, and so on), that called it into existence and con tinues to pay the bills."

Comment: The neutral, impartial archive of

classic archival theory, is, in reality, a place of order, control, hierarchy, reflect-

ing the power of the state, or other sponsoring institution(a business, university,

church, and so on), that called it into existence and con tinues to pay the bills.

 

Page 28, Line Drawing (Red)

 

Page 29, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "What happens when organizationalcultures  and  workplace  discourses  are  now  transformed  from  vertical  to horizontal, from controlling to collaborative, yet archivists still think hierarchically, increasingly  out  of contact  with  reality? "

Comment: What happens when organizationalcultures  and  workplace  discourses  are  now  transformed  from  vertical  to horizontal, from controlling to collaborative,

yet archivists still think hierarchically,

increasingly  out  of contact  with  reality?

 

Page 29, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "response by archivists to this changing and challenging land scape very contested "

Comment: response by archivists to this changing and challenging land scape

very contested

 

Page 30, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: " another  group of  archivists  is  calling  for  a  complete  reinvention  of  archives  to  acknowledgethat these are contingent places of power and agency that need new concepts and  models  to  transform  them"

Comment:  another  group of  archivists  is  calling  for  a  complete  reinvention  of  archives  to  acknowledgethat these are contingent places of power and agency that need new concepts and  models  to  transform  them

 

Page 30, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "moving the focus for archival activities from records as artifactual products to the complex processes of record making.48"

Comment: moving the focus for archival

activities from records as artifactual products to the complex processes of

record making.48

 

Page 30, Highlight (Yellow):

Content: "What might such a transformed archival landscape look like? minimum expectations. Appraisal would be sensitive to the citizens, not just the state, to the marginalized and unsuccessful as much as the accepted and successful, so thatarchival holdings would become more inclusive and democratic. record inscrip tion  at  the  time  of  creation  rather  than  passively  accepting  long  after the fact the residues allowed by the powerful or those determined by transient research trends or technological imperatives. The focus in all archival activitieswould be on documenting function, activity, and ideas, rather than primarily reflecting the structures, offices, and per sons of origin. "

Comment: What might such a transformed archival landscape look like?

minimum

expectations. Appraisal would be sensitive to the citizens, not just the state, to the marginalized and unsuccessful as much as the accepted and successful, so thatarchival holdings would become more inclusive and democratic.

record inscrip tion  at  the  time  of  creation  rather  than  passively  accepting  long  after the fact the residues allowed by the powerful or those determined by transient research trends or technological imperatives. The focus in all archival activitieswould be on documenting function, activity, and ideas, rather than primarily reflecting the structures, offices, and per sons of origin.

 

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Marked up using iAnnotate on my iPad

 

 

Sent from my iPad. Please forgive typos.

 

Diana Ascher