Archival Strategies
American Archivist, vol. 58, 1994, pp.374-407
by David Bearman, Archives & Museum Informatics
Footnotes
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2 David Bearman, Archival Methods (Pittsburgh, Archives &: Museum
Informatics, 1989).
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3 See American Archivist 54 (1991): 133 for the text of a special
commendation given to Archival Methods for the CFW Coker Prize. The
committee did not consider it eligible for the prize because it was
published as part of a series rather than as an isolated monograph.
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4 As far as I know, no review of the book has ever been published
although it was included in reviews of the whole technical report
series by Ann Pederson in the American Archivist 53 (Fall 1990):666-675
and by Lawrence McCrank in Special Collections 4 (1990): 117-132.
Most references to Archival Methods in the past five years have been
by archivists involved in management of electronic records; only very
recently has recognition of its approach influenced writing on appraisal
and description. Citations in the American Archivist occur in papers
by Margaret Hedstrom, ?Understanding Electronic Incunabula: A Framework
for Research on Electronic Records", vol.54 #3 (Summer 1991) and "Teaching
Archivists about Electronic Records and Automated Techniques: A Needs
Assessment", vol.56 #3 (Summer 1993); Avra Michelson and Jeff Rothenberg
"Scholarly Communication and Information Technology, vol.55 #2 (Spring
1992); Frederick Steilow "Archival Theory and the Preservation of
Electronic Media", vol.55 #2 (Spring 1992). Faulty readings of parts
of the text have led Gerry Ham, for example to suggest that it "advocates"
archival Darwinism rather than it points out that inadequate appraisal
has a limited impact on the overall content of records that will still
exist a hundred years from now.
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5 Citation in Archivaria with respect to electronic records include
Terry Cook, "Easy to Byte, Harder to Chew" 33 (Winter 1991-92): 202-216;
Margaret Hedstrom, Descriptive Practices for Electronic Records: Deciding
What is Essential and Imagining What is Possible" 36 (Autum 1993):
53-63; David Wallace, "Metadata and Archival Management of Electronic
Records: A Review" 36 (Autum 1993): 87-110. Archivaria citations with
respect to other matters include Terry Cook, "Documentation Strategy"
34 (Summer 1992): 181-191; Terry Cook, "The Concept of the Archival
Fonds in the Post-Custodial Era" 35 (Spring 1993): 24-37; Gen Isaac
and Derek Reimer, "Right from the Start: Developing Pre-descriptive
Standards at the British Columbia Archives and Records Service" 35
(Spring 1993): 86-98; John McDonald, "Archives and Cooperation in
the Information Age" 35 (Spun" 1993): 110-118; Helen Samuels, "Documentation
Strategy" 33 (Winter 1991-92): 125-140; Hugh A Taylor, "Recycling
the Past: The Archivist in the Age of Ecology" 35 (Spring 1993): 203-213;
Ruth Dyck Wilson "A Conversion Experience in the United Church Archives"
35 (Spring 1993): 130-143. References to it in Archives and Manuscripts
include Barbara Reed, "EIectronic Records Management in Transition"
Archives &: Manuscripts vol. 22 #1 (1994): 164-171. Also in Frank
Upward, "Institutionalizing the Archival Document" in Archival Documents,
eds. Sue McKemmish and Frank Upward (Melbourne, Ancora Press, 1993),41-54.
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6 Statistics being kept by archives are a subject of discussion in
this paper largely because they purport to measure outcomes but in
fact count outputs. If the output counts were correlated with each
other in any way, one might be able to answer at least some interesting
questions, but the way they have been collected and reported, even
these questions about the scale of the enterprise and where it is
conducted, are left unanswered.
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7 Since the publication of Archival Methods these and other criticisms
of documentation strategies have been partially addressed by Helen
Samuels in "Improving Our Disposition: Documentation Strategy" Archivaria
33 (Winter 1991-92)-125-140. Some of the remaining problems are identified
by Terry Cook in "Documentation Strategy" Archivaria 34 (1992): 181-191.
I believe most of my original critique is still valid and the approach
fails to solve our fundamental appraisal problems. "The central flaw
in this traditional taxonomic approach to appraisal is that there
are altogether too many records 'at the bottom' for archivists to
appraise; more government records produced in France for the years
1945-1960 than in the previous four centuries combined; more case
files for a moderately-sized Canadian federal government programme
since 1945 (immigration) than all archival records for all federal
departments ever; more records for recent governors of Illinois than
was accumulated by their nineteenth century predecessors, by a multiple
of seventy-five. To provide a specific, personal example, in addition
to the one Pat Burden gave at Banff regarding the extraordinary legacy
of the recent National Energy Program, one archivist at the National
Archives of Canada faces one-third of her/his appraisal responsibility
(among other duties) the single federal function of job creation and
employment services. This function alone operates out of 1,004 offices,
is manifested through more than fifty separate programmes, creates
approximately 3,000,000 case files and 30,000 linear metres of records
annually and maintains twenty-three national and 108 regional databases
with an estimated 60,000 computer transactions daily.
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8 Terry Cook, "Another Brick in the Wall': Terry Eastwood's Masonry
and Archival Walls, History and Archival Appraisal" Archivaria 37
(Spring 1994): 96-103.
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9 David Bearman, "The National Archives and Records Service: Policy
Choices for the Next Five Years", For the Record (December 1981):
1-; David Bearman and Margaret Hedstrom, "Reinventing Archives for
Electronic Records: Alternative Program Delivery Options" in Margaret
Hedstrom ed.,Electronic Records Management Program Strategies (Pittsburgh,
Archives & Museum Informatics, 1993): 82-98 and Margaret Hedstrom,
"EIectronic Records Program Strategies: An Assessment", also in Margaret
Hedstrom ed., Electronic Records Management Program Strategies (Pittsburgh,
Archives & Museum Informatics, 1993): 1-9.
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10 David Bearman and Marion Matters on Information Architecture Project,
forthcoming; David Bearman and Ken Sochats on Production Rules for
Functional Requirements for Recordkeeping, presented at the Annual
Conference of the SAA, Indianapolis, September 10, 1994.
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11 David Bearman and Richard H. Lytle, "The Power of the Principle
of Provenance" Archivaria 21 (Winter 1985-86): 14-27.
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12 David Bearman, "Worhng Meeting on the Getty Art History Information
Program (AHIP), Initiative for Information and Image in Art" Archives
and Museum Informatics vol.8 #1 (Spring 1994): 29-35.
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13 James M. O'Toole, Understanding Archives and Manuscripts (Chicago,
Society of American Archivists, 1990).
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14 Sue McKemmish and Frank Upward, "The Archival Document: A Submission
to the Inquiry Into Australia as an Information Society" Archives
and Manuscripts vol.19 (1991): 17-30.
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15 T.M. Eastwood, "Reflections on the Development of Archives in Canada
and Australia" Papers and Proceedings of the 7th Bienniel Conference
of the Australian Society of Archivists, Hobart, 1989.
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16 T.R Schellenberg, Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques (Chicago,
University of Chicago Press, 1956). However, I think he's wrong.
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17 Frank Boles and Julia Marks Young, "Exploring the Black Box: The
Appraisal of University Administrative Records" American Archivist
48 (1985): 121140 and Frank Boles, Archival Appraisal (New York, Neal-Schuman
Publishers, 1991).
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18 Richard Brown, "Records Acquisition Strategy and Its Theoretical
Foundation: The Case for a Concept of Archival Hermeneutics Archivaria
33 (Winter 1991-92): 34-56; quoted p.35
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19 David Bearman, Commentary on electronic records session, paper
by Ann Picot, forthcoming, Archives & Manuscripts (1994).
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20 Terry Cook, The Archival Appraisal of Records Containing Personal
Information: A RAMP Study with Guidelines (Pans, UNESCO GPI, 1991)
PGI-91/WS/3.
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21 op.cit.#10, unpublished, 1994.
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22 Tim Ericson, "Preoccupied With Our Own Gardens: Outreach and Archivists"
Archivaria 31 (Winter 1990-91): 114-122.
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23 Barbara Craig, "What are the Clients? Who are the Products? The
Future of Archival Public Services in Perspective" Archivaria 31 (Winter
1990/91): 135-141.
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24 David Bearman and Margaret Hedstrom, "Re-inventing Archives for
Electronic Records: Alternative Service Delivery Options", in Margaret
Hedstrom ed. Electronic Records Management Program Strategies; Archives
and Museum Informatics Technical Report #18 (Pittsburgh, Archives
& Museum Informatics, 1993): 82-98.
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25 Stuart Lynn used the formulation "perturbing the existing funding
streams" in the Working Meeting on Information and Image in
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26 David Bearman, Electronic Evidence: Strategies for Managing Records
in Contemporary Organizations (Pittsburgh, Archives & Museum Informatics,
1994), 295-304.
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27 Terry Cook, RAMP study, 1991, op.cit #20.
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28 Terry Cook, "Many Are Called But Few Are Chosen: Appraisal Guidelines
for Sampling and Selecting Case Files" Archivaria 32 (Summer 1991):
25-50.
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29 David Bearman, "Who About What' or 'From Whence, Why and How':
Intellectual Access Approaches to Archives and Their Implications
for National Archival Information Systems" in Peter Baskerville and
Chad M. Gaffied eds., Archives, Automation and Access (Victoria BC,
University of Victoria, 1986), 39-47.
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30 PIVOT: A Turning Point in Appraisal Policy - Reduction of the transfer
period in the Public Records Act and the consequences for Government
Administration (The Hague, Ministry of the Interior, the Netherlands,
1991)16pp.
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31 Eldon Frost "A Weak Link in the Chain: Records Scheduling as a
Source of Archival Acquisition" Archivaria 33 (Winter 1991/2): 78-86.
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32 National Research Council, Report on Scientific Data Archiving,
to be released fall 1994.
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33 David Bearman, "Managing Electronic Mail" Archives and Manuscripts
vol.22 #1 (1994): 28-50.
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34 David Bearman, "The Implications of Armstrong v. Executive Office
of the President for Archival Management of Electronic Records" American
Archivist vol.56 #4 (1993): 674-689.
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35 U.S. National Institute of Standards & Technology, Framework and
Policy Recommendations for the Exchange and Preservation of Electronic
Records. Prepared for the National Archives and Records Administration
(Washington DC, NIST, 1989); U.S. Department of Defense, Legacy Data
project.
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36 David Bearman, "Documenting Documentation" Archivaria #34 (Summer
1992): 3349.
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37 For access to the current literature and discussion surrounding
GILS and to all the official documents, use the Internet. Gopher.cni.org
will get you to the Coalition ftp Archives. From there, select "publicly
accessible documents" and choose OILS.
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38 David Bearman, "Authority Control: Issues and Prospects. American
Archivist vol.52 #3 (Summer 1989): 286-299.g
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39 David Bearman, "Strategies for Cultural Heritage Information Standards
in a Networked World" Archives and Museum Informatics vol.8 #2 (Summer
1994): 93-106.
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40 David Bearman, "User Presentation Language in Archives" Archives
and Museum Informatics vol.3 #4 (1989): 3-7.
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41 Paul Conway, Partners in Research: Improving Access to the Nation's
Archive; User Studies at the National Archives and Records Administration
(Pittsburgh, Archives & Museum Informatics, 1994).
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42 Eldon Frost, "A Weak Link in the Chain; Record Scheduling as a
Source of Archival Acquisition" Archivaria 33 (Winter 1991-92): 34-56;
"Issues Relating to Electronic Records" (Ottawa, NAC Government Archives
Division, 10 July 1992); National Archives of Canada, "Leaving Archival
Electronic Records in Institutions: Policy and Monitoring Arrangements",
as approved by J-P. Wallot 25 November 1993.
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43 Margaret Hedstrom, "Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers: Alternative
Program Models for Identifying and Keeping Electronic Records, paper
to be published in the Proceedings of the "Playing for Keeps Conferance",
Canberra Australia, November 8, 1994.
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44 T.K.Bikson and E.J.Frinking, Preserving the Present: Toward Viable
Electronic Records (The Hague, Sdu, 1993).
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45 Richard E. Barry, "Addressing Electronic Records Management in
the World Bank," in Margaret Hedstrom ed. Electronic Records Management
Program Strategies, Archives and Museum Informatics Technical Report
#18 (Pittsburgh, Archives & Museum Informatics, 1993): 19-29.
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46 Clive Smith, paper presented at the Australian Society of Archivists
Annual Conference 1994, Townsville Qld., unpublished.
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47 Charles Robb, "Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives -
Public Records Division, Electronic Records Program Overviews", in
Margaret Hedstrom ed. Electronic Records Management Program Strategies,
Archives and Museum Informatics Technical Report #18 (Pittsburgh,
Archives & Museum Informatics, 1993): 63-67 and Charles Robb, "Information
Resource Management in Kentucky State Government. Archives and Museum
Infomatics vol.5 #4 (Winter 1991): 2-4.
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48 see Archives and Museum Informatics: Cultural Heritage informatics
Quarterly vol 8 #1 (Spring 1994): 54-55.
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49 The U.S. Office of Management and Budget has announced that its
"Bulletin" on implementation of the Government Information Locator
Service will be posted for public comment in September 1994. As of
mid-September it hasn't been released."
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50 op.cit.34
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51 National Archives & Records Administration, "Electronic Mail Systems:
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" Federal Register vol.59 #57 (Thursday
March 24, 1994): 13906-13910; also response in the DOD report.
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52 Dagmar Parer and Keith Parrott, "Management Practices in the Electronic
Records Environment Archives & Munuscripts vol.22 #1 (May 1994): 106-122.
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53 David Bearman, "An Indefensible Bastion: Archives as Repositories
in the Electronic Age", in Archival Management of Electronic Records,
Archives and Museum Informatics Technical Report #13 (Pittsburgh,
Archives & Museum Informatics, 1991): 14-24.
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54 David Bearman, "The National Archives and Records Service: Policy
Choices for the Next Five Years" For the Record (December 1981): 1
55 NRC, op.cit. #32.
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56 Dan Cantrall, "From MARC to MOSAIC: Progressing Towards Data Interchangeability
at the Oregon State Archives" Archives and Museum Informatics: Cultural
Heritage informatics Quarterly vol.8 #1 ,(Spring 1994): 4-12; similar
projects have been completed at the British Columbia Archives and
several universities.
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57 Conway, op.cit. 41.
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58 The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration received
a special appropriation in fiscal year 1994 through legislation sponsored
by Senator Kerrey to develop plans to provide access to its holding
for the public. Under this appropriation it is conducting a study,
led by Judi Moline of the National Institute of Standards and Technology,
to identify user needs for public records. Reports of the study have
not yet been made public.
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59 c.f the Archivaria debates over archival theory in #37, 1994.
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60 for example, the Archives and Museum Information System as proposed
by the Research Libraries Group and described in Research Libraries
Group News #18 (1989):12-13.
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