SIMMONS COLLEGE
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
Fall Term 2001
Class Hours: Saturdays, 9:30-12:30. October 27 – December 15.
Instructor: Dr. Jeannette A. Bastian.
Office:303
Office Hours: Tuesday, 5-6pm.; Thursday, 2-3 and by appointment
Phone and email: 617-521-2808; bastian@simmons.edu
Course Description: This course examines archival appraisal, the most critical task of the archivist. Through appraisal, the archivist determines which records have continuing value for long-term preservation. Appraisal of records not only affects all other archival functions but significantly impacts which part of the human documentary record will be preserved as part of society’s collective memory.
Course Goals:
1. Introduce students to the history and basic theories of archival appraisal
2. Introduce students to the methodologies and techniques of archival appraisal
3. Explore the connections between archives appraisal and societal memory
4. Give students experience in evaluating appraisal and acquisition policies.
Course Requirements:
1. Appraisal Report: Each student will evaluate the acquisition or appraisal policy of an archival repository in the Boston or New England region. The student will visit the repository, evaluate the collection and the policies, interview the appropriate staff, read in the appropriate literature and prepare a paper (approximately ten pages double-spaced). Students will be prepared to present their findings to the class in a ten minute presentation. The paper will address the following:
- Description of the institution, the institution’s collection, its policy and/or practice (if it lacks a formal policy).
- Evaluation of the institution’s policy and/or practice based on standard archival and records practice, supported by the archival literature
- Suggestions of alternative or additional appraisal strategies that might be appropriate and effective for the institution and why. These must be grounded in the existing archival literature
- Ways in which the success of the policy and practice could be measured and evaluated.
Writing and footnoting style must adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style, or Turabian’s A manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations. .
2.
Group Reports: Groups will be assigned to investigate and
report to the class on an appraisal strategies from the following list (some class time will be given for the
preparation of this assignment):
Macro-Appraisal. Presentation on Dec. 1.
Sampling. Presentation on
Dec. 1.
Documentation Strategy.
Presentation on Dec. 8.
User-based Appraisal. Presentation
on Dec. 8.
Appraisal of Electronic Records. Presentation on Dec. 15.
Final presentations may be power-point or web presentations. All presentations must include the
following:
-
Discussion of
the appraisal strategy and how it works?
-
Key proponents
of this strategy? Review of their
writings.
-
Advantages and
disadvantages of this strategy.
Grading:
Class Participation and Discussion: 30%
Appraisal Report: 40%
Group Presentation: 30%
Required Texts:
Gerald F. Ham, Selecting and Appraising Archives and Manuscripts ( Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1993).
Recommended Reading:
Richard J. Cox, Documenting Localities: a Practical Model for American Archivists and Manuscripts Curators ( Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1996).
Craig, Barbara L. The Archival Imagination; Essays in Honour of Hugh Taylor ( Ontario: Association of Canadian Archivists, 1992).
Joan D. Krizack, ed. Documentation Planning For the U.S. Health Care System (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1994).
Nancy E. Peace, ed., Archival Choices, Managing the Historical Record in an Age of Abundance (Lexington, MA.: D.C. Heath, 1981).
Helen W.Samuels, Varsity Letters: Documenting Modern Colleges and Universities (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1992).
Syllabus:
Terry Cook, “Mind Over Matter: Towards a New Theory of Archival Appraisal,” in Barbara Craig, ed. The Archival Imagination: Essays in Honour of Hugh A. Taylor (Ottawa: Association of Canadian Archivists, 1992): 38-70.
F. Gerald Ham, Selecting and Appraising Archives and Manuscripts, pp.1-14.
Hilary Jenkinson, A Manual of Archive Administration, 2d. ed. ( London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1937), 136-155.
Ole Kolsrud, "The Evolution of Basic Appraisal Principles -Some Comparative Observations," American Archivist 55 (Winter 1992): 26-39.
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. By Nancy E. Peace ( Lexington,MA: D.C. Heath, 1981): 1-18.
T.R. Schellenberg, “The Appraisal of Modern Public Records,” in A Modern Archives Reader, edited by Maygene F. Daniels and Timothy Walch (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Service, 1984) 57-70.
Hans Booms, “Society and the Formation of Documentary Heritage: Issues in the Appraisal of Archival Sources,” Archivaria 24 ( Summer 1987): 69-107.
Kenneth E. Foote, “To Remember and Forget: Archives, Memory and Culture,” American Archivist 53 (Summer 1990): 378-92.
James M. O'Toole, "On the Idea of Permanence," American Archivist 52 (Winter 1989): 10-25.
Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen, The Presence of the Past, Popular Uses of History in American Life ( New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), Chapters one and five.
Case Study:
Nancy Carlson Shrock, “ Images of New England: Documenting the Built Environment,” American Archivist 50 ( Fall 1987): 474-98.
“Intrinsic Value in Archival Materials,” in A Modern Archives Reader, 91-99.
Timothy L. Ericson, “ At the ‘rim of creative dissatisfaction’: Archivists and Acquisition Development,” Archivaria 33 ( Winter 1991-92):66-77.
F. Gerald Ham, Selecting and Appraising Archives and Manuscripts, 15-24; 51-65.
Leonard Rapport, “No Grandfather Clause: Reappraising Accessioned Records,” American Archivist 44 (Spring 1981): 143-150.
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.
Faye Phillips, "Developing Collecting Policies for Manuscript Collections," American Archivist 47 (Winter 1984): 30-42.
Frank Boles, “ Mix Two Parts Interest to One Part Information and Appraise Until Done: Understanding Contemporary Record Selection Processes,” American Archivist 50 (Summer 1987).
December 1. Appraisal Methods and Practice : Macro-Appraisal, Sampling
Catherine Bailey, “From the Top Down: The Practice of Macro-Appraisal,” Archivaria 43 (Spring 1997): 89-128
Brian P.N. Beaven, “ Macro-Appraisal: From Theory to Practice,” Archivaria 48 (Fall 1999): 154-198.
Terry Cook, “ Many are Called but Few are Chosen: Appraisal Guidelines for Sampling and Selecting Case Files,” Archivaria 32 ( Summer 1991): 25-50.
David Klaassen, "The Provenance of Social Work Case Records: Implications for Archival Appraisal and Access," Provenance 1 (Spring 1983): 5-26.
December 8. Appraisal Methods and Practice:
Documentation Strategy, User-Based Appraisal,
Helen W. Samuels, “Who Controls the Past,” American Archivist 49 (Spring 1986): 109-24.
Richard J. Cox, “The Archival Documentation Strategy: A Brief Intellectual History, 1984-1996 and Practical Description,” Janus 2 (1995): 76-93.
Timothy L. Ericson, “ ‘To Approximate June Pasture’, The Documentation Strategy in the Real World,” Archival Issues 22:1 ( 1997): 5-20.
Mark Greene, “’The Surest Proof’: A Utilitarian Approach to Appraisal,” Archivaria 45 (Spring 1998): 127-69.
Student
Reports
David Bearman, “ The Implications of Armstrong v. Executive Office of the President for the Archival Management of Electronic Records,” American Archivist 56 (Fall 1993): 674-689.
Thomas Connors, “Appraising Public Television Programs: Toward an Interpretive and Comparative Evaluation Model,” American Archivist 63 (Spring/Summer 2000): 152-174
Student
Reports