GRADUATE SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE

SIMMONS COLLEGE

LIS 520T: ESTABLISHING ARCHIVES AND MANUSCRIPTS PROGRAMS

Spring 2001

Class: 520T. Monday 6 – 9pm. January 22 – March 19, 2001

Instructor: Jeannette A. Bastian

Office Hours: Rm. 303: Tuesday 11-12; Thursday 5-6 and by appointment.

Phone and email: (617) 521-2808; bastian@simmons.edu

Purpose of the Course: To understand the issues and requirements involved in starting an archival or manuscript program. Students will consider all management aspects of developing, managing and maintaining an archives program or reviving a stagnant one. Students will be exposed to strategic planning, policy formulation, grant writing and evalaution. Through case studies, students will address key issues of budgeting, resource allocation and sustaining program growth.

Objectives of the Course:

Exposure to all aspects of developing and maintaining a viable archives or manuscripts program including financial management, policy formulation and resource allocation.

Analyze weaknesses and strengths of archival programs through case studies

Understand the elements for strategic planning of archives programs
Learn how to write a grant for an archives project
Learn how to evaluate an archives program

Assignments:

Strategic Plan for an Archival Institution: This is a group project and will be prepared primarily in class over several weeks. The plan will be based on a scenario provided by the instructor. Final products will be presented on the last day of class.
Grant writing exercise: Using actual grant applications from one of several funding agencies (NEH, NHPRC) students will write a grant for a collection at the New-York Historical Society. Students will have a choice of two collections, the specifications will be handed out in class. Final products to be presented on the last day of class.

Grading:

Strategic Plan: 35%

Grant: 35%

Class Participation: 30%

Required Reading:

Kevin M. Guthrie, The New-York Historical Society; Lessons From One Nonprofit’s Long Struggle for Survival, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996). This book is out of print however, copies are on reserve. Copies may also be available from an out-of-print on-line service www.alibris.com

Thomas Wilsted and William Nolte, Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories, (Chicago: SAA, 1991). On reserve and available for purchase from SAA (www.archivists.org).

Recommended Reading:

Richard J. Cox, Managing Institutional Archives, Foundational Principles and Practices (New York: Greenwood, 1992). On reserve and available for purchase from SAA.

Elizabeth Yakel, Starting an Archives ( Lanham, Md.: Society of American Archivists and Scarecrow Press, 1994). On reserve and available for purchase from SAA.

Class Schedule:

January 22. Introduction: Elements of an Archives or Manuscripts Program.

Discussion of resources

http://aabc.bc.ca/aabc/toolkit.html

Case study to be distributed in class

January 29. The Planning Process

Thomas Wilsted and William Nolte, Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories, 27 - 34.

Christopher Kitching, Archive Buildings in the United Kingdom, 1977-1992 (London: HMSO, 1993) 5-12; 61-71.

Elizabeth Yakel, Starting An Archives, 1-17,

February 5. Financial Management – Grant Writing Susan Hamburger, "Life With Grant: Administering Manuscripts Cataloging Grant Projects," American Archivist 62 (Spring, 1999): 130-152.

David M. Weinberg, "The Impact of Grantsmaking: An Evaluation of Archival and Records Management Programs at the Local Level," American Archivist 62 (Fall, 1999): 247-270.

Ann Clifford Newhall, "The NHPRC in the New Records Age," American Archivist 63 (Spring/Summer 2000): 67-89. Browse the following web sites:

National Historical Publications and Records Commission: http://www.nara.gov/nhprc/

National Endowment for the Humanities: http://www.neh.gov/

Institute of Museum and Library Services: http://www.imls.gov/

Massachusetts Documentary Heritage Grants: http://www.state.ma.us/sec/arc/arcaac/aacintro.htm

February 12. Managing an Archival Repository. Policymaking.

Richard J. Cox, Managing Institutional Archives, 1- 23. Thomas Wilsted and William Nolte, Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories, 3-26.

Case Study: Nancy M. Merz, "Starting an Archives: Texas Instruments as a Case Study," and Sally L. Merryman, "Developing the Texas Instruments Archives," in Corporate Archives and History: Making the Past Work, ed. by Arnita A. Jones and Phillip L. Cantelon ( Malabar, Fl.: Krieger, 1993), 21-36.

February 19. NO CLASS. PRESIDENTS DAY

February 26. Financial Management – Budgeting, Fund raising.

Human Resources Management

Thomas Wilsted and William Nolte, Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories,47-54.

Paul Ericksen and Robert Shuster, "Beneficial Shocks: The Place of Processing-Cost analysis in Archival Adminstration," American Archivist 58 (Winter 1995): 32-52.

March 5. NO CLASS. SPRING BREAK

March 12. Case Study: The New York Historical Society

Kevin M. Guthrie, The New-York Historical Society; Lessons From One Nonprofit’s Long Struggle for Survival, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996). Entire volume. Students will be assigned portions of this book for class discussion.
March 19. Student Presentations

Last revised January 17, 2001

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