In Elite Library Archives, a Dispute Over a Trove

This incident demonstrates the importance of written agreements and the education of users as to the place and purpose of archives and other collecting institutes. This attitude is not isolated nor uncommon and certainly we have a couple of examples of this attitude recently where the archives is regarded as free storage place with the staff available for the service of the whim of the donor and the purpose, aims and objectives of the institute completely disregarded and ignored. All this also high lights the importance of appraisal, retentions schedules and policy documentation which small archives and specialist archivists have to be on top of and really understand what they are doing so that the increased need for professional training is emphased and valued. And interesting this is New York today!!

Having read the article it certainly sounds like the more recent staff of the NY Public Library have a different opinion of the value of parts of the collection than earlier staff. An interesting case study for students of collecting archives! It highlights some issues relating to the appraisal of personal papers - it's very much a pragmatic art, not a science and one archivist may make a completely different appraisal from another, and sometimes you might keep things of lesser value to keep the donor happy.

I guess in archives heaven* there would have been a full appraisal report completed at the time the collection was acquired, fully outlining the reasons everything was kept.

*Archivies Heaven would be where there are dozens of well trained archivists attending on beautifully appraised and arranged and described archives, with no backlogs, and everything digitised and available to the researcher at the touch of a button:-)

Replies

Pauline M Garland May 6, 2011 at 1:10pm

This incident demonstrates the importance of written agreements and the education of users as to the place and purpose of archives and other collecting institutes. This attitude is not isolated nor uncommon and certainly we have a couple of examples of this attitude recently where the archives is regarded as free storage place with the staff available for the service of the whim of the donor and the purpose, aims and objectives of the institute completely disregarded and ignored. All this also high lights the importance of appraisal, retentions schedules and policy documentation which small archives and specialist archivists have to be on top of and really understand what they are doing so that the increased need for professional training is emphased and valued. And interesting this is New York today!!
Anna Blackman May 3, 2011 at 2:46pm

Having read the article it certainly sounds like the more recent staff of the NY Public Library have a different opinion of the value of parts of the collection than earlier staff. An interesting case study for students of collecting archives! It highlights some issues relating to the appraisal of personal papers - it's very much a pragmatic art, not a science and one archivist may make a completely different appraisal from another, and sometimes you might keep things of lesser value to keep the donor happy.

I guess in archives heaven* there would have been a full appraisal report completed at the time the collection was acquired, fully outlining the reasons everything was kept.

*Archivies Heaven would be where there are dozens of well trained archivists attending on beautifully appraised and arranged and described archives, with no backlogs, and everything digitised and available to the researcher at the touch of a button:-)

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