HISTORY OF ARCHIVAL AND RECORDS ENTERPRISE

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HISTORY OF ARCHIVAL AND RECORDS

ENTERPRISE

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Epochs in the Development ofArchival and Records Enterprise

• Antiquity

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Dang An

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Practice • Compiled chronicles

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• Antiquity

• Development of the Concept of Archives, c. 400 B.C. – c. 500 A.D.

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GREECE

Αρχείο “Archeion”

That which belongs to an office.

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GREECE

Practices • Deposit gives private documents a public authority

• Authoritative record was the most public record

• The Notary

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Adopted concepts of the Greeks and added concepts of their own.

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ROMETerms

• Filium• Tabula• Regesta

• File• Tablet• Register

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Practices • Registration conveys official status

• Keeping minutes• Emperor destroyed

records of predecessor• Residencia • Regard for provenance

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• Papyrus

• Wood and wax tablet

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• Antiquity

• Dormancy, c. 500-1500

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Dormancy

Practices • Memory and objects replaced written record as authority

• Authenticated with wax seal

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Dormancy

Term • “Clerk” derived from clerics who staff chanceries

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Dormancy

Practices and Concepts • Records schedule, 800s

• Case file, c. 1200• Records as property of

the office, 1331• Distinguish current

from records of long-term value

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• Antiquity

• Dormancy, c. 500-1500

• Re-emergence of Archives, 1500-1789

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RE-EMERGENCE

• Establishment of well-defined archives

Archivo General de Simancas

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RE-EMERGENCE

• Establishment of well-defined archives

Archivo General de Simancas

• Diplomatics, De Re Diplomatica, 1681

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• Establishment of Modern Archival Practice, 1789-1898

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ESTABLISHMENT OF MODERN ARCHIVAL

PRACTICE• Archives Nationales (France), 1794

• Concept of “current” and “historical”

• Archives as expression of nationalism

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PRACTICE• Basic principles

Respect des fonds

Provenance—original order

• Ecole des Chartes, 1832

• Dutch manual of practice, 1898

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PRACTICE

American contribution• Collecting documents

• Printing documents to facilitate use and preservation

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• Redefining Archives and Managing Bulk: Archival Administration and Records Management, c. 1900-continuing

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REDEFINING ARCHIVES AND MANAGING BULK

Factors

• New Media

• Growth of business and government

• Spread of literacy

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Growth in Quantity of Records

• 1789-1861 = 100,000 cubic feet

• 1865-1914 = 500,000 cubic feet

• 1930s decade = 3.5 million cubic feet

• 1940s per year = 2 million cubic feet

• 1960s per year = 4 million cubic feet

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New kinds of records

• Memorandum

• Chart and Graph

• Directive

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New practices and concepts

• Defining archives as historical documents

• Archival appraisal

• Records management

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Records Management

• Records Disposal Act, 1943

• General schedule, 1945

• Records Center, 1950

• Developed concepts to promote office efficiency, protection

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REDEFINING ARCHIVES AND MANAGING BULKProfessionalization of records work

• Royal Dutch Society of Archivists, 1891

• Society of American Archivists, 1936

• International Council on Archives, 1950

• Association of Records Managers and Administrators, 1955

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• Redefining Archives and Managing Bulk: Archival Administration and Records Management, c. 1900-continuing

• Age of the Electronic Record, 1980s-continuing

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ELECTRONIC RECORDS AGE

• Machine-readable records

• Radically new form/media of record

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CONCLUSIONS

DEPTH AND EXTENT OF CHANGE• First: Writing as basis of authentic

information, c. 1000-c. 1300

• Second: Modern concepts of managing records, 1789-1898

• Third: Electronic record, 1990s-

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CONCLUSIONS

FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES• Defining and establishing ownership of “the

record”

• Authenticity, security, and preservation

• Adopting, adapting to, and controlling records in new media

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CONCLUSIONS

FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES• Role of archives in society

• Uses of the term “archives”

• Managing yet increasing volume of records

• Role of the archivist/records administrator

HISTORY OF ARCHIVAL AND RECORDS ENTERPRISE

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