Book Summary & Response
Museum Archives
An Introduction
Second Edition
Edited by Deborah Wythe
The SAA’s Museum Archives: An Introduction is set up so that each chapter is an article unto itself. The book is also divided into four sections, Introduction (chapters 1-3), Archival Fundamentals (chapters 4-9), Managing Archival Collections (chapters 10-21), and Museum Archives Issues (chapters 22 & 23), and contains a handy resource guide in the rear of the book.
Chapter 1 – The Museum Archives Movement, Ann Marie Przybyla
Pryzbyla describes the rising interest in museum archives, beginning in the 1980’s, paying close attention to SAA involvement in this chapter.
Chapter 2 – The Museum Context, Deborah Wythe
Wythe introduces readers to the museum environment, describing the functions of each department and what sorts of documents they may produce. She then goes on to describe type of documents that may appear in the archive and briefly touches on conservation. This chapter serves as a primer for the field, really introducing the reader to the functions and files specific to a museum archive.
Chapter 3 – Getting Started, Susan Klier
Klier takes us through the steps of establishing a museum archive from locating funding to the actual set-up of the archive. She includes a handy budget checklist (right down to the scalpel for pulling staples!) and then moves on to space and staff considerations. She also recommends a few first steps once the archive is established: Mission Statement, Policies should be created, the Organization Structure and History of the museum itself should be understood, as should Museum Departments, Institutional Records should be located, and Archival Supplies and Equipment should be ordered. She offers quite a bit to think about in this chapter, despite its brevity.
Chapter 4 – Appraisal, Deborah Wythe
Wythe tackles the difficult subject of appraisal. As in several of the articles I read, Wythe makes it clear that archivists have the difficult responsibility of deciding what should be preserved. She advocates gaining a thorough understanding of all aspects of your particular museum through research and study, and also encourages archivists to continue this research process even if/when they believe that they have a handle on the museum structure. She also discusses establishing levels at which to appraise; deciding when to look at documents and which to look at; a clear policy is much easier to deal with (and manage in terms of time) than browsing things on the fly.
Chapter 5 – Arrangement, Polly Darnell
Darnell discusses the different perspectives of arrangement from library, archives and museum views and how understanding each of these perspectives is important to an archive. She moves on to discuss the art of arrangement itself from an archival perspective with focus on the museum setting.
Chapter 6 – Description, Deborah Wythe
Wythe introduces us to the world of description and explains how it differs from cataloging. She includes an in-depth section on finding aids, as well as the MARC record system, as well as presenting tips on what to consider when creating a descriptive program. She also briefly touches on the benefits and challenges of automated tools such as databases.
Chapter 7 – Research Use: Ethics, Restrictions, and Privacy, Susan K. Anderson
Anderson tackles the hefty issue of ethics, talking about the balancing act necessary between intellectual freedom and privacy. She discusses types of restricted records and discusses why each is restricted, and describes the benefits of a written restriction policy (as well as providing an example of one, this one from the Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives). She also discusses the privacy issue and where it can get stickiest—in the correspondences of personal papers—as well as tips for discussing privacy issues with the donor. She then goes through ways to implement access restrictions and levels of restriction. She then gets into the issue of “scholastic monopolies” on collections and how to perhaps introduce outside researchers to the collection. Her final topic is ‘Settling Disputes’ which offers some advice for working through issues that arise.
Chapter 8 – Research Use: Outreach, Marisa Bourgoin
Bourgoin talks about outreach activities such as public programs, exhibitions, and websites which are concentrated on the archive and materials within it. She discusses each area at length, including helpful visual aids (such as a reference policies checklist in the public programs section, along with a sidebar about Archives Week) and concerns and challenges for each area.
Chapter 9 – Oral History, Fred Calabretta
Calabretta discusses oral history; the history and evolution as well as current usage (which has increased in recent years). He then goes into the practical aspects of oral history, giving tips on project design and structure, equipment selection, and advice on conduction the interviews themselves. He then goes on to processing and accessibility of the material, before diving into the legal aspects of oral history. Calabretta closes by outlining the benefits of oral history collections against the challenges; citing the amount of rewarding work he’s done against the cost and effort that go into the collection.
Chapter 10 – Records Surveys, Deborah Wythe
Records surveys take a close look at the records produced by the institution and try to figure out jut what is happening with them in regard to management or even preservation. Wythe begins with the ‘why’ of surveys, before going into the more practical ‘how’.
Wythe recognizes the importance of understanding what it is you’re archiving and how records are used; records surveys help you accomplish this! You can find things that might have been missing; as well as develop a better understanding of the flow (or lack thereof) in the institution’s records.
Chapter 11 – Accessioning, Sarah R. Demb
Demb describes accessioning, the record of transfer of control of documents from a donor or department to the archive itself. She describes the process, as well as use and access.
Chapter 12 – Preservation, Sarah R. Demb
Demb next tackles preservation, particularly in regard to museum archives. One benefit is access to conservators; often there are conservators within the institution who can provide valuable insight and suggestions. She moves into things to consider when establishing a preservation policy before describing standards from preservation (such as acid free paper and climate control guidelines). Finally, she discusses pesticides as a museum-specific concern; many museums have used pesticides on artifacts and these chemicals have in some cases contaminated related records; preservation of these papers must be considered alongside the health and safety of those using them.
Chapter 13 – Security, Paula Stewart
Stewart discusses the protection of archive materials in regard to security; both in maintaining and being aware of the archives space and in keeping records safe from thieves (both break-ins and from the reading room). Additionally, she discusses protection of the materials from damage when in use by patrons.
Chapter 14 – Records Management, Paula Stewart
Stewart’s chapter on Records Management highlights the importance of records management to archivists—in working with or as a records manager. She discusses communication between departments, the establishment of a policy, tools of the trade, and more advanced training.
Chapter 15 – Disaster Planning, Paula Stewart
Here Stewart discusses the importance of disaster planning and gives advice for creating a plan, including consideration of what sorts of disasters are more likely, as well as deciding what items are most vital to the collection and how to get them out in an emergency—as well as communicating this plan to others.
Chapter 16 – Photographs, Bernadette Callery & Deborah Wythe
Callery and Wythe discuss photographs, citing some ways to deal with different sorts of museum-specific collections. They also discuss appraisal of these images as well as (most importantly) arrangement of the images. The question of provenance vs. artificial collection is a difficult one here. They also discuss description of photos and access and use. Also included is a lengthy section on preservation that is extremely helpful as a primer.
Chapter 17 – Audiovisual Materials, Polly Darnell
Darnell discusses AV materials, discussing several sorts of audio and visual formats. She also discusses appraisal, preservation, arrangement, and processing of several AV formats.
Chapter 18 – Architectural Records, Maygene Daniels
Especially important to museums: architectural records. As Daniels points out, museums are places and records of these places are important to maintain. She takes us through the steps of surveying and storing these documents, as well as access, use and reference. She also touches briefly on CAD technology and what it means to these records and as a record itself.
Chapter 19 – Electronic Records, Fynnette Eaton
Eaton tackles the difficult task of electronic records, discussing at length issues and ideas related to these records. She later discusses digitization and the challenges and benefits presented by the process.
Chapter 20 – Objects in the Archives, Anthony Reed
Reed discusses ‘nonstandard historical items’ in the archives and how one might deal with these items in the context of museum type. He also discusses how one might process these objects within the collection.
Chapter 21 – Field Records and Scientific Notebooks, Sarah R. Demb
Demb discusses dealing with field records; problems with access and preservation as well as the benefits of digitization.
Chapter 22 – Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Sarah K. Demb
Demb discusses the return of “human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony” to the tribes to which these items belong. She talks about the impact this could have on museum archivists (depending upon the collection) through increased handling of records and new access restrictions.
Chapter 23 – Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art, Catherine Herbert
Herbert discusses the history of Nazi Art Looting before delving into the issue of restitution. She discusses provenance research and how it impacts the movement, as well as how this impacts museum archives especially.
Following the initial chapters of the book are helpful document examples, a list of professional organizations, continuing education opportunities, a selected bibliography ,and the SAA’s Museum Archives Guidelines.
The book as a whole acts as an excellent primer and basic reference. It offers excellent information as well as plenty of additional resources. It is filled with advice from museum archivists who have been in the business for years. My opinion? A great resource, especially for someone acting as a ‘Lone Arranger’ or someone new to the field.
