Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

In 2001, Catherine Hobbs referred to silences around personal archives, suggesting that these types of archives were not given as much attention as organizational archives in the development of archival theory and methodology. The aims of this article are twofold: 1) to investigate the extent to which such silences exist in archival education programs; and 2) to suggest reasons why the study of personal archives should be more fully integrated into such programs. The article reports findings of a small, exploratory study of archival education program descriptions and course syllabi that looked for evidence of the teaching of personal archives. After showing how limited an explicit focus on personal archives in archival education appears to be, the author suggests that teaching personal archives can provide a means of highlighting gaps in and challenging traditional archival theory; contributing to the developing understanding of the affective dimensions of archives and archival work; and reinvigorating archival advocacy.

Keywords

Archival education personal archives manuscripts special collections personal records archival curriculum archival advocacy archives and affect empathy

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Hobbs

. Reenvisioning the personal: reframing traces of individual life. In: Eastwood

and MacNeil

, editors. Currents of archival thinking. Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited. 2010. p. 213-241.

Williams

. Personal papers: perceptions and practices. In: Craven

, editor. What are archives? Aldershot: Ashgate. 2008. p. 55-56.

Lee

. Introduction. In: Lee

, editor. I, digital: personal collections in the digital era. Chicago: Society of American Archivists. 2011. p. 3.

Hyry

Onuf

. The personality of electronic records: the impact of new information technology on personal papers. Archival Issues. 1997. 22; p. 37-44.

Hobbs

. The character of personal archives: reflections on the value of records of individuals. Archivaria. 2001. 52: p. 126-135.

Horsman

Ketelaar

Thomassen

. Introduction to 2003 reissue. In Muller

Feith

Fruin

. Manual for the arrangement and description of archives. 2

{}^{\text{nd}}

ed. Chicago: Society of American Archivists. 2003.

Jenkinson

. A manual for archive administration. 2nd ed. London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co. 1937. p. 4.

Cook

. What is past is prologue: a history of archival ideas since 1898, and the future paradigm shift. American Archivist. 1997. 43: p. 17-63.

Berner

. Archival theory and practice in the United States: a historical analysis. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 1983. p. 7.

10.

Schellenberg

. The management of archives. New York: Columbia University Press. 1965. p. xxix.

11.

McKemmish

. Evidence of me. Archives and Manuscripts. 1996. 24: p. 28-45.

12.

Meehan

. Rethinking original order and personal records. Archivaria. 2010. 70: p. 27-44.

13.

Cifor

. Affecting relations: introducing affect theory to archival discourse. Archival Science. 2016. 16: p. 7-31 doi: 10.1007/s10502-015-9261-5.

14.

Caswell

Cifor

. From human rights to feminist ethics: radical empathy in the archives. Archivaria. 2016. 81: p. 23-43.

15.

Nesmith

. The missing piece: towards new partnerships with users of archives. Canadian Issues. 2014. p. 54-58.

16.

Nesmith

. What’s next? Telling their stories after the summit. http://archivists.ca/blog/whats-next-telling-their-stories-after-summit [accessed November 16, 2016].

17.

MacNeil

. Archivalterity: rethinking original order. Archivaria. 2008. 66: p. 1-25.

18.

Yeo

. The conceptual fonds and the physical collection. Archivaria. 2012. 73: p. 43-80.

19.

Douglas

. What we talk about when we talk about original order in writers’ archives. Archivaria. 2013. 76: p. 7-25.

Getting personal: Personal archives in archival programs and curricula

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References