WHAT IS A RECORD?

Week Two
(September 9, 2010)
WHAT IS A RECORD?

• Organic
g by-product
yp of human activity
y created to
capture meaningful information preserved for long
value…
• A written or printed work of a legal or official nature
that may be used as evidence or proof…
• Data or information in a fixed form that is created or
received in the course of individual or institutional
activity and set aside (preserved) as evidence of that
activity for future reference
• A recorddhhas fi
fixed
d content,
t t structure
t t andd context.
t t
***Last three are from
the Society of American Archivists website
UNDERSTANDING ARCHIVES &
MANUSCRIPTS
• Record – Latin Roots
– “Heart” (cor) with verb “to give” (dare)
– To give back to the heart and mind after the
passage of time
• The Oral World
• The Rise and Spread of Literacy
• Reasons for Recording Information
• The Impulse to Save
• Technology
T h l off Record
R d Making
M ki
• Characteristics of Recorded Info in the Modern Age
• The Usefulness of Archives
THE ORAL WORLD/
THE RISE OF LITERACY
• Humans are natural speakers.
p
• Oral communication “exists only as it is going out of
existence.”
• Inescapable fallibility of human memory.
• Techniques had to be developed.
• Writing
W iti iis external
t l and
d technological.
t h l i l
• In a “fixed” form.
• “Words
Words are fleeting
fleeting, written letters remain”
remain
• Reliability, legality and proof depended on writing
REASONS FOR RECORDING
INFORMATION

• Personal
• Social
• Economic
• Legal
• Instrumental
• S
Symbolic
THE IMPULSE TO SAVE

• Why y do we save records after the original

g usefulness
has ceased?
– They might be useful in the future?
– Information might be needed again?
– Unpredictability of the future makes us want to
save?
– Saved because they are a form of individual or
collective memory?
– “Relics” – personal or symbolic meaning?
TECHNOLOGY OF
RECORD MAKING

• Paper
p
• Writing Materials
• Printing
• M h i l Record
Mechanical R d Making
M ki
• Copying Machines
• Filing Systems
• Photographic Records
• Altered Record Formats
• Recording Sound
• Computerized Information
• Unrecorded Information
CHARACTERISTICS OF RECORDED
INFORMATION IN THE MODERN AGE

• Abundance rather than Scarcity y

• Collective rather than Individual
• More Decentralized and Democratic
• Interrelatedness of Records More Apparent & Real
• Shifting Usefulness
THE USEFULNESS OF ARCHIVES

• Large
g Numbers of People
p with a Great Range
g of
Interests…
• Source of Personal, Individual Identity
• Larger Society Benefits
• Corporate & Legal Benefits
• Advertising
Ad ti i & Promotional
P ti l Efforts
Eff t
• “Pure” Research
• Inform,
Inform Entertain,
Entertain Enlighten
Enlighten, Educate…
Educate
• “No Archives, No History”
SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE OF
ARCHIVES
• Practical Values & Symbolic
y Values
• Record Form and Symbolic Meaning
• Recordmaking and the Record Made
• Ceremonial and Religious Uses of Records
• Records Revered as Objects
• Hostility Toward Records
WHO CONTROLS THE PAST…
PAST

• No longer
g jjust “keepers”
p but active selectors…
– Integration of Modern Institutions
– Integration of Modern Information
– Effects of Integration of Institutions and
Information
– Collection
C ll ti Development
D l t Vs
V Collection
C ll ti Management
M t
– Defining Collecting Strategies
– Existing Models – The Discipline History Centers
– Documentation Strategies
DOCUMENTATION STRATEGIES

• Four Main Activities:

– Choosing and defining the topic to be documented.
– Selecting the advisors and establishing the site for
the strategy.
– Structuring the inquiry and examining the form
and substance of available documentation.
documentation
– Selecting and placing the documentation.