LIS 111 Introduction to Records Mgt.

and Archives

Topic: Concept and Context

Learning Objectives

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

1. identify the types of archives repository.

Lesson 2. Types of archives repository

1. National Archives – Most countries have a national archives

institution which takes in and looks after the records of central
government. Holdings of the national archives hold the records of
central government; however, the exact composition of the holdings of
national archives will depend on its legislative or regulatory mandate
and the history of the country and nations, in accordance with its
collecting policy. The responsibilities of and services offered by
national archives will vary accordance to legislative and cultural
context, but all national archives will be taking in records, cataloguing
them and storing them in the best possible physical environment to
ensure future preservation and access. The national archives’ mission
will vary according to the legal and cultural context of the country but
aims of the national archives might include:
 Protecting and safeguarding government archives for use by
future generations
 Providing access facilities and information to support the use of
the records
 Ensuring accountability and transparency through the provision
of records management policy and guidance
 Ensuring that the documentary evidence in the archives
represent the story’ of the nation.

2. State Archives – archives in federal states, such as the USA, Australia

and Germany. These archival authorities have merits and holdings
similar to those of national archives with respect to the records and
 archives of their governmental responsibilities and jurisdictions.
Sometimes the archives authority is also the records management
adviser and authority, sometimes it has jurisdiction over local
government and advises and/ or takes in records of cities and other
local territorial archives such countries.
3. Local Government Archives – local government archives
repositories usually take in the records of the authority and its
predecessors, including those whose functions are defunct, such as
the poor law administration. Local government archives also usually
collect the records of local individuals and businesses. The national
archives repositories, the work of local government archives includes
the physical protection of the archives material, the development of
catalogues and other finding aids and the provision of access services.
4. Business Archives – are the records of private sector organization
engaged in trade and commerce. There are many notable examples of
business or company archives of established and respected
commercial organization. These include archives of the banking,
pharmaceutical, retail and oil industries, brewing, publishers,
architects, television companies, to name a few.
5. School Archives– frequently have a slightly wider collecting remit that
other archives because they act as a repository of all information
regarding about the school and the activities.
6. Family and Individuals’ Archives – people create and keep records
of themselves as private individuals, even if some of their activities,
such as writing poetry or novels, or renting out property, could be
categorized as business activity. The personal, professional and
business activities of individual generate records and papers, which, if
the individual is important or famous enough, may be retained in
archives. One example is archives of Winston Churchill. Families also
generate records, although most families have a limited amount,
confined usually to the nuclear family or just the couple. However,
there are families that possesses a business or property, which widens
the scope of their records beyond the personal family records to
include the records of commerce, ownership, land management and
anything else that documents rights, obligations discharged, decisions
made or work done. Example of family archives (Duke of
Northumberland, whose title and property have their roots in the 11th
century.
7. Non-profit and Non-Governmental Sector Archives– Many
charities and voluntary action organization maintain in-house archives
 of their activities, although these tend to be ones with larger budgets.
Example: East London Mosque, London Muslim Centre Archives,
Papal Archives at the Vatican Secret Archives in Rome.
8. Collecting Archives – Organizations which actively acquire and
manage archives from different provenances in order to build up
primary source material on a subject are known as collecting’ archives
and they may or not also keep the records of their own organization.
Example: UK National Fairground Archives is a unique collection of
material covering all aspects of the culture and history, Newport
Historical Society in Rhode Island was founded in 1854 to collect and
preserve books, manuscripts, and objects pertaining to Newport’s
history, The Open Society Archives in Budapest, Hungary, collects the
records of history of the Cold War.

References:

1. Crockett, M. (2016). The no-nonsense guide to archives and recordkeeping.

London: Facet Publishing

2. Hunter, G.S. (2003). Developing and maintaining practical archives: a how-to-do-

it manual. New York: Neal-Schuman.
3. Millar, L. (2010). Archives: principles and practices. London: Facet Publishing.
4. https://www.trentu.ca/library/archives/tutorial. Retrieved July 1, 2020