Arranging & Describing Archives & Manuscripts

Arranging & Describing Archives & Manuscripts

Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts
KATHLEEN D. ROE

A][F][S ARCHIVAL FUNDAMENTALS SERIES II

2005

The new edition of the Archival Fundamentals Series is intended to provide the basic foundation for modern archival practice and theory. Arrangement and description are essential to ensure that the records so carefully and conscientiously brought into the archives are indeed comprehensible and accessible for reference purposes.

From the Back Cover

Following in the very big footsteps left by David B. Gracy II and Fredric Miller, Kathleen Roe has produced the definitive basic manual for the archival profession. There is nothing so fundamental to what we do as archivists as arranging and describing our holdings; everything else follows from that.

In this latest edition of Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts, Kathleen has, in her inimitable way, reaffirmed, redefined, and rearticulated the bedrock principles from which all of our work proceeds. Beyond this, however, she has taken this work into the 21st century to integrate it with all of the Internet-based tools now at our disposal. This volume essentially takes you into Kathleen Roe's warm, comforting, and well-informed hands. You cannot go wrong following her advice."

—STEVEN L. HENSEN
Director, Planning and Project Development, Special Collections Library, Duke University, and author of Archives, Personal Papers, and Manuscripts

It's all here—from explication of core concepts to their implementation, from historical manuscript collections to modern organizational records, from maintaining original order to determining how to impose a coherent one, from 'blunt pointer' to detailed multilevel description. Firmly grounded in archival traditions and practices, Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts brings up to date the history of the development of descriptive standards, articulates international differences in practice, and explains why description is (or should be) at the very core of every archivist's being. Little has happened in the descriptive standards arena in the last two decades without the benefit of Kathleen Roe's expertise and guidance. Her book is essential background for understanding and applying the rules in Describing Archives: A Content Standard."

—KRIS KIESLING
Associate Director for Technical and Digital Services, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin

THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN ARCHIVISTS 
Chicago, IL 60607 USA 
ARCHIVAL FUNDAMENTALS SERIES II
Arranging & Describing Archives & Manuscripts
KATHLEEN D. ROE

TABLE Of CONTENTS

  • PREFACE TO THE ARCHIVAL FUNDAMENTALS SERIES II
  • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  • INTRODUCTION
  • 1 OVERVIEW
  • The Nature of Archives and Manuscripts
  • Archival Repositories and Their Clientele
  • The Function of Arrangement and Description
  • The Relationship of Arrangement and Description to Other Archival Functions
  • 2 CORE CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES OF ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION
  • Defining Basic Terms
  • Core Principles Guiding the Practice of Arrangement and Description
  • What "Entity" Should Be Described?
  • The Relationship of Archival Descriptive Practice to Libraries and Museums
  • When Are Archival Arrrangement and Description Practices Appropriate?
  • The Relationship of the Arrangement and Description Function to the Institutional Context and Users
  • 3 THE CONTEXT OF ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION
  • Development of Archival Practice
  • The Movement Toward Standardizing Archival Arrangement and Description
  • 4 THE PRACTICE OF ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION
  • Overview
  • Accessioning Archival Records
  • Establishing the Context in which Records Were Created
  • Arrangement of Archival Records
  • Physically Processing the Records
  • Description of Records
  • Developing Access Tools
  • Professional Standards for Archival Arrangement and Description
  • CONCLUSION, FUTURE DIRECTIONS, AND ISSUES
  • GLOSSARY
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY
  • APPENDICES
  • A: Describing Archives: A Content Standard Statement of Principles
  • B: Arrangement Scenarios
  • C: Examples of Arrangement Patterns
  • D: Finding Aids for Sample Records
  • E: Examples of Bibliographic Description
  • INDEX

Library of Congress Catalog Listing

Personal name
  • Roe, Kathleen, 1950-
Main title
  • Arranging & describing archives & manuscripts / Kathleen D. Roe.
Published/Created
  • Chicago : Society of American Archivists, c2005.

Description

  • xv, 180 p.; 23 cm.

ISBN

  • 193166613X

LC classification (full)

  • CD950 .R64 2005

LC classification (partial)

  • CD950

Variant title

  • Arranging and describing archives and manuscripts

Subjects

  • Archives.
  • Cataloging of manuscripts.

Notes

  • Includes bibliographical references (p. [105]-110) and index.

Series

  • Archival fundamentals series. II

LCCN

  • 2005049036

Dewey class no.

  • 027

Type of material

  • Book

 

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