Organization within Archives

Archives versus Libraries - Types of Records

The most important but perhaps most challenging thing to understand about conducting archival research is that it is very different than library and Internet research. Whereas libraries generally collect a great many of very few kinds of records from a great many sources (that is, many, many books by many, many authors, plus some audio/video recordings and cd-roms), archives collect a great many kinds of records from a much smaller set of sources (for example, all of the records of permanent value from all of the departments within a single corporation like JPMorgan Chase.

Archives versus Libraries - Mission

We know that libraries are typically created and maintained to give people access to great numbers of books for education, entertainment, and information. And while archives do seek to provide people with access to the records they contain, the reason for this goal is quite different. Instead of seeking to provide this access for the general cultural and educational enrichment of society, as in libraries, archives are designed to provide information, and more than that, trustworthy, impartial evidence about the conditions in which records were created.

Archives versus Libraries - Bulk and Context

The worlds of libraries and archives are also different because of the sheer number of individual documents that archives must organize. Also, whereas the books in a library are obviously self-contained (within two covers, within a single subject, often containing a summary of the contents, etc.), individual archival records do not make sense (or protect a notion of evidence) outside of their context.

Archives versus Libraries - Organization

Given these very different types of collections and goals, it would not make sense for archives to be organized according to subject, as libraries are in both the Library of Congress system or the Dewey Decimal system because such organization would make it much harder to reconstruct the conditions the records emerge from and document and because the lack of self-containment and the bulk of archival material would make such organization impossible. If this is difficult to understand, imagine reorganizing an entire library not by the subject of each book, but by the subject of each page torn out of a book; all sense would be lost and the task would be insurmountable. Instead, then, archives are organized according around two primary concepts: provenance (or respect des fonds) and original order.

Provenance

Emerging from the idea that archives are kept to reflect and provide historical, legal, and other kinds of evidence about the circumstances of their creation, archival institutions and the organizing mechanisms they employ are designed to protect that sense of evidence in much the same way the notion of "an unbroken chain of custody" is used in the justice system to ensure that evidence in case has not been tampered with. In this case, all of the archival records created by a particular institution or individual are maintained together so that they can continue to reflect on the actions of that individual. When examining the research tools provided by an archives (called finding aids), you will encounter detailed information about how, when, and from whom the records were acquired.

Original Order

Much as with provenance, the notion of original order seeks to preserve as much information as possible about the activities that generated records by maintaining them within the same filing structure and overall organization as they were in originally.
Again, if this is difficult to picture, imagine provenance as the covers on a book maintaining each page in a single unit. Original order, then, would be the page numbers and chapter divisions that keep the pages organized within the covers.

Record Groups

Record groups reflect the particular record creating body within an organization. For example, in a university, record groups would likely be divided according to functional units like academics (with subgroups according to schools and departments), administration, student services, etc. Such record groups would help tell the story of what the large originating institution likely looked and performed like, as well as what specific activities generated records.

Series and Subseries

In archives, if provenance is primarily reflected in record groups, the original order of a group of records is typically reflected in series and subseries. These are the broad categories of records produced by a single individual (or department within an organization). For example, at the Yale University Beinecke Rare Books & Manuscript Library, within the Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Papers the 173 boxes (93 linear feet) of records are divided into nine large series:

1. Writings of Gertrude Stein
2. Correspondence of Gertrude Stein
3. Third-Party Letters
4. Alice B. Toklas Correspondence
5. Personal Papers
6. Clippings
7. Photographs
8. Artworks
9. Object

The organization of series of records from a department within an instition would similarly reflect the kinds of activities that generated the records. For example, we can imagine that the records of many institutions would include record groups like Annual Reports, Correspondence, Minutes, Memoranda, New Product Tests and Files, Pamphlets and Brochures, Photographs, Press Releases, Publications, Project Files, Quarterly Reports, and Scrapbooks.

With this understanding of archival organization in place, it is possible to develop an archival search strategy.

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General Research Strategies