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Re: Museums and documents



Lee,

When I was trying to decide "what I wanted to be when I grew up..." I
decided I wanted to work in a small town historical society where you
could do a little bit of everything, from working with object
collections, document collections, etc. Mostly, I like people history,
so whether it be working with objects or papers, I'm happy. Having
realized this about myself, I first started working with objects.
Therefore, my first experiences with cataloging and accessioning were on
an item by item level.

The few archivists I knew personally (2 maybe) were friendly and helpful
in teaching me the very basics. I noticed the tension between
museum-trained people doing archive work (of whom I count myself a
member) and professionally trained archivists when I went to my first
regional archives meeting. I took a workshop that was offerred for
people like myself that wanted to learn proper archival techniques. The
feeling I left with was that the professional archivists looked down on
'non-professional' archivists because they didn't do the grunt work of
getting the degree in archival practices. I think the people that
attended the workshop should have gotten more respect because they were
clearly interested in learning the proper techniques.

I realize that there are standards that need to be upheld in the
professional field of archival work. I also realize that professional
archivists worked hard to gain the status of being "professional".
Museum professionals have been fighting the same battle.
Saying this, there are many small museums/historical societies that do
not have the funding to hire even a full-time curator. These
institutions often hire someone that can work with object collections
thinking (in a way professional archivists have been trying to change)
that paper collections don't take special knowledge to care for. I would
like to see a friendlier environment between professional archivists and
professional museum staff doing archival work. After all, isn't the main
goal to preserve the information? Besides, most of the museum staff in
these small institutions would gladly hire professional archivists if
given the funding and opportunity.

I hope I didn't babble too much. Just my $.04 worth. I guess I should
note I do know the difference between artifacts & documents; curatorial
and archival practices. :)

Bridgette A. Kelly
Special Collections Manager
BKelly@stanhywet.org

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lee Miller [SMTP:lmiller@MAILHOST.TCS.TULANE.EDU]
> Sent: Friday, March 03, 2000 10:01 AM
> To:   ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> Subject:      Museums and documents
>
> Many museum curators seem not to understand the difference between
> documents
> and artifacts, nor the difference between archival and curatorial
> practice.
> Apart from preserving its own archives, is there a general feeling
> about the
> propriety of a museum collecting papers and records, as well as museum
> artifacts? Does the museum world have any ethical guidelines or
> standards
> about documents versus artifacts? As an archivist, I try very hard not
> to
> get into the museum business. Are museum curators likewise taught not
> to
> dabble in documents?
>
> Lee
>
> ==--00--==
>
> Leon C. Miller, Manuscripts Librarian
> Special Collections, Jones Hall, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library
> Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118
> Ph: 504-865-5685, Fx: 504-865-5761
> Leon.Miller@tulane.edu
> http://www.tulane.edu/~lmiller/SpecCollHomepage.html
>
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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

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      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>