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Archive v. archives



Folks -

This question takes me back to my archival education and early career...as
a Canadian studying at Wayne State University in Detroit, I was taught to
think of "archives" in terms of the the concepts provided by Schellenberg
and Posner....I landed my first job at the Hudson's Bay Company Archives,
Provincial Archives of Manitoba in 1980, which had been transferred to
Canada from London, England in the mid 70s and discovered I was in a
company "archive" a` la Sir Hilary Jenkinson...

So I would say that the difference in usage started out from North American
vs British terminology.  "Archive" in computer lingo (and sometimes front
line staff speaking of records transfers - "archiving") is both a verb and
a noun, and came in much later.

Cheers!

Mark




>Date:         Wed, 8 Nov 2000 10:53:40 -0500
>Reply-To: Richard Pearce-Moses <rpm@PRIMENET.COM>
>Sender: Archives & Archivists <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
>From: Richard Pearce-Moses <rpm@PRIMENET.COM>
>Subject:      Archive v. archives
>To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
>
>My copy of Websters' 20th (1980) includes the word "archives," but not
>"archive."   The Random House dictionary in the reading room has the entry
>under "archive" with a note that it's usually "archives;" but it also uses
>the singular form in its example.  My copy of the SAA Glossary is at home,
>but I recall that it prefers "archives;" I don't recall if it lists the
>singular.
>
>I've always found some value in having both "singular" and "plural" form of
>the word to help distinguish when one is speaking of one repository or
>collection v. many.
>
>I'm not sure there's ever any "correct" answer when it comes to usage, but
>there are preferences.
>
>I would be curious if members of this list feel strongly as to whether one
>form or the other is good or bad.  And why.
>
>Richard Pearce-Moses
> RPM@Primenet.Com
>
>A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
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>
>Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
>
>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>