[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Baker



One of Baker's major complaints is that libraries do not to check to see if the
originals that they are destroying exist anywhere else.  When he purchased the
warehouse full of newspapers from the British Library he did so after
discovering that not only did they not make an effort to see if these newspapers
existed anywhere else but in some cases they no longer did exist anywhere else.
In other words, the last copies of the originals of major American newspapers
were about to be destroyed or at least disbursed to the souvenir sellers with no
effort made to see if they did exist elsewhere.

I am an archivist who in the last five years, because of my job, have become
involved with rare books.  I have learned about the overwhelming importance of
the artifact for understanding the technology that produced it, the trade
patterns and markets that produced it, and the businesses that produced it.  In
other words, being able to examine the actual paper can tell you what type of
press was used, where the paper was manufactured and consequently the type of
national or international paper market that existed, which in turn tells you
about the complexity of the business entity that printed on the paper.  You can
then examine the ink and learn similar things.  If you are working with books,
the binding holds additional evidence. None of this evidence survives in
microfilm or in scanning.

No, we cannot save everything.  However, we should be saving enough original
material to save the evidence.  In the case of early printing, very few business
records survive. Consequently the artifact is an important way of reconstructing
the way the early printing businesses operated.  The artifact becomes the
archive of last resort.  And even if the business records do exist, it is
possible that this kind of detailed information does not survive in the
archives. Remember, intellectual content is not the only important information.
As historian of the book Terry Belanger says, and I paraphrase, the only thing
that descriptive bibliographers do not do to a book is read it.

We, as a profession, have been sloppy.  We have not made sure that the microfilm
that has been used was of high-quality and will last centuries.  We have not
made sure that every page was microfilmed.  We have not made sure that every
page that was microfilmed is legible. We have not made sure that physical
evidence has been preserved. That does not mean that we are part of a conspiracy
or that we are evil, but it does mean that we have some things to answer for.
Perhaps the answer is simply that we do not have the time and personnel to make
sure that everything is done correctly.  But that answer will not make everybody
happy. Yes, most of these problems, the "crimes" Baker highlights, occurred 20
or 40 years ago and we may have to simply say "we're sorry" and "please give us
enough money so it won't happen again."

Michael Knies
Special Collections Librarian
Weinberg Memorial Library
University of Scranton

Sammie Morris wrote:

> Seriously, I do think preserving originals is important but the truth is not
> all copies of the same original newspaper should be preserved.  If Mr.
> Baker's book causes more libraries/archives to think before they toss, it's
> a good thing.  If his book also causes libraries/archives to work together
> so that one copy of every original is preserved, without so much overlap
> that it becomes detrimental to the institution and its available storage
> space, then that's good too.
>
> Just my 2 cents.
>
> Sammie Morris
> Archivist
> Dallas Museum of Art

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>