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

Re: Newspapers, "primary sources", etc.



Mr. Schinkel,

You must be new to this list.

Rather than repeating why original newspapers (or any other object) cannot be replaced by microfilm copies (microfilm is a useful tool but not an adequate replacement), I suggest that you find the archives for this list and read through the messages.  We've been through this before.  I'm sure we will be through it again .... I just hope we have a break of 6 months or so.

As homework, I'd also suggest that you read bibliographer Thomas Tanselle.

Sally Gibson (Toronto)

>>> Pete Schinkel <schinkel@BELLSOUTH.NET> 05/17/01 08:21pm >>>
"Microfilm is not a decent substitute for original
newspapers."  Since when?  What proofs do you have.  Sure
there is some bad microfilm out there, but there are also
millions of reels of good film in archives, libraries, and
historical societies, etc.  Had the preservation budgets
been spent on maintaining the originals instead of
microfilming, we would have a lot less historical
documentation.

If we must worship original documents, please let us chose
something more valuable than original newsprint.

Pete Schinkel

-----Original Message-----
From: Archives & Archivists
[mailto:ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU]On 
Behalf Of Margaret Monroe
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2001 4:18 PM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU 
Subject: Newspapers, "primary sources", etc.


Hi, again, everyone!

My heavens - I *really* opened the proverbial can
of worms, didn't I??  I must confess that I could
and perhaps should have added, to "primary sources",
"incredibly important and useful sources of information,
many, if not most, of which exist *no where else*."

My main concern is to alert everyone to the fact that many
of the information-containing resources that *used* to exist
in
this country are *gone*, because people threw them away!
Microfilm is not a decent substitute for original
newspapers. We, as archivists, librarians, and historians
(or whatever job
title we have) *must* do our best to preserve what is left
of
important historical documents for everyone to use in the
future.  Newspapers *are* an *important* resource that
*must*
be preserved !  And so, therefore, are clippings, until they
fall apart.  I think that the information contained in many
of
these clippings *may* be the *only* place such information
still exists in truly legible form nowadays.

I still wonder: how many of you have read "Double Fold"?
Please
do not criticize what Mr. Baker has said or what he believes
without first reading his book !

I am all too aware, as a government employee, of how very
difficult it is to get proper funding for archives,
libraries, museums,
record centers, and the like.  Too little money = too few
items get
properly preserved, and/or there will be too few staff to do
the work.
But I would *much* rather spend some money on just
preserving old
newspapers and books, even if that means that there is no
money
for anyone to properly catalog what has been saved.  That
can come
later - after irreplaceable sources of valuable information
have been
saved.

It looks as though this situation will get much worse before
it ever
gets better.

Thanks to all of you for replying to my post !  I have
learned things.
I am not a professional archivist or librarian, but I am
trying to learn
as much as I can about professional ways of cataloging and
preserving old records.

One request: please read "Double Fold", and let us all know
what
you think of the points Baker raises in that book.

Sincerely,


Any comments or statements made in this transmission
reflect the views of the sender and are not necessarily the
views of the State of California Department of
Transportation.
(Important to state that!)

Margaret Monroe

Caltrans Office Technician (Typing)
(UN-official Record-keeper for all records
in District 4 of all State-owned toll bridges in
Northern California)

State of California
Department of Transportation
District 4
Division of Structure Maintenance & Investigations, Toll
Bridges
Room 10-400
P. O. Box  23660
Oakland, CA  94623-0660

Phone: 510-286-6188
Fax:  510-286-0353

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>

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>

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>