Introduction to Archives

Catalog description

This course will provide an understanding of the nature and characteristics of archives and manuscript collections and the work of archivists in both theory and practice. Students will learn the history of archives as well as the role of the archivist in appraising, arranging, describing and preserving archival materials. It will cover issues such as copyright, disaster planning, management, reference and security. Recent issues and debates in the field will be addressed in the process. Time will be spent discussing these issues in relation to the various types of archives?business, university, historical society/museum, religious, and government. The technical aspects of archival processing, Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC), Encoded Archival Description (EAD), and digitization will be covered so that each student has a basic understanding of each process. Students will have hands on experience processing, preserving, and creating a finding aid for a small collection from the University Archives. In addition to having a midterm and final, students will receive grades on the finding aids that they create and on an in-depth research paper about an archival topic of their choosing.