The essays in this collection broaden the ways in which both scholars and practitioners can think about the emerging discipline of digital humanities, bringing together established and emerging scholars from around the world.

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Digital Humanities Pedagogy: Practices, Principles and Politics

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"Punishment for the sins of Christendom": the antebellum evangelical reaction to Mormonism

The thesis identifies the factors shaping archival education in Thailand and explores the effectiveness of that education in preparing graduates to work professionally in the Thai archival workplace. Since at present there is only one formal archival teaching programme in Thailand, which is a postgraduate course taught at Silpakorn University, the thesis focuses on this programme. In order to achieve the research aims, multiple methods comprising a literature study and semi-structured interviews were selected as appropriate methods to collect data in three main aspects namely: (1) the current context of archives and archivists in Thailand; (2) the implementation of four elements of professional learning proposed by Reid et al. (2011) in the archival programme; and (3) the impact of the Thai higher educational regulations on the Silpakorn programme in terms of its ability to prepare professional archivists to meet the needs of the Thai archival workplace. The data collected from semi- structured interviews are analysed by cross referencing this with the data derived from the literature study. This triangulated analysis verifies the trustworthiness of the resultant data. The data from interview with nine academics and nine students who take part in the programme, and 30 people featured in four case studies, in conjunction with the literature study identifies that the definition and functions of Thai archives, including the roles, responsibilities, qualifications, and professional status of Thai archivists, differs from the western context. The programme is also unable to prepare its graduates to work as professional archivists while fulfilling the needs of Thai archives because adopting a western-based archival curricula (UK model) and transferring archival knowledge and principles derived from the western (UK) context is not applicable to the Thai context, resulting in graduates’ inability to work professionally in the Thai archival workplace. National regulations also have influenced the programme to offer an academic degree rather than preparing professional archivists and results in the programme’s inability to implement the four elements of professional learning. In addition, a non-requirement of archivists who have an archival degree to work in Thai archives results in the decreasing demand to study in this programme and affects the identity of Thai archivists. Since most of Thai archivists do not regard themselves as archivists and Thailand lacks both archival scholars and an archival professional body to develop archival knowledge and profession, the professional status and identity of Thai archivists are unrecognised. To tackle these failures, the thesis recommends decreasing three tensions which are: (1) providing an academic degree or developing professional programme; (2) understanding the role of professional archivists or fulfilling the needs of Thai archives; and (3) ignoring the identity of Thai archivists or improving their status. The thesis argues that these three tensions cannot be dissolved unless Thailand needs professional archivists and the Thai archival institutions recognise the benefits of having a more educated archival workforce.

Identification of the factors shaping archival education in Thailand and an investigation into the effectiveness of that education in preparing graduates for the archival workplace

This paper provides a preliminary report of a 5-year study that looks at graduate students’ perceptions of the information professions, and examines if and how perceptions change as they progress through their program of study, as well as over the years The survey population is made up of students in the three streams of study (archives, information systems, and library and information science) at the Faculty of Information Studies (FIS) at the University of Toronto The data, gathered from three iterations of a self-administered questionnaire over one and a half years, includes demographic profiles, as well as students’ views on the social status of various professions, including archivists and records analysts Also included are students’ views on how much computing knowledge is required, salary expectations, career prospects, expectations for career and personal achievements, and reasons for pursuing the master’s degree We examine differences between students in different streams of study, and differences between groups of respondents surveyed at different points in time We hope that our findings will help us improve recruitment of individuals into the information professions

Perceptions of the information professions: A study of students in the Master of Information Studies Program at a Canadian University

As the archival profession seeks a wider role in the field of information science, the need to prepare students for careers in a rapidly changing world requires multidisciplinary education, greater emphasis on core archival knowledge, and fully articulated graduate programs combining structured course sequences with practical experience and sophisticated research projects. The Society of American Archivists is currently considering new “Guidelines for a graduate program in archival studies”. This case study of the graduate program in archives and records management at Western Washington University provides one example of the diverse offerings available for archival students. The six key aspects of the Western Washington University curriculum include: linking history and archives, integrating archives and records management, emphasizing information technology, incorporating management principles, including practical experience, and requiring research for a master’s thesis.

Graduate archival education at Western Washington University

Research occupies a central place in any graduate program and needs to be integrated across the archival curriculum, from the earliest courses through completion of the degree. This article traces the origins and development of New York University's Program in Archival Management and Historical Editing in order to explore its changing conceptualizations of research, and to examine the ways in which all archival educators can strengthen this programmatic component. As one of the oldest and most successful graduate training programs in North America, NYU's history-based curriculum provides an important case study and offers some significant lessons for archival educators.

Research and Reality Checks: Change and Continuity in NYU's Archival Management Program

In 1987, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission funded a two-year project designed to improve religious archives in the New York metropolitan area. The Archivists of Religious Institutions, a regional group responsible for administering the grant, developed a coordinated program of workshops, consultation reports, and cooperative endeavors in order to address the peculiar problems of smaller repositories. The results illustrate the difficulties of interinstitutional cooperation, weaknesses in traditional archival training methods, and the profession's failure to address realistically the nature, role, importance, and uniqueness of smaller archives.

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Smaller Archives and Professional Development: Some New York Stories

The American Bible Society's founders conceived the organization in 1816 as a traditional missionary moral reform agency. By the mid-nineteenth century, the ABS more closely resembled a modern national nonprofit corporate bureaucracy. Important changes in institutional recordkeeping accompanied and reinforced this change in mission. Increasingly, ABS field agents and employees were discouraged from presenting rich narrative reports, and were required to quantify their work into narrow statistical compilations. Recordkeeping case studies, sensitive to the broader process of institutionalization, can contribute to bureaucratization theory, expose institutional power relationships, and help archivists better appraise the informational value and limitations of their collections.

Peter Wosh

Papers

Research and Reality Checks: Change and Continuity in NYU's Archival Management Program

Smaller Archives and Professional Development: Some New York Stories

Bibles, benevolence, and bureaucracy: the changing nature of nineteenth century religious records