Fragments or Components: Theme Collections in a Local Setting
TL;DR: The experience of the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) and its Cleveland Regional Ethnic Archives Program (CERAP) is described in this paper, where the authors describe how the society's collecting policy was defined and examine the evolution of collecting practice within the bounds of that policy.
Abstract: Archives and manuscript repositories need to determine and enforce realistic collecting policies in order to create cohesive collections for research use and keep the size of their holdings within reasonable bounds, but this is difficult to accomplish because of constituency pressures and the impulse to compete with other institutions. The experience of an old and important regional repository, the Western Reserve Historical Society, particularly its Cleveland Regional Ethnic Archives Program begun in 1971, is the central focus of this article. The author describes how the society's collecting policy was defined and examines the evolution of collecting practice within the bounds of that policy. The successful implementation of the original policy has depended especially on three factors: good working relations with ethnic group leaders, selectivity within the scope of the policy, and cooperation among repositories.
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19 Dec 2019
TL;DR: In this article, the importance of some document types, such as wills or letters of partition, not only to collect information about the individuals concerned, but also to record the transmission of several assets throughout the generations.
Abstract: For the Middle Ages, before the constitution of private archives of manor houses — which occurs, for the most important part, during the fifteenth century — researchers of family history have to resort, in addition to the royal funds, mainly to monastics funds. It was in these that the diplomas concerning the members of the founding or protective families of the different monasteries were kept. I intend, therefore, through the analysis of a few examples, to highlight the importance of some document types, such as wills or letters of partition, not only to collect information about the individuals concerned, but also to record the transmission of several assets throughout the generations.
63 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present Whose History is it Anyway? Journal of the Society of Archivists: Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 213-229.
Abstract: (2001). Whose History is it Anyway? Journal of the Society of Archivists: Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 213-229.
28 citations
TL;DR: The authors traces the representations of ethnicity and immigration in mainstream American and Canadian archives since the 1950s and identifies three main periods of evolution of these ethnic archives: the era prior to the civil rights movement, the 1960-1980s and the 1990s and beyond.
Abstract: This article traces the representations of ethnicity and immigration in mainstream American and Canadian archives since the 1950s. It identifies three main periods of evolution of these ethnic archives: the era prior to the civil rights movement, the 1960–1980s and the 1990s and beyond. Relying on an understanding of archival collections as social constructions anchored in specific historical contexts, the article considers the various political, economic, social and technological factors that affected ethnic archives over time, especially as they relate to changing scholarly and popular conceptions of ethnicity in North America. It pays particular attention to the impact of historical scholarship in fields related to immigration and ethnicity and of postmodernist archival theories that challenge the traditional view of archives as evidence of the past. It suggests that the relationship between ethnic archives and their historical context is dialectical: not only are they affected by the context in which they are developed and managed, but they also have an impact on that context as they favor certain conceptions of ethnicity and types of ethnic groups at the expense of others. Both curators and users of archival materials should therefore pay closer attention to the history of the processes that went into the construction of these archives to avoid falling victims to the illusion of ethnic authenticity.
15 citations
TL;DR: The authors surveys the development of collections of foreign-language ethnic newspapers in American libraries and archives since the 1960s, based on a review of historical and media studies scholastic studies.
11 citations
Cites background or methods from "Fragments or Components: Theme Coll..."
...Thus, Augustana College, a Swedish American college, collected the Swedish American press, and Finlandia University (formerly Suomi College) amassed about 175 Finnish American newspapers (Finlandia University, n.d.; Grabowski, 1985b; Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center, 2016)....
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...The Case Western Reserve Historical Society, which had been acquiring local printed sources, including the foreign-language press, developed the Cleveland Regional Ethnic Archives program in 1971 (Grabowski, 1985a, p. 308)....
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...The Cleveland Public Library capitalized on its earlier collecting efforts and launched an active collecting program (Grabowski, 1985b, p. 4)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the ambivalent nature of the relationships between informal archives organisations representing diasporic communities and more formal archives institutions within the professional context of increased emphasis on agendas of "inclusion", emanating from both government and professional bodies is explored, and are seen to stem from a perceived absence and misrepresentation of diaspora communities on the part of formal heritage organisations.
Abstract: This paper concerns the ambivalent nature of the relationships between informal archives organisations representing diasporic communities and more formal archives institutions within the professional context of increased emphasis on agendas of ‘inclusion’, emanating from both government and professional bodies. The reasons for this ambivalent attitude to ‘inclusion’ are explored, and are seen to stem from a perceived absence and misrepresentation of diasporic communities on the part of formal heritage organisations. Strategies and patterns of resistance to assimilation are centred around the use of archives to control discourse, and through the use of the archive as a symbol or symbolic space. This resistance is shown to be viable, workable and located within grounded practice.
9 citations