Starting an Archives Book Review
Elizabeth Yakel’s Starting an Archives is an entry level book on how one should go about starting an archival program within an institution. Yakel begins her work by noting that the term archive can denote the official noncurrent records of an institution, the agency that preserves such records, or the building in which such records are housed. Yakel distinguishes between archives and manuscripts by pointing out that manuscripts can refer to an individual’s papers, a collection of items put together by a person or persons, or individual items obtained because of some special significance. In short, an archive is produced by an institution and a manuscript is produced by a person.
An institution that starts an archive has crucial decisions to make about the institutional commitment, archival staff, and archival facilities. The institution has to decide if it wants to commit the time, money, and resources to starting such a program. The benefits are great in terms of preservation, but they can be expensive. Some institutions may let an outside agency care for their records. If an institution decides to start an archive, the administration should give the archive authority over records and place it as an independent wing within the institution, probably under a vice president. It must also commit to funding such things as staff compensation, a supply budget, and education. The selection of archival staff should be limited to persons who are active workers that are interested in preserving records. The archives is not just a place to send older workers so they can retire. The people who work within archives should immerse themselves in archival culture. Finally, an archives must be willing to invest what can be a substantial amount of money to the upkeep of a building in which to house the archive.
Yakel contends that several documents are necessary to the formation of an archive. First, the archive needs a statement of authority, that delineates where the archive falls within the hierarchy of the institution. The archive also needs a mission statement that describes what the archive documents, how the program was initiated, what materials it collects, and what groups it serves. Additionally, the archive needs a document that sets forth the plans and priorities of the archive for both the long and short terms. Finally, the archive needs to have an annual report, a collection development policy, a description of positions, a budget, and an advisory board.
Yakel provides an in depth look at what elements should be included in a collection development policy. She contends that one of the first things that an archive needs to do is survey their records to see exactly what materials comprise the materials. This process informs both the mission and the collection development policy of the institution. Archivists should also make a practice of appraising records within their institiution in order to determine which records are of enduring value. Likewise, archivists should maintain intellectual control over their materials via paperwork. Their should be a clear paper trail from the time of accessioning all the way through the life of the materials until, if necessary, deaccessioning. This paper trail includes an accession record, a deed of gift or transfer form, and a deaccession list.
Yakel’s chapter on arrangement and description defines several useful concepts. Provenance is the concept that records from one creator should not be mixed with those of another. Record Groups are records that are arranged together and related because of provenance. A series is a division of similarly organized materials created by the creator of the records. All arrangement of records is to take place with these concepts, as well as the idea of original order, in mind. Yakel contends there are five levels of arrangement: repository, record group, series, file unit, and item. One essential feature of records description is the finding aid. Yakel says this is comprised, at minimum, of two parts: a orientating narrative section, and a file or container list.
