Understanding Archives and Manuscripts Book Review

• O’Toole, James M. Understanding Archives and Manuscripts, Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1990.

James O'Toole's Understanding Archives and Manuscripts is a helpful guide to understanding basic information about the history and development of the science of archives. O'Toole contends that knowing how records came to be, what functions they document, what information they contain, and how that information can be used is fundamental to understanding archives and manuscripts. In the first chapter, O'Toole discusses how record making developed from oral transmission used by the earliest preliterate people to the modern proliferation of texts in literate societies through various means. He notes that the shift from oral transmission to written texts produced more precision, more permanent records, and more progress, especially when writing became a widely used form of communication. As literacy increased in society, so did the proliferation of records, which in turn meant that society began to value whole sets of records more than the individual parts.

O'Toole points out that there are six basic reasons for the creation of records: personal, social, economic, legal, instrumental, and symbolic. People save records for both practical and ephemeral reasons. Records archived for practical reasons can be saved either for their priginal intended use or some unknown secondary purpose. O'Toole then traces the development of various instruments that have been used to record information. He notes that sometimes progress in the means of communication results in more information being recorded (ie. printing press), and sometimes it means less (ie. telephone). He concludes the chapter by pointing out that modern records are abundant, decentralized, interrelated, social, have value as a whole, and have shifiting usefulness.

In the second chapter, O'Toole recounts the development of archives, particularly in America, and he notes that archival science is a growing discipline in America. He discusses the fact that ancient civilizations used the word archives to refer to any written records. Modern archival practices really began during the French Revolution when records began to be kept to protect the rights of the people.

O'Toole notes that public records were important in America from the time of the establishment of Jamestown. In the late 18th century, there also developed a historical manuscript tradition that began with the work of the Massachusetts Historical Society, which was established in 1791. This tradition focused on gathering, saving, preserving, and publishing historical manuscripts to ensure continued access to them. During the 19th century, the focus on the historical manuscript tradition in the US far outweighed the focus on the public records tradition. This trend began to change shortly before the beginning of the 20th century with the establishment of the Public Archives Commission of the American Historical Association. The 1930s brought several developments for archives including the building of the National Archives, the formation of the Society of American Archivists, and the Historical Records Survey of the Works Progress Administration. In the decades that followed, archival science went through a period of diversification of interests (ie. records management) and of consolidation of professional identity (various types of standardization).

The final two chapters describe the work of archivists and thee types of knowledge and values that archivists need to possess. Archivists should develop knowledge about the creators of the records with which they work. They should understand how records are created, how they are used, and the types of activities they document. In addition to all these, they should understand basic archival principles such as provenance and original order, and they should have a working knowledge of how to take intellectual and physical control of records for which they are responsible.

Understanding Archives and Manuscripts is an extremely helpful guide to the archival profession. O'Toole explains both the history and concepts behind archival science in simple language. He also provides a basic bibliography of archival texts as an appendix. I would, without reservation, place this text in the hands of a student worker who was considering a career in archives. In fact, I may do just that tomorrow.