Course:ARST573/Museum Archives

The National Gallery Archives contains records of the Gallery's activities from its foundation in 1824 to the present day (Photo credit to User:James F.)

A museum archives is a repository within a museum which houses records of historical value to the museum. These records have either been generated by the museum itself, or acquired by the museum because they represent valuable historical evidence. Materials held by the repository are important, permanent archival records that act as a resource for both the current administration of the museum itself, as well as for researchers seeking primary sources to aid their research.

Beginning in the 1980s, museums began to recognize the value in adding an archival program to their institutions, and the museum archives movement has continued to develop from there, although not without its challenges. Ensuring that museums understand the role, value and purpose of an archival program "requires the skill and balance of a high-wire circus performer." One must walk the fine line between oversimplifying the job of archivists and making them sound like file clerks, and complicating the role of archivist by overwhelming the museum staff with the complexities of the job. The unique situation of an archives being housed within the museum context, the relationship between curators and archivists, access and security restrictions, funding problems and the overlap between the archival record and museum object have all intertwined to make museum archives a very complex entity.

History and Development

Early Beginnings

Although museums employed archivists as early as the 1890s, when The Smithsonian Institution hired its first archivist, it was not until the 1970s that museums began to look at formally introducing archival programs in their institutions. In the mid 1970s, museums began committing to the preservation of their own records for internal use as well as outside research. In the first published article about museum archives, Claudia Hommel stated that "the concept of an archives within a museum is like a double self-examination, a painter painting himself painting, or a collector collecting the memoirs of another collector." This self examination would often arise when a museum approached a commemorative year, such as a centennial, or needed to commemorate an event that happened as part of its past through the use of some form of official museum records.

December 1979 is often cited as the starting point of the formalized museum archives movement. Arthur Breton, of the Archives of American Art, organized a meeting between archivists and librarians from established repositories in both the United States and Canada in order to create "an organized effort to promote and support museum archives." The result from the conference was the development of Museum Archives Guidelines, in order to assist both independent museums, as well as those placed within the context of a larger institution, with the establishment, development and administration of museum archives. The late 1970s also saw the creation of a Museum Archives Task Force, which worked with museums to educate administrators and other staff about the advantages of an archival program.

The growth of the museum archives movement hit its peak in the 1980s, as a 1985 survey of archival repositories indicated that the greatest increase in archival repositories within the context of larger institutions occurred in museums. The success in the 1980s can be attributed to two factors. Firstly, there was frequent cooperation between museum archives programs and professional organizations, which allowed the movement to gain momentum and gain recognition by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). Secondly, in 1987, the AAM approved the inclusion of questions regarding museum record-keeping practices on a self-study for institutions looking to become AAM certified. In these ways, museums were showing a growing interest in establishing functional museum archives programs.

Current State

Literature on archival programs in museums in the 1990s and 2000s is scarce. From a simple search to locate museums that have archival programs, it is apparent that museum archives have continued the growth seen in the 1980s and early 1990s, and that the value of a museum archives program is acknowledged by the institution itself. Where funding may always be a struggle, archivists and curators should work together to ensure that available resources are allocated to the archival program, even if it is just the bare minimum. The Society of American Archivists Guidelines have been updated as late as 2003, and the popularity of museums continues to grow. In the United States, there are over 850 million visits to museum per year, which is more than sporting events and theme parks combined. As long as the popularity of museums remains high, the value and necessity of archival programs within those museums will be supported.

Museum Context

An archival program within an institution is going to be shaped by the mission of that institution, therefore the museum environment will have an effect on the operations of the museum archives. There are two main functions a museum performs, those relating to its curatorial duties, and those relating to its administrative duties. Curatorial functions are at the core of the museum's mandate, and include the selection and acquisition of museum objects, which are then preserved, interpreted, and presented to the public. Administrative functions of the museum include the day-to-day operations of running an institution, and are not necessarily unique to museums, as the curatorial function is. Both curatorial functions and administrative functions generate data, and in turn, generate records, which are then preserved and maintained by museum professionals in either a formal or informal archival program.

A complex variety of records are produced by museums and their functions. Among the records produced, collections-based records have a “special place” among the institutional records, as the museum objects, and records containing information about those objects, are the most important of all records collected, for both museum staff and researchers. Records pertaining to conservation efforts, special projects and programs, and development and outreach are also produced. The inclusion of a museum archives to house all the records which are deemed to have long-term value does a significant amount to support the museum’s mission to collect and interpret objects, and having an archival system which understands the special situation of a museum archives, is vital to the success of an archival program within a museum.

Archival programs must, in a museum setting, have an understanding of not only the mandate of their own institution, but an understanding of museums' goals and purposes on a much more general level as well. Museums are not static entities whose missions and functions remain unchanged throughout their existence. Increasingly, museums have shifted focus towards educational objectives and audience development, rather than simply care for and preservation of unique museum objects. As archival programs are part of museums themselves, they must "succeed in understanding and capturing the nature of this change," to provide an accurate representation of the museum history.

The key role a museum archives program should be to assist in preservation and promotion of the museum's "institutional culture." Institutional culture can be understood to mean characteristics that make a museum unique historically and create a "fascinating personality" that apparent both in the development of the museum, and in the current activities and mandate of the institution. The wealth of knowledge located in a museum archives contributes to a sense of museum identity and community, and this knowledge can be used by museum personnel and board of trustees members to incorporate past "traditions, institutional heroes, and common values associated with a specific museum" into the daily managing of museum affairs.

Museum Archives Guidelines and Standards

In 2003, the Society of American Archivists (SAA) developed a set of Museum Archives Guidelines, in order to help both existing and new museums implement successful archival programs. The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) suggests to its members that the Society of American Archivists Guidelines should be consulted as a standard that is relevant to museum operations, and the AAM encourages its members to abide by these guidelines.

The SAA guidelines includes 11 sub-sections, each relating archival standards to a museum context. Definitions and Scope outlines the potential records that may be held by the repository within a museum, such as organizational records, collections records and acquired materials. Mission Statement concludes that the archival program should support the larger mission statement of the museum institution, and be sure to include and outline what the archivist's role in the institution is. Status of the Archives and Professional Archivist suggest that, where possible, the archives should be its own department under the institution, and that a professionally trained archivist should be on staff. Sections five through eight suggest how museum records and personal papers should be organized, how to outline an acquisition policy and what it should include, what criteria to follow regarding retention, and the possible inclusion of a records management program within the archives department. Storage of archival materials, a brief guide to processing, arranging and describing materials, as well as how to control access to the records are addressed in the final three sections of the guidelines.

For the entire Museum Archives Guidelines document, see The SAA Museum Archives Guidelines

Challenges

The relationship between a museum and archival program can lend itself to some challenges. Four major challenges faced by a museum archives program are the relationship between the curator and archivist, problems with access to and security of museum archives, the lack of funding available to museums overall, and therefore to establishing or maintaining archival programs, and finally, the challenges surrounding what falls under the category of museum object and what falls under the category of archival record, especially with regard to photographs.

Curators and Archivists

Fundamental differences between the professions of curator and archivist can sometimes cause strain on their relationship. It is vital for the curator and archivist to find common ground, built upon the foundation of a strong museum administration, and focusing on similarities while arbitrating differences. In order to avoid the loss of critical museum-related information, museum professionals must ensure that the curator and archivist work hand in hand to administer the museum archives, as although both may interpret information as something different, they both can recognize its long-term value.

With separate professional training, the job-specific language that both of these professionals have come to learn often does not correspond with that of their co-worker, therefore creating a sometimes strenuous relationship. Curators, for example, catalogue and collect in a manner that does not reflect the way that archivists process, arrange and describe. In the same way, curators may appreciate the information in an archival record that came with a museum object, but they may not recognize its long-term historical value, or its relationship with the archival records in a donated collection of materials. Archivists will recognize the value in the museum object, but also see a similar value in the archival records donated along with the object, and therefore make attempts to preserve the records, which could restrict access in the name of preservation, and frustrate those museum staff members who use records pertaining to museum objects on a daily basis. The role of the archivist is to organize and describe materials by placing emphasis on context, and keeping large groups of archival materials together in their original order wherever possible. Curators are much more singular in their approach to museum holdings, and collect and catalogue museum objects on an individual basis.

Creating a harmonious relationship is not impossible. At the University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology, the relationship between curators and archivists is a strong one, that is built on mutual understanding of the importance of each other's role, especially an understanding by the curators of the value held by the primary sources in the archives. The museum and archives work together and support each other, with the archives providing materials such as photographs and contextual information for special exhibitions put on by the museum, and the museum providing the archival program with valuable historical materials when time comes for permanent preservation.

Access and Security

The majority of access given by museums to their archival records is done via appointment or through an online database. The museums researched for Museum Archives in Action, in addition to several other whose websites were consulted, provided access to their archival holdings through appointments during set hours of the day, and set days of the week. Although not stated on the museum's websites, or through any formal research, it can be inferred that this is for two main reasons: lack of staff to handle access requests and allowing free access to the records in a museum which may charge an entrance fee. The archivist on staff at UBC's Museum of Anthropology is only available three days per week, on an appointment only basis, due in large part because of a lack of funding to provide staff to cover access requests throughout the week, therefore access to records is limited. Archival collections are, generally speaking, available to the public free of charge, for their interest and research. As museum archives are placed within the walls of the museum itself, an entrance fee is often charged to patrons in order to explore the museum collections. This is not always the case, however, as many large museums, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Library and Museum, do not charge entrance fees. The challenge of access is all but eliminated when research of the archives is organized by appointment only, because the museum will keep record of these appointments, and allow entry into the archives without having to pay a fee.

Regarding security, many archival programs in museums approach the situation in the same way as archival institutions that exist outside the boundaries of museums. The reading room at the Audrey and Harry Hawthorn Library and Archives at MOA is situated in a way that allows the archivist to supervise the use of archival materials in order to ensure their safe-handling and security. The storage area that holds the archival records should be off-limits to visitors to the archives, and be located far enough away from the reading room to ensure its security. As museums often acquire loans from cultural institutions, including libraries and other museums, it is especially important to ensure the safekeeping of the records that accompany the loaned object, as well as the object itself.

For further information regarding the security of museums and archives, see Security in Museums, Archives and Libraries: A Practical Guide.

Funding

The struggle to find funding in order to establish and maintain museum archives within a cultural institution is one of the largest challenges facing the museum archives movement. Differences between where and how museums receive funding is diverse, and relative to each museum, however in North America, with over 20,000 museums, is would not be inaccurate to suggest that the majority of them are not for profit, and require a significant amount of support financially. In the United States, museums "keep their operations going by cobbling together a mosaic of funding sources" including funding provided through four main revenue streams: government grants, private donation, earned revenue and investment income. In Canada, the story is much the same, with museum grants being provided by the government through the Museums Assistance Program (MAP) as well as private donors, earned income and investments. In a 2008 study of museums in the United States, on average, only 24% of the total operating budget of a museum or cultural institution was covered by government grants and assistance, leaving 76% of total costs to be covered by private means, income from entrance fees or investments. The museum's ability to cover this funding shortfall is extremely relative, and dependent upon the popularity of the museum, size of the museum, and geographic location.

It would benefit museum archives programs to ensure that their function within a museum is viewed as a primary, not secondary, function of the institution itself, as one of the key reasons funding is provided is to foster and facilitate "professional knowledge, skills and practices related to key museum functions." Archivists need to make themselves “less dispensable,” and illustrate to the museum directors that the archives serve a much greater purpose than simply housing administrative records. In order to do this, archivists should work together with museum staff, directors and administrators in order to provide ideas and documentation which will assist the museum with membership and development programs, as well as endowment and fundraising campaigns..

The future of museum funding, and therefore archival program funding, is not all doom and gloom, however. In a 2010 survey of American Museums, nearly 66% of museums were suffering from "moderate to severe financial stress." In 2012, the same survey was done and showed that the number of museums suffering from more than light financial stress had dropped from 66% to just over 50%. While this number is still significant, it does show progress, and does illustrate that museums, and therefore museum archives, are finding creative ways to seek out funding for their valuable institutions.

Archival Records and Museum Objects

The distinction between an archival record and a museum object is a topic that has not been explored in depth by any specific scholar, however the idea that archival records and museum objects have multiple purposes within a museum is frequently acknowledged. Should all records generated by the museum be housed within the archival repository? Or can exceptions be made with regard to valuable records that are still active? Are photographs held by the archival repository also museum objects? These are the two main areas where the multipurpose aspect of records and objects comes into play; object and/or accession files and photographs.

Records generated by museums are as important as the objects within a museum, because they act as historical evidence for activities carried out by museum staff, as well as donors and researchers. Accession files or object files are those which detail initial contact between the museum staff and the donor or vendor, correspondence regarding negotiations about the object, provenance and background information, and various financial documents. Many museums choose to house these records, records that are the most important to the museum collections, in the curatorial department, in a registrar's office, or in a cataloging department, and may not be included in the archival repository. This is largely due to the fact that accession files, while undoubtedly valuable to the museum, are considered active administrative records. Daily access to these files are necessary to carry out curatorial, conservation and registration functions, however the contextual information they contain is extremely valuable for research beyond just the immediate study of the museum object. Archivists, therefore, may believe that it would be important to house these records in a more secure location for security purposes, and restrict daily access to them in order to better preserve their valuable information.

Photographs are perhaps the most contentious object housed within a museum that could be seen as part of both the museum collection and the archival collection. Photographic collections can be categorized in three different ways, with the third category being where a distinction between museum object and archival record becomes difficult. Firstly, they can be seen as repositories for the museum's collection of photographs, and therefore they are storage facilities rather than the custodians of the photographs themselves. As a second option, photographs within the archives can be regarded as collections of images which fall under the museum's collection mandate, but belong to private or public archival holdings within the museum's archives, and therefore the archives is the custodian of the photographs. The third category, and the metaphorical grey area is that of original photographic collections "of documentary nature, which have been commissioned, actively acquired, or received as donations," where the "line separating archives from museums' fine arts photographic collections may become blurred." These collections belong to both the museum as an institution, but are in the custodial possession of the archives, and therefore it is difficult to establish whether a photograph is a museum object or an archival record.

Although a challenge, this discrepancy between museum object and archival record should not be regarded as a negative aspect of a museum archives program. Collaboration and co-operation between the archivist and curator can lead to a appreciation of this challenge, as it represents the diverse collection of photographs within a museum, available to both the archives and museum. At the Audrey and Harry Hawthorn Library and Archives, photographic collections in the possession of the archives, and belonging to both the museum and archival program are utilized in order to support the museum exhibits when necessary, while remaining in the safekeeping of the archives when they are not needed.

Museum Archives in Action

With well over 55,000 museums in the world, in 202 different countries, the museum archives movement has the potential to grow into a large component of museum institutions. The Audrey and Harry Hawthorn Library and Archives at the University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology (MOA), The Smithsonian Institution Archives and the Victoria and Albert Museum Archives are examples of the diversity of museum archives.

The Museum of Anthropology: Audrey and Harry Hawthorn Library and Archives

The University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology (Photo credit to User:Buchanan-Hermit)

In January of 2010, The Audrey and Harry Hawthorn Library and Archives (AHHLA) was established as part of the newly renovated and expanded Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. The AHHLA brings together three information professionals in one setting: an archivist, a research manager and an information manager under the Centre for Cultural Research within MOA. The mission of the AHHLA is to “preserve the history of the Museum of Anthropology, maintain records that provide contexts for the Museum’s artifacts, and to ensure that these records are safeguarded for future generations.”

The Archives serves the interests of the museum staff, the University of British Columbia community, as well as potential researchers as part of the general public. The repository holds a wide variety of records relating in many ways, shapes and forms to the Museum of Anthropology, including staff and administrative records, the records generated by the museum, records acquired from private donors, and records that have significant contextual relevance to the museum objects within the collection. As an example, AHHLA acquires travel diaries of "western" artists who interact with different cultures during their travels. A project is currently underway at the AHHLA which involves the digitization of a collection of Northwest Coast photographs in order to foster and improve access to these photographs. While these records may not relate directly to museum objects, they provide contextualization for the development of the artist as a person, and their interactions with those who may have inspired their art pieces.Access is granted to researchers three days a week, and the AHHLA advises that those who wish to use the archives contact and schedule an appointment in advance.

The Smithsonian Institution Archives

Aerial View of The Smithsonian Institute Quadrangle

The Smithsonian Institution Archives has had a place within the Smithsonian since the hiring of the first "keeper of the archives," William Jones Rhees. in 1890, however the first Smithsonian Secretary, Joseph Henry, recognized the importance of preserving records of the Smithsonian since its inception in 1846. The mission statement of the Smithsonian Archives is as follows:

The Smithsonian Institution Archives serves as the institutional memory of a unique cultural organization. The Archives’ mission is to document the goals and activities of the whole Smithsonian in its pursuit of increasing and diffusing knowledge, and exciting learning in everyone. The Archives is also responsible for ensuring institutional accountability, and for enhancing access to the rich and diverse resources in its care.

The Smithsonian Institution Archives holds records relating to the collections held by the Smithsonian Institute, as well as records created by Institution staff as a part of their formal records management program. There are four main programs that are part of the Archives department: The Archives Reference Team and Archives Information Team, Collections Care, Digital Services and Institutional History.

The Reference Team and Archives Information Team provide reference services to those requesting archival records for research purposes. The Archives Information Team also travels to Smithsonian Institution museums and research centres in order to appraise and determine which records have enduring archival value, and will therefore be transferred into permanent preservation. The Collections Care program consists of preservationists who work to conserve and preserve paper records, photographs and audio-visual records held in the Smithsonian repositories. The Collections Care program is also responsible for monitoring environmental controls. The Digital Services program focuses largely on electronic records and their preservation, as well as the use of technologies such as the web to digitize collections and increase access to traditional analog records. The Institutional History program consists largely of historians, whose job it is to "research the history of the Smithsonian for internal and external purposes." In particular, historical research focuses on the development of science, technology, art and culture, and is done to bolster public programming, publications and museum exhibitions. Historians also take part in the documenting of the history of the institution through the production of oral and video histories.

The Victoria and Albert Museum Archives

The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

The Victoria and Albert Museum (The V&A) was established in 1852, and houses one of the world's greatest collections of art and design, spanning over 3000 years of human history with holdings "unrivaled in their scope and diversity." The V&A Archives are divided into four separate components: The Archive of Art and Design, The Beatrix Potter Collections, The V&A Archive and the Theatre and Performance Archives.

The V&A Archive holds the records of the institution and provides historical, and therefore contextual information regarding the museum's millions of objects, correspondence with prominent donors and collectors, archival records specific to building of the museum, and specific departmental records such as those of the former circulation department.

The three other archives housed by the Victoria and Albert Museum are not directly related to the museum's administration or the collections, but each has a strong connection with the V&A mandate of being "the world's leading museum of art and design. To enrich people's lives and inspire individuals and everyone in the creative industries, through the promotion of knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of the designed world.".

The Archive of Art and Design is most closely linked to the mission statement of the V&A, as it strives to acquire and preserve the records of companies, associations and individuals involved in the design process of art pieces. Its focus rests largely on British 20th and 21st century design, including subject matter such as architecture, interior design, fashion and furniture design.

The Beatrix Potter Collections consist of archival records which reflect the life of Beatrix Potter, a world-renowned children's author from London. The collections include drawings, literary manuscripts, correspondence, photographs and other related materials. The V&A's interest in the Potter Collections lies with a personal connection between Beatrix Potter and the V&A. Potter spent much of her childhood and young adulthood visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum to "study and copy prints and drawings, and...costumes – her illustrations of the mayor's wedding outfit in The Tailor of Gloucester (1903) are exact copies of 18th-century clothes in the museum's collection."

The V&A Theatre and Performance Archives holds archival records pertaining to performing arts companies, performers, stage designers and private collections, and contain a wide variety of materials, including diaries, correspondence, manuscripts, photographs and ephemera. For further information regarding theatre and performing arts archives in general, see Performing Arts Archives

External Links

The American Alliance of Museums

Canadian Heritage

Institute of Museums and Libraries

The Society of American Archivists