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Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

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[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Glossary, Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria,'' issue 66 (Fall 2008): 98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 10.</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson 1980 Wilson Report] offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report, 1980'', ''Archivaria,'' issue 11 (Winter 1980-81), 15.</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship. While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Laura Millar, "The Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time," ''Archivaria,'' issue 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15.</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>Muller, Samuel, Johann Adrian Feith, and Robert Fruin, "The Arrangement of Archival Documents," in ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', 2nd ed., trans. Arthur H. Leavitt (Chicago: Chicago, Society of American Archivists, 2003), 60.</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Doug Rimmer, "Preface: Archives and the Canadian Narrative," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Stories in a Changing Landscape'', ed. Kathleen Garay and Christl Verduyn (Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011), 21.</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref>Frank Upward and Sue McKemmish, "Somewhere Beyond Custody," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 22, No. 1 (May 1994): 138, 147.</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Terry Cook, "Electronic Records, Paper Minds: The Revolution in Information Management and Archives in the Post-custodial and Post-Modernist Era," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 22, No. 2 (November 1994): 314.</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>See for example the conversation between Gerald Ham and Randall Jimerson. Gerald F. Ham, "The Archival Edge," ''American Archivist'', issue 38 (January 1975): 5-13; Randall Jimerson, "Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice," ''The American Archivist'', issue 70 (Fall/Winter 2007): 252-281.</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Graeme Wynn, "Foreword," in ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau'', William Turkel (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007), ''x''.</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 9.</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref>"Collection," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/.</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref>"Conservation of Vegetation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/; "Master Plan for Preservation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/.</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>"About the Nelson Mandela Foundation," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>2014 Annual Report accessed April 2015 via: https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf.</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>"What we Do," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory.</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>"Personal Papers," Glossary, The Society of American Archivists, accessed April 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Alison Rowley, ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013), 7.</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving. These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Lois H. Silverman, "Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age," ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, issue 3 (September 1995): 161.</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161.</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Elizabeth Keenan and Lisa Darms, "Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection," ''Archivaria,'' issue 76 (Fall 2013): 57.</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61.</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57.</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162.</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>"Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes," École architecture, accessed April 2015, https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN.</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Tania Martin, "Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal," ''Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture'', Vol. 7 (1997): 212-229.</ref> She applies this analysis to the former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse, located in downtown Montreal. The layout of the Motherhouse, such as how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215.</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Noah Richler, "Stories, Buildings, and Maps," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada'', 27.</ref> Echoing the perspective of Martin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, "Stories, Buildings, and Maps," 27.</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Julie Cruikshank, ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination'' (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005), 3.</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic devices. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3.</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. It can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred].</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region is that it can be understood as a “repository”<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''xvii''.</ref> as he puts forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>William Turkel, The Archive of Place, ''xxiv''.</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Kent M. Haworth, "Local Archives: Responsibilities and Challenges for Archivists," ''Archivaria,'' issue 3 (Winter 1976-77): 33.</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is closely connected to the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material may be tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Richard Handler, "Who Owns the Past? History, Cultural Property, and the Logic of Possessive Individualism," in ''The Politics of Culture'', ed. Bret Williams (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), 67.</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives and determining where material will or ought to be kept shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Laura Millar, "Discharging our Debt: The Evolution of the Total Archives Concept in English Canada," ''Archivaria,'' issue 76 (Fall 1998): 120-123.</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Robin G. Keirstead, "J.S. Matthews and an Archives for Vancouver, 1951-1972," ''Archivaria,'' issue 23 (Winter 1986-87): 92.</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90.</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105.</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Terry Eastwood, "Attempts at National Planning for Archives in Canada, 1975-1985," ''The Public Historian'', Vol. 8, No. 3 Archives and Public History: Issues, Problems, and Prospects (Summer 1986): 81.</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81.</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in Montreal. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>"Denis Lessard: Archives Processing Room," Centre des arts actuals Skol, accessed April 2015, http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/.</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>Denis Lessard, "The Art of the Possible: Processing an Artist-Run Center's Archives," session 4 from ''Artists Records in the Archives: Symposium Proceedings'', October 2011, accessed April 2015, http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>.

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007): 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria,'' issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing,'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria,'' issue 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 

[[Course:ARST573/Australian_Archives|Australian Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Southeast_Asia|Archives in Southeast Asia]] 

[[Course:ARST573/Museum_Archives|Museum Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T05:32:16Z

AmySpooner: /* Related Pages */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Glossary, Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria,'' issue 66 (Fall 2008): 98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 10.</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson 1980 Wilson Report] offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report, 1980'', ''Archivaria,'' issue 11 (Winter 1980-81), 15.</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship. While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Laura Millar, "The Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time," ''Archivaria,'' issue 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15.</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>Muller, Samuel, Johann Adrian Feith, and Robert Fruin, "The Arrangement of Archival Documents," in ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', 2nd ed., trans. Arthur H. Leavitt (Chicago: Chicago, Society of American Archivists, 2003), 60.</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Doug Rimmer, "Preface: Archives and the Canadian Narrative," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Stories in a Changing Landscape'', ed. Kathleen Garay and Christl Verduyn (Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011), 21.</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref>Frank Upward and Sue McKemmish, "Somewhere Beyond Custody," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 22, No. 1 (May 1994): 138, 147.</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Terry Cook, "Electronic Records, Paper Minds: The Revolution in Information Management and Archives in the Post-custodial and Post-Modernist Era," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 22, No. 2 (November 1994): 314.</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>See for example the conversation between Gerald Ham and Randall Jimerson. Gerald F. Ham, "The Archival Edge," ''American Archivist'', issue 38 (January 1975): 5-13; Randall Jimerson, "Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice," ''The American Archivist'', issue 70 (Fall/Winter 2007): 252-281.</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Graeme Wynn, "Foreword," in ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau'', William Turkel (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007), ''x''.</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 9.</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref>"Collection," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/.</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref>"Conservation of Vegetation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/; "Master Plan for Preservation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/.</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>"About the Nelson Mandela Foundation," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>2014 Annual Report accessed April 2015 via: https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf.</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>"What we Do," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory.</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>"Personal Papers," Glossary, The Society of American Archivists, accessed April 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Alison Rowley, ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013), 7.</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving. These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Lois H. Silverman, "Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age," ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, issue 3 (September 1995): 161.</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161.</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Elizabeth Keenan and Lisa Darms, "Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection," ''Archivaria,'' issue 76 (Fall 2013): 57.</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61.</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57.</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162.</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>"Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes," École architecture, accessed April 2015, https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN.</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Tania Martin, "Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal," ''Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture'', Vol. 7 (1997): 212-229.</ref> She applies this analysis to the former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse, located in downtown Montreal. The layout of the Motherhouse, such as how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215.</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Noah Richler, "Stories, Buildings, and Maps," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada'', 27.</ref> Echoing the perspective of Martin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, "Stories, Buildings, and Maps," 27.</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Julie Cruikshank, ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination'' (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005), 3.</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic devices. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3.</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. It can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred].</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region is that it can be understood as a “repository”<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''xvii''.</ref> as he puts forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>William Turkel, The Archive of Place, ''xxiv''.</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Kent M. Haworth, "Local Archives: Responsibilities and Challenges for Archivists," ''Archivaria,'' issue 3 (Winter 1976-77): 33.</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is closely connected to the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material may be tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Richard Handler, "Who Owns the Past? History, Cultural Property, and the Logic of Possessive Individualism," in ''The Politics of Culture'', ed. Bret Williams (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), 67.</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives and determining where material will or ought to be kept shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Laura Millar, "Discharging our Debt: The Evolution of the Total Archives Concept in English Canada," ''Archivaria,'' issue 76 (Fall 1998): 120-123.</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Robin G. Keirstead, "J.S. Matthews and an Archives for Vancouver, 1951-1972," ''Archivaria,'' issue 23 (Winter 1986-87): 92.</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90.</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105.</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Terry Eastwood, "Attempts at National Planning for Archives in Canada, 1975-1985," ''The Public Historian'', Vol. 8, No. 3 Archives and Public History: Issues, Problems, and Prospects (Summer 1986): 81.</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81.</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in Montreal. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>"Denis Lessard: Archives Processing Room," Centre des arts actuals Skol, accessed April 2015, http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/.</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>Denis Lessard, "The Art of the Possible: Processing an Artist-Run Center's Archives," session 4 from ''Artists Records in the Archives: Symposium Proceedings'', October 2011, accessed April 2015, http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>.

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007): 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria,'' issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing,'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria,'' issue 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 

[[Course:ARST573/Australian_Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Southeast_Asia]] 

[[Course:ARST573/Museum_Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T05:17:46Z

AmySpooner:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Glossary, Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria,'' issue 66 (Fall 2008): 98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 10.</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson 1980 Wilson Report] offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report, 1980'', ''Archivaria,'' issue 11 (Winter 1980-81), 15.</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship. While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Laura Millar, "The Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time," ''Archivaria,'' issue 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15.</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>Muller, Samuel, Johann Adrian Feith, and Robert Fruin, "The Arrangement of Archival Documents," in ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', 2nd ed., trans. Arthur H. Leavitt (Chicago: Chicago, Society of American Archivists, 2003), 60.</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Doug Rimmer, "Preface: Archives and the Canadian Narrative," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Stories in a Changing Landscape'', ed. Kathleen Garay and Christl Verduyn (Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011), 21.</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref>Frank Upward and Sue McKemmish, "Somewhere Beyond Custody," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 22, No. 1 (May 1994): 138, 147.</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Terry Cook, "Electronic Records, Paper Minds: The Revolution in Information Management and Archives in the Post-custodial and Post-Modernist Era," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 22, No. 2 (November 1994): 314.</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>See for example the conversation between Gerald Ham and Randall Jimerson. Gerald F. Ham, "The Archival Edge," ''American Archivist'', issue 38 (January 1975): 5-13; Randall Jimerson, "Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice," ''The American Archivist'', issue 70 (Fall/Winter 2007): 252-281.</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Graeme Wynn, "Foreword," in ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau'', William Turkel (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007), ''x''.</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 9.</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref>"Collection," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/.</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref>"Conservation of Vegetation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/; "Master Plan for Preservation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/.</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>"About the Nelson Mandela Foundation," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>2014 Annual Report accessed April 2015 via: https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf.</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>"What we Do," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory.</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>"Personal Papers," Glossary, The Society of American Archivists, accessed April 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Alison Rowley, ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013), 7.</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving. These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Lois H. Silverman, "Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age," ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, issue 3 (September 1995): 161.</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161.</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Elizabeth Keenan and Lisa Darms, "Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection," ''Archivaria,'' issue 76 (Fall 2013): 57.</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61.</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57.</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162.</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>"Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes," École architecture, accessed April 2015, https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN.</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Tania Martin, "Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal," ''Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture'', Vol. 7 (1997): 212-229.</ref> She applies this analysis to the former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse, located in downtown Montreal. The layout of the Motherhouse, such as how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215.</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Noah Richler, "Stories, Buildings, and Maps," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada'', 27.</ref> Echoing the perspective of Martin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, "Stories, Buildings, and Maps," 27.</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Julie Cruikshank, ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination'' (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005), 3.</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic devices. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3.</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. It can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred].</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region is that it can be understood as a “repository”<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''xvii''.</ref> as he puts forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>William Turkel, The Archive of Place, ''xxiv''.</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Kent M. Haworth, "Local Archives: Responsibilities and Challenges for Archivists," ''Archivaria,'' issue 3 (Winter 1976-77): 33.</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is closely connected to the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material may be tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Richard Handler, "Who Owns the Past? History, Cultural Property, and the Logic of Possessive Individualism," in ''The Politics of Culture'', ed. Bret Williams (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), 67.</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives and determining where material will or ought to be kept shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Laura Millar, "Discharging our Debt: The Evolution of the Total Archives Concept in English Canada," ''Archivaria,'' issue 76 (Fall 1998): 120-123.</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Robin G. Keirstead, "J.S. Matthews and an Archives for Vancouver, 1951-1972," ''Archivaria,'' issue 23 (Winter 1986-87): 92.</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90.</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105.</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Terry Eastwood, "Attempts at National Planning for Archives in Canada, 1975-1985," ''The Public Historian'', Vol. 8, No. 3 Archives and Public History: Issues, Problems, and Prospects (Summer 1986): 81.</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81.</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in Montreal. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>"Denis Lessard: Archives Processing Room," Centre des arts actuals Skol, accessed April 2015, http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/.</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>Denis Lessard, "The Art of the Possible: Processing an Artist-Run Center's Archives," session 4 from ''Artists Records in the Archives: Symposium Proceedings'', October 2011, accessed April 2015, http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>.

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007): 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria,'' issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing,'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria,'' issue 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T05:04:38Z

AmySpooner:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 10.</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson 1980 Wilson Report] offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report, 1980'', ''Archivaria'', issue 11 (Winter 1980-81), 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship. While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Laura Millar, "The Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time," ''Archivaria'', issue 53 (Spring 2002):1-15.</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>Muller, Samuel, Johann Adrian Feith, and Robert Fruin, "The Arrangement of Archival Documents," in ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', 2nd ed., trans. Arthur H. Leavitt (Chicago: Chicago, Society of American Archivists, 2003): 60.</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Doug Rimmer, "Preface: Archives and the Canadian Narrative," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Stories in a Changing Landscape'', ed. Kathleen Garay and Christl Verduyn (Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011), 21.</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref>Frank Upward and Sue McKemmish, "Somewhere Beyond Custody," Archives and Manuscripts, Vol. 22, No. 1 (May 1994): 138, 147.</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Terry Cook, "Electronic Records, Paper Minds: The Revolution in Information Management and Archives in the Post-custodial and Post-Modernist Era," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 22, No. 2 (November 1994): 314.</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>See for example the conversation between Geralf Ham and Randall Jimerson. Gerald F. Ham, "The Archival Edge," ''American Archivist'', issue 38 (January 1975): 5-13; Randall Jimerson, "Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice," ''The American Archivist'', issue 70 (Fall/Winter 2007): 252-281.</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Graeme Wynn, "Foreword," in ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau'', William Turkel (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007), ''x''.</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 9.</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref>"Collection," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/.</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref>"Conservation of Vegetation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/; "Master Plan for Preservation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/.</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>"About the Nelson Mandela Foundation," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>2014 Annual Report accessed April 2015 via: https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf.</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>"What we Do," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory.</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>"Personal Papers," Glossary, The Society of American Archivists, accessed April 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Alison Rowley, Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013), 7.</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving. These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Lois H. Silverman, "Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age," ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, issue 3 (September 1995): 161.</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161.</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Elizabeth Keenan and Lisa Darms, "Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection," ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 57.</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61.</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57.</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162.</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>"Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes," École architecture, accessed April 2015, https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN.</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Tania Martin, "Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal,"
Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, Vol. 7 (1997): 212-229.</ref> She applies this analysis to the former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse, located in downtown Montreal. The layout of the Motherhouse, such as how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215.</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Noah Richler, "Stories, Buildings, and Maps," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada'', 27.</ref> Echoing the perspective of Martin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, "Stories, Buildings, and Maps," 27.</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Julie Cruikshank, ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination'' (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005), 3.</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic devices. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3.</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. It can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred].</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region is that it can be understood as a “repository”<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''xvii''.</ref> as he puts forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>William Turkel, The Archive of Place, ''xxiv''.</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Kent M. Haworth, "Local Archives: Responsibilities and Challenges for Archivists," ''Archivaria'', issue 3 (Winter 1976-77): 33.</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is closely connected to the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material may be tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Richard Handler, "Who Owns the Past? History, Cultural Property, and the Logic of Possessive Individualism," in ''The Politics of Culture'', ed. Bret Williams (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), 67.</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives and determining where material will or ought to be kept shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Laura Millar, "Discharging our Debt: The Evolution of the Total Archives Concept in English Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 1998): 120-123.</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Robin G. Keirstead, "J.S. Matthews and an Archives for Vancouver, 1951-1972," ''Archivaria'', issue 23 (Winter 1986-87): 92.</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90.</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105.</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Terry Eastwood, "Attempts at National Planning for Archives in Canada, 1975-1985," ''The Public Historian'', Vol. 8, No. 3 Archives and Public History: Issues, Problems, and Prospects (Summer 1986): 81.</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81.</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in Montreal. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>"Denis Lessard: Archives Processing Room," Centre des arts actuals Skol, accessed April 2015, http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/.</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>Denis Lessard, "The Art of the Possible: Processing an Artist-Run Center's Archives," session 4 from ''Artists Records in the Archives: Symposium Proceedings'', October 2011, accessed April 2015, http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>.

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' issue 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T04:59:44Z

AmySpooner:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 10.</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson 1980 Wilson Report] offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report, 1980'', ''Archivaria'', issue 11 (Winter 1980-81), 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship. While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Laura Millar, "The Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time," ''Archivaria'', issue 53 (Spring 2002):1-15.</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>Muller, Samuel, Johann Adrian Feith, and Robert Fruin, "The Arrangement of Archival Documents," in ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', 2nd ed., trans. Arthur H. Leavitt (Chicago: Chicago, Society of American Archivists, 2003): 60.</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Doug Rimmer, "Preface: Archives and the Canadian Narrative," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Stories in a Changing Landscape'', ed. Kathleen Garay and Christl Verduyn (Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011), 21.</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref>Frank Upward and Sue McKemmish, "Somewhere Beyond Custody," Archives and Manuscripts, Vol. 22, No. 1 (May 1994): 138, 147.</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Terry Cook, "Electronic Records, Paper Minds: The Revolution in Information Management and Archives in the Post-custodial and Post-Modernist Era," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 22, No. 2 (November 1994): 314.</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>See for example the conversation between Geralf Ham and Randall Jimerson. Gerald F. Ham, "The Archival Edge," ''American Archivist'', issue 38 (January 1975): 5-13; Randall Jimerson, "Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice," ''The American Archivist'', issue 70 (Fall/Winter 2007): 252-281.</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Graeme Wynn, "Foreword," in ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau'', William Turkel (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007), ''x''.</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 9.</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref>"Collection," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/.</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref>"Conservation of Vegetation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/; "Master Plan for Preservation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/.</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>"About the Nelson Mandela Foundation," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>2014 Annual Report accessed April 2015 via: https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf.</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>"What we Do," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory.</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>"Personal Papers," Glossary, The Society of American Archivists, accessed April 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Alison Rowley, Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013), 7.</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving. These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Lois H. Silverman, "Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age," ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, issue 3 (September 1995): 161.</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161.</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Elizabeth Keenan and Lisa Darms, "Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection," ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 57.</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61.</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57.</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162.</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>"Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes," École architecture, accessed April 2015, https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN.</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Tania Martin, "Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal,"
Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, Vol. 7 (1997): 212-229.</ref> She applies this analysis to the former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse, located in downtown Montreal. The layout of the Motherhouse, such as how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215.</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Noah Richler, "Stories, Buildings, and Maps," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada'', 27.</ref> Echoing the perspective of Martin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, "Stories, Buildings, and Maps," 27.</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Julie Cruikshank, ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination'' (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005), 3.</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic devices. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3.</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. It can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred].</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region is that it can be understood as a “repository”<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''xvii''.</ref> as he puts forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>William Turkel, The Archive of Place, ''xxiv''.</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Kent M. Haworth, "Local Archives: Responsibilities and Challenges for Archivists," ''Archivaria'', issue 3 (Winter 1976-77): 33.</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is closely connected to the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material may be tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Richard Handler, "Who Owns the Past? History, Cultural Property, and the Logic of Possessive Individualism," in ''The Politics of Culture'', ed. Bret Williams (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), 67.</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives and determining where material will or ought to be kept shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Laura Millar, "Discharging our Debt: The Evolution of the Total Archives Concept in English Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 1998): 120-123.</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Robin G. Keirstead, "J.S. Matthews and an Archives for Vancouver, 1951-1972," ''Archivaria'', issue 23 (Winter 1986-87): 92.</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90.</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105.</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Terry Eastwood, "Attempts at National Planning for Archives in Canada, 1975-1985," ''The Public Historian'', Vol. 8, No. 3 Archives and Public History: Issues, Problems, and Prospects (Summer 1986): 81.</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81.</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in Montreal. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>"Denis Lessard: Archives Processing Room," Centre des arts actuals Skol, accessed April 2015, http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/.</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>Denis Lessard, "The Art of the Possible: Processing an Artist-Run Center's Archives," session 4 from ''Artists Records in the Archives: Symposium Proceedings'', October 2011, accessed April 2015, http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref.>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' issue 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T04:55:17Z

AmySpooner:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 10.</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson 1980 Wilson Report] offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report, 1980'', ''Archivaria'', issue 11 (Winter 1980-81), 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship. While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Laura Millar, "The Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time," ''Archivaria'', issue 53 (Spring 2002):1-15.</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>Muller, Samuel, Johann Adrian Feith, and Robert Fruin, "The Arrangement of Archival Documents," in ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', 2nd ed., trans. Arthur H. Leavitt (Chicago: Chicago, Society of American Archivists, 2003): 60.</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Doug Rimmer, "Preface: Archives and the Canadian Narrative," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Stories in a Changing Landscape'', ed. Kathleen Garay and Christl Verduyn (Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011), 21.</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref>Frank Upward and Sue McKemmish, "Somewhere Beyond Custody," Archives and Manuscripts, Vol. 22, No. 1 (May 1994): 138, 147.</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Terry Cook, "Electronic Records, Paper Minds: The Revolution in Information Management and Archives in the Post-custodial and Post-Modernist Era," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 22, No. 2 (November 1994): 314.</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>See for example the conversation between Geralf Ham and Randall Jimerson. Gerald F. Ham, "The Archival Edge," ''American Archivist'', issue 38 (January 1975): 5-13; Randall Jimerson, "Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice," ''The American Archivist'', issue 70 (Fall/Winter 2007): 252-281.</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Graeme Wynn, "Foreword," in ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau'', William Turkel (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007), ''x''.</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 9.</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref>"Collection," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/.</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref>"Conservation of Vegetation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/; "Master Plan for Preservation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/.</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>"About the Nelson Mandela Foundation," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>2014 Annual Report accessed April 2015 via: https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf.</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>"What we Do," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory.</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>"Personal Papers," Glossary, The Society of American Archivists, accessed April 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Alison Rowley, Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013), 7.</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving. These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Lois H. Silverman, "Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age," ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, issue 3 (September 1995): 161.</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161.</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Elizabeth Keenan and Lisa Darms, "Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection," ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 57.</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61.</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57.</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162.</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>"Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes," École architecture, accessed April 2015, https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN.</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Tania Martin, "Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal,"
Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, Vol. 7 (1997): 212-229.</ref> She applies this analysis to the former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse, located in downtown Montreal. The layout of the Motherhouse, such as how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215.</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Noah Richler, "Stories, Buildings, and Maps," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada'', 27.</ref> Echoing the perspective of Martin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, "Stories, Buildings, and Maps," 27.</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Julie Cruikshank, ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination'' (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005), 3.</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic devices. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3.</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. It can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred].</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region is that it can be understood as a “repository”<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''xvii''.</ref> as he puts forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>William Turkel, The Archive of Place, ''xxiv''.</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Kent M. Haworth, "Local Archives: Responsibilities and Challenges for Archivists," ''Archivaria'', issue 3 (Winter 1976-77): 33.</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is closely connected to the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material may be tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Richard Handler, "Who Owns the Past? History, Cultural Property, and the Logic of Possessive Individualism," in ''The Politics of Culture'', ed. Bret Williams (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), 67.</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives and determining where material will or ought to be kept shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Laura Millar, "Discharging our Debt: The Evolution of the Total Archives Concept in English Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 1998): 120-123.</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Robin G. Keirstead, "J.S. Matthews and an Archives for Vancouver, 1951-1972," ''Archivaria'', issue 23 (Winter 1986-87): 92.</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90.</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105.</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Terry Eastwood, "Attempts at National Planning for Archives in Canada, 1975-1985," ''The Public Historian'', Vol. 8, No. 3 Archives and Public History: Issues, Problems, and Prospects (Summer 1986): 81.</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81.</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in Montreal. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>"Denis Lessard: Archives Processing Room," Centre des arts actuals Skol, accessed April 2015, http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/.</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>Denis Lessard, "The Art of the Possible: Processing an Artist-Run Center's Archives," session 4 from ''Artists Records in the Archives: Symposium Proceedings'', October 2011, accessed April 2015, http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref.>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T04:32:13Z

AmySpooner: /* Reading Rooms and Research Spaces */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 10.</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson 1980 Wilson Report] offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report, 1980'', ''Archivaria'', issue 11 (Winter 1980-81), 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship. While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Laura Millar, "The Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time," ''Archivaria'', issue 53 (Spring 2002):1-15.</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>Muller, Samuel, Johann Adrian Feith, and Robert Fruin, "The Arrangement of Archival Documents," in ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', 2nd ed., trans. Arthur H. Leavitt (Chicago: Chicago, Society of American Archivists, 2003): 60.</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Doug Rimmer, "Preface: Archives and the Canadian Narrative," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Stories in a Changing Landscape'', ed. Kathleen Garay and Christl Verduyn (Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011), 21.</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref>Frank Upward and Sue McKemmish, "Somewhere Beyond Custody," Archives and Manuscripts, Vol. 22, No. 1 (May 1994): 138, 147.</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Terry Cook, "Electronic Records, Paper Minds: The Revolution in Information Management and Archives in the Post-custodial and Post-Modernist Era," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 22, No. 2 (November 1994): 314.</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>See for example the conversation between Geralf Ham and Randall Jimerson. Gerald F. Ham, "The Archival Edge," ''American Archivist'', issue 38 (January 1975): 5-13; Randall Jimerson, "Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice," ''The American Archivist'', issue 70 (Fall/Winter 2007): 252-281.</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Graeme Wynn, "Foreword," in ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau'', William Turkel (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007), ''x''.</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 9.</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref>"Collection," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/.</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref>"Conservation of Vegetation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/; "Master Plan for Preservation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/.</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>"About the Nelson Mandela Foundation," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>2014 Annual Report accessed April 2015 via: https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf.</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>"What we Do," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory.</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>"Personal Papers," Glossary, The Society of American Archivists, accessed April 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Alison Rowley, Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013), 7.</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving. These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Lois H. Silverman, "Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age," ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, issue 3 (September 1995): 161.</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161.</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Elizabeth Keenan and Lisa Darms, "Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection," Archivaria, issue 76 (Fall 2013): 57.</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61.</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57.</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162.</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse, located in downtown Montreal. The layout of the Motherhouse, such as how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Martin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic devices. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. It can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region is that it can be understood as a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref> as he puts forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is closely connected to the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material may be tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives and determining where material will or ought to be kept shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in Montreal. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T04:26:38Z

AmySpooner: /* Personal Collections */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 10.</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson 1980 Wilson Report] offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report, 1980'', ''Archivaria'', issue 11 (Winter 1980-81), 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship. While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Laura Millar, "The Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time," ''Archivaria'', issue 53 (Spring 2002):1-15.</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>Muller, Samuel, Johann Adrian Feith, and Robert Fruin, "The Arrangement of Archival Documents," in ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', 2nd ed., trans. Arthur H. Leavitt (Chicago: Chicago, Society of American Archivists, 2003): 60.</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Doug Rimmer, "Preface: Archives and the Canadian Narrative," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Stories in a Changing Landscape'', ed. Kathleen Garay and Christl Verduyn (Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011), 21.</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref>Frank Upward and Sue McKemmish, "Somewhere Beyond Custody," Archives and Manuscripts, Vol. 22, No. 1 (May 1994): 138, 147.</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Terry Cook, "Electronic Records, Paper Minds: The Revolution in Information Management and Archives in the Post-custodial and Post-Modernist Era," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 22, No. 2 (November 1994): 314.</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>See for example the conversation between Geralf Ham and Randall Jimerson. Gerald F. Ham, "The Archival Edge," ''American Archivist'', issue 38 (January 1975): 5-13; Randall Jimerson, "Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice," ''The American Archivist'', issue 70 (Fall/Winter 2007): 252-281.</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Graeme Wynn, "Foreword," in ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau'', William Turkel (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007), ''x''.</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 9.</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref>"Collection," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/.</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref>"Conservation of Vegetation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/; "Master Plan for Preservation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/.</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>"About the Nelson Mandela Foundation," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>2014 Annual Report accessed April 2015 via: https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf.</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>"What we Do," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory.</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>"Personal Papers," Glossary, The Society of American Archivists, accessed April 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Alison Rowley, Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013), 7.</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving. These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse, located in downtown Montreal. The layout of the Motherhouse, such as how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Martin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic devices. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. It can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region is that it can be understood as a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref> as he puts forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is closely connected to the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material may be tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives and determining where material will or ought to be kept shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in Montreal. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T04:23:06Z

AmySpooner: /* Site-Specific Archives */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 10.</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson 1980 Wilson Report] offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report, 1980'', ''Archivaria'', issue 11 (Winter 1980-81), 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship. While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Laura Millar, "The Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time," ''Archivaria'', issue 53 (Spring 2002):1-15.</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>Muller, Samuel, Johann Adrian Feith, and Robert Fruin, "The Arrangement of Archival Documents," in ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', 2nd ed., trans. Arthur H. Leavitt (Chicago: Chicago, Society of American Archivists, 2003): 60.</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Doug Rimmer, "Preface: Archives and the Canadian Narrative," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Stories in a Changing Landscape'', ed. Kathleen Garay and Christl Verduyn (Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011), 21.</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref>Frank Upward and Sue McKemmish, "Somewhere Beyond Custody," Archives and Manuscripts, Vol. 22, No. 1 (May 1994): 138, 147.</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Terry Cook, "Electronic Records, Paper Minds: The Revolution in Information Management and Archives in the Post-custodial and Post-Modernist Era," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 22, No. 2 (November 1994): 314.</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>See for example the conversation between Geralf Ham and Randall Jimerson. Gerald F. Ham, "The Archival Edge," ''American Archivist'', issue 38 (January 1975): 5-13; Randall Jimerson, "Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice," ''The American Archivist'', issue 70 (Fall/Winter 2007): 252-281.</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Graeme Wynn, "Foreword," in ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau'', William Turkel (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007), ''x''.</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 9.</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref>"Collection," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/.</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref>"Conservation of Vegetation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/; "Master Plan for Preservation," Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, accessed April 2015, http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/.</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>"About the Nelson Mandela Foundation," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>2014 Annual Report accessed April 2015 via: https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf.</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>"What we Do," Nelson Mandela Foundation, accessed April 2015, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory.</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse, located in downtown Montreal. The layout of the Motherhouse, such as how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Martin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic devices. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. It can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region is that it can be understood as a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref> as he puts forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is closely connected to the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material may be tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives and determining where material will or ought to be kept shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in Montreal. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T04:15:29Z

AmySpooner: /* Exploring Archival Places */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 10.</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson 1980 Wilson Report] offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report, 1980'', ''Archivaria'', issue 11 (Winter 1980-81), 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship. While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Laura Millar, "The Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time," ''Archivaria'', issue 53 (Spring 2002):1-15.</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>Muller, Samuel, Johann Adrian Feith, and Robert Fruin, "The Arrangement of Archival Documents," in ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', 2nd ed., trans. Arthur H. Leavitt (Chicago: Chicago, Society of American Archivists, 2003): 60.</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Doug Rimmer, "Preface: Archives and the Canadian Narrative," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Stories in a Changing Landscape'', ed. Kathleen Garay and Christl Verduyn (Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011), 21.</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref>Frank Upward and Sue McKemmish, "Somewhere Beyond Custody," Archives and Manuscripts, Vol. 22, No. 1 (May 1994): 138, 147.</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Terry Cook, "Electronic Records, Paper Minds: The Revolution in Information Management and Archives in the Post-custodial and Post-Modernist Era," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 22, No. 2 (November 1994): 314.</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>See for example the conversation between Geralf Ham and Randall Jimerson. Gerald F. Ham, "The Archival Edge," ''American Archivist'', issue 38 (January 1975): 5-13; Randall Jimerson, "Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice," ''The American Archivist'', issue 70 (Fall/Winter 2007): 252-281.</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Graeme Wynn, "Foreword," in ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau'', William Turkel (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007), ''x''.</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse, located in downtown Montreal. The layout of the Motherhouse, such as how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Martin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic devices. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. It can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region is that it can be understood as a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref> as he puts forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is closely connected to the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material may be tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives and determining where material will or ought to be kept shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in Montreal. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T04:06:55Z

AmySpooner: /* Recasting Archives as a Place */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 10.</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson 1980 Wilson Report] offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report, 1980'', ''Archivaria'', issue 11 (Winter 1980-81), 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship. While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Laura Millar, "The Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time," ''Archivaria'', issue 53 (Spring 2002):1-15.</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, "The Death of the Fonds," 12.</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>Muller, Samuel, Johann Adrian Feith, and Robert Fruin, "The Arrangement of Archival Documents," in ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', 2nd ed., trans. Arthur H. Leavitt (Chicago: Chicago, Society of American Archivists, 2003): 60.</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Doug Rimmer, "Preface: Archives and the Canadian Narrative," in ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Stories in a Changing Landscape'', ed. Kathleen Garay and Christl Verduyn (Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011), 21.</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref>Frank Upward and Sue McKemmish, "Somewhere Beyond Custody," Archives and Manuscripts, Vol. 22, No. 1 (May 1994): 138, 147.</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Terry Cook, "Electronic Records, Paper Minds: The Revolution in Information Management and Archives in the Post-custodial and Post-Modernist Era," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 22, No. 2 (November 1994): 314.</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>See for example the conversation between Geralf Ham and Randall Jimerson. Gerald F. Ham, "The Archival Edge," ''American Archivist'', issue 38 (January 1975): 5-13; Randall Jimerson, "Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice," ''The American Archivist'', issue 70 (Fall/Winter 2007): 252-281.</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse, located in downtown Montreal. The layout of the Motherhouse, such as how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Martin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic devices. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. It can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region is that it can be understood as a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref> as he puts forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is closely connected to the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material may be tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives and determining where material will or ought to be kept shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in Montreal. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T03:41:51Z

AmySpooner: /* Where do Archives Belong? */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse, located in downtown Montreal. The layout of the Motherhouse, such as how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Martin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic devices. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. It can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region is that it can be understood as a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref> as he puts forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is closely connected to the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material may be tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives and determining where material will or ought to be kept shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in Montreal. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T03:39:29Z

AmySpooner: /* The Physical Landscape */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse, located in downtown Montreal. The layout of the Motherhouse, such as how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Martin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic devices. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. It can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region is that it can be understood as a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref> as he puts forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T03:36:44Z

AmySpooner: /* Built Heritage */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse, located in downtown Montreal. The layout of the Motherhouse, such as how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Martin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T03:34:12Z

AmySpooner: /* Online Archives */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution Smithsonian Institution's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T03:32:32Z

AmySpooner: /* Reading Rooms and Research Spaces */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University's] [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T03:31:12Z

AmySpooner: /* Personal Collections */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives 'total archives'] developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside of the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of ''Israeli and Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts Massachusetts].
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie's] records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland's] records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Vancouver] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front], [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov's] joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives' storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker, for example. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University]’s [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T03:26:56Z

AmySpooner: /* Site-Specific Archives */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological 'find spot', for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela's] personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked,<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref> further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors, to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of ‘[http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives total archives]’ developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of Israeli and ''Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], Massachusetts.
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie]'s records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland]'s records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the Vancouver artist-run centre the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front] [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov]'s joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives' storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker, for example. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University]’s [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T03:25:23Z

AmySpooner: /* Regional Repositories */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of repositories to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity. A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional service centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Each service centre has a designated zone of authority, collecting records created from within that regional zone. Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson imagined community]. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal], rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological find spot, for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela]'s personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref>, further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors, to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of ‘[http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives total archives]’ developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of Israeli and ''Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], Massachusetts.
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie]'s records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland]'s records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the Vancouver artist-run centre the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front] [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov]'s joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives' storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker, for example. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University]’s [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-11T03:16:32Z

AmySpooner:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horsman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51. Horsman puts forward the particular understanding of the principle of provenance being the singular archival principle, comprised of ''respect des fonds'' and respect for original order.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s 1956 ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance ought to encompass records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what ''and'' where archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices]. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of regional as a place to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson Benedict Anderson]</ref> A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional records centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an imagined community. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, Montreal, rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological find spot, for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela]'s personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref>, further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors, to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of ‘[http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives total archives]’ developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of Israeli and ''Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], Massachusetts.
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie]'s records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland]'s records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the Vancouver artist-run centre the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front] [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov]'s joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives' storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker, for example. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University]’s [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Thread:Course talk:ARST573/Archives and Genocide/Feedback round2/reply (4)

2015-04-11T02:43:42Z

AmySpooner: Reply to Feedback round2

That reads as a lot more concrete to me at least.

Thread:Course talk:ARST573/Archives and Genocide/Feedback round2/reply (2)

2015-04-10T22:45:10Z

AmySpooner: Reply to Feedback round2

Those two sentences are tricky. The good ideas are always the most difficult to capture just right. I know exactly what you're trying to get at though.

What about if you start that whole section with "Many archives of genocide…" (all the way to the video) and move the idea you're trying to capture in the first two sentences down. Make them the conclusion to the section. Maybe by leading with the concrete stuff it will help set you up to write out a revised version of broader concept you're illustrating in those two sentences. Does that make sense? It's an idea. See if you think it helps?

Thread:Course talk:ARST573/Archives and Genocide/Feedback round2

2015-04-10T20:55:22Z

AmySpooner: New thread: Feedback round2

Hi Marisa,

I've taken another close look at what you have up so far, and have a couple last suggestions for your section Memory and Testimony. Take them or leave them, of course, as you do your last bits of writing and tweaking.

* Your use of the word analog is a bit confusing. You say analog records "could be considered witnesses themselves," and then that analog records function in conjunction with witness testimonies. What exactly do you mean by analog records? Is there a more concrete term you could replace 'analog record' with? Or list a few examples after your first sentence in this section? The rest of the section is great, it's just the introductory sentences that throw me off.
* On that same note, I totally understand what you're trying to get at in your sentence “As places and programs, archives contain the memories and experiences of genocide survivors in addition to evidence of genocide" is rather vague. And "Contain the memories" is very conceptual. Is there a way of tweaking word choice and maybe elaborating on this idea more to make it more straightforward and concrete? It's a crucial idea to include in this section and I think with a couple of examples and concrete language it will easily develop into something clearer.
* I'd recommend a citation regarding oral histories are being conceived of as active witnesses as it is particular to the field of memory studies. James Edward Young, “Holocaust Video and Cinemagraphic Testimony” in Writing and Rewriting the Holocaust: Narrative Consequences of Interpretation (1988) or Dori Laub, “Bearing Witness of the Vicissitudes of Listening,” in Testimony: Crisis of Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis, and History eds. Shoshana Felman and Dori Laub (1992) could be useful.

Also,
* You probably working on this, but extra linking. Including the biggies: Holocaust, Armenian Genocide, Rwandan Genocide
* Not a suggestion but a comment: I liked seeing the addition of pictures and especially video! They really support your written content. If you have time and are able to find ones you can use, a few more would be a nice final touch.
* I'd recommend quickly stating who the Dictionary of Genocide is written by (as in "listed in the Dictionary of Genocide, written/published/what have you by …". This is kind of a funny thing, an indexing of sensitive and potentially contentious events. I think it would be beneficial to have who authored it in the body of the Wiki rather than just in the reference.

This page going to be really great. I'm genuinely looking forward to reading your sections under construction!

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-10T07:56:16Z

AmySpooner:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, “Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref> 

In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horseman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this spatial context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance can include records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details, as discussed above, are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what—and ''where''—archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of mnemonic devices. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of regional as a place to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson Benedict Anderson]</ref> A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional records centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an imagined community. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, Montreal, rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological find spot, for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela]'s personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref>, further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors, to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of ‘[http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives total archives]’ developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of Israeli and ''Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], Massachusetts.
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie]'s records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland]'s records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the Vancouver artist-run centre the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front] [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov]'s joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives' storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker, for example. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University]’s [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-10T07:50:33Z

AmySpooner: /* Case Studies */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, 

:::“Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref>

In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horseman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this spatial context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance can include records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details, as discussed above, are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what—and ''where''—archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of mnemonic devices. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of regional as a place to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson Benedict Anderson]</ref> A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional records centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an imagined community. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, Montreal, rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological find spot, for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela]'s personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref>, further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors, to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of ‘[http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives total archives]’ developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of Israeli and ''Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], Massachusetts.
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie]'s records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland]'s records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the Vancouver artist-run centre the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front] [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov]'s joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives' storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker, for example. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University]’s [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-10T07:41:23Z

AmySpooner: /* Regional Repositories */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, 

:::“Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref>

In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horseman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this spatial context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance can include records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details, as discussed above, are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what—and ''where''—archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of mnemonic devices. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of regional as a place to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson Benedict Anderson]</ref> A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional records centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an imagined community. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationals du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, Montreal, rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological find spot, for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela]'s personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref>, further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors, to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of ‘[http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives total archives]’ developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of Israeli and ''Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], Massachusetts.
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie]'s records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland]'s records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the Vancouver artist-run centre the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front] [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov]'s joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives' storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker, for example. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University]’s [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-10T07:32:49Z

AmySpooner: /* Regional Repositories */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, 

:::“Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref>

In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horseman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this spatial context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance can include records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details, as discussed above, are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what—and ''where''—archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of mnemonic devices. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|left|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of regional as a place to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson Benedict Anderson]</ref> A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnailright|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

==== Case Studies ====

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional records centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an imagined community. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationals du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, Montreal, rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological find spot, for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela]'s personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref>, further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors, to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of ‘[http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives total archives]’ developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of Israeli and ''Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], Massachusetts.
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie]'s records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland]'s records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the Vancouver artist-run centre the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front] [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov]'s joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives' storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker, for example. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University]’s [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-10T07:31:22Z

AmySpooner: /* Case Studies */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, 

:::“Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref>

In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horseman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this spatial context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance can include records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details, as discussed above, are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what—and ''where''—archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of mnemonic devices. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|right|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of regional as a place to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson Benedict Anderson]</ref> A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|left|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional records centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.</ref> The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an imagined community. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationals du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, Montreal, rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological find spot, for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela]'s personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref>, further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors, to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of ‘[http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives total archives]’ developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of Israeli and ''Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], Massachusetts.
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie]'s records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland]'s records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the Vancouver artist-run centre the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front] [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov]'s joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives' storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker, for example. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University]’s [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-10T07:29:01Z

AmySpooner: /* Case Study */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, 

:::“Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref>

In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horseman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this spatial context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance can include records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details, as discussed above, are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what—and ''where''—archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of mnemonic devices. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|right|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of regional as a place to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson Benedict Anderson]</ref> A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|left|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

* The [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html#two Canadian Archival System] is a network of regional repositories under the centralized control of a national archives. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_and_Archives_Canada Library Archives Canada] (LAC) located in the nation's capital, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa Ottawa], is a federal institution that oversees regional service centres, off-site preservation facilities, and provincial and territorial offices. The five regional records centres located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia Halifax], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Quebec City], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto Toronto], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg Winnipeg], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby Burnaby] cover provincial and territorial zones, dividing the jurisdictional reach the national archives used to cover down to a more local level.<ref>"Regional Service Centres," Library and Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-resources/regional-service-centres/Pages/introduction.aspx.</ref> Established as local access points, the service centres are designed to keep records closer to their point of creation and therefore their anticipated end users. 

: The establishment of a national archives was a powerful nation-building tool as it communicated from the top down what ‘Canada’s’ shared history and identity were to mean to newly-minted Canadians.<ref>See Ian Wilson's " 'A Noble Dream': The Origins of the Public Archives of Canada," ''Archivaria'', issue 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35. The mission of LAC continues to be to “preserve the documentary heritage of Canada.”<ref>"Mandate—About Us," LIbrary Archives Canada, accessed April 2015, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/012/012-204-e.html.</ref> The extension of a centralized system to include regional repositories defined according to political jurisdictions therefore continues to function as a symbolic network for unifying Canada as an imagined community. 

: The second part of the system, working in tandem with the repositories, are professional associations. This includes the [http://archivists.ca Association of Canadian Archivists] (ACA) and [http://www.archivistes.qc.ca Associations des archivistes du Québec] (AAQ) in addition to provincial and territorial councils, and national and regional professional associations.<ref>"About CCA: Canadian Archival System," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/cas.html; "About CCA: Provincial/Territorial Councils/Association," Canadian Council of Archives, accessed April 2015, http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/provcouncils.html.</ref>

[[File:Carte edifices banq.gif|thumbnail|left|Map of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/accueil/ BAnQ] regional facilities]]

* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] (BAnQ) is a national network existing within Canada, but outside of the Canadian Archival System. It’s lengthy mandate can be distilled as: “to acquire, preserve and disseminate publications, archival materials and films constituting Québec and Québec-related heritage.”<ref>"Mission," Bibliothèque et archives nationals du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/mission_lois_reglements/mission/.</ref> Dissemination is achieved through the network of [https://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/informations_pratiques/ twelve public facilities]:
::The Grande Bibliothèque (Montreal)
::BAnQ Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
::BAnQ Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (Montreal)
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé,_Quebec Gaspé]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City Québec (Quebec City)]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski Rimouski]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguenay,_Quebec Saguenay]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sept-Îles,_Quebec Sept-Îles]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke Sherbrooke]
::BAnQ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières]
The headquarters is located in the cultural capital, Montreal, rather than the provincial capital, Quebec City. The nine regional archives provide wide-reaching access and public outreach facilities across the province to "democratize"<ref>"À propos de BAnQ," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/index.html.</ref> access to information. This network ensures “''une présence sur tout le territoire québécois''”<ref>"Centres de BAnQ con servant des archives," Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, accessed April 2015, https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/entrez_archives/centres_archives/.</ref>, thus underpinning Quebec national cultural identity and heritage.

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological find spot, for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela]'s personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref>, further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors, to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of ‘[http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives total archives]’ developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of Israeli and ''Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], Massachusetts.
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie]'s records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland]'s records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the Vancouver artist-run centre the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front] [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov]'s joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives' storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker, for example. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University]’s [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-10T06:32:52Z

AmySpooner: /* Case Studies */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, 

:::“Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref>

In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horseman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this spatial context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance can include records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details, as discussed above, are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what—and ''where''—archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of mnemonic devices. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|right|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of regional as a place to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson Benedict Anderson]</ref> A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

==== Case Study ====

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|left|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

* The Canadian Archival System
* The Quebec Regional System

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological find spot, for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela]'s personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref>, further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors, to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of ‘[http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives total archives]’ developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of Israeli and ''Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], Massachusetts.
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie]'s records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland]'s records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the Vancouver artist-run centre the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front] [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov]'s joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives' storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker, for example. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University]’s [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montreal, Quebec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montreal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-10T06:30:35Z

AmySpooner: /* Reading Rooms and Research Spaces */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, 

:::“Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref>

In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horseman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this spatial context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance can include records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details, as discussed above, are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what—and ''where''—archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of mnemonic devices. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|right|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of regional as a place to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson Benedict Anderson]</ref> A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

==== Case Study ====

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|left|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

* The Canadian Archival System
* The Quebec Regional System

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological find spot, for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela]'s personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref>, further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors, to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of ‘[http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives total archives]’ developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of Israeli and ''Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], Massachusetts.
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie]'s records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland]'s records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the Vancouver artist-run centre the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front] [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov]'s joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montreal, Quebec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives' storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker, for example. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University]’s [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montréal, Québec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montréal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montréal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-10T06:29:02Z

AmySpooner: /* Case Study */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, 

:::“Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref>

In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horseman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this spatial context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance can include records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details, as discussed above, are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what—and ''where''—archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of mnemonic devices. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|right|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of regional as a place to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson Benedict Anderson]</ref> A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

==== Case Study ====

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|left|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Quebec]]

* The Canadian Archival System
* The Quebec Regional System

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological find spot, for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela]'s personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref>, further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors, to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of ‘[http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives total archives]’ developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of Israeli and ''Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], Massachusetts.
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie]'s records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland]'s records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the Vancouver artist-run centre the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front] [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov]'s joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montréal, Québec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives' storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker, for example. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University]’s [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montréal, Québec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montréal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montréal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]

Course:ARST573/Archives: A Place

2015-04-10T06:21:09Z

AmySpooner: /* The Physical Landscape */

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive Archives] are defined three ways: as the material in a repository, as a program, and as the place where records are deposited.<ref>See for example: "Select List of Archival Terminology," School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, accessed April 2015, http://slais.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/Archival_Terminology.pdf; "Archives Terminology – Select Terms," prepared by Margery Hadley and Michael Gourlie, accessed April 2015, https://aabc.ca/media/5403/ASA_Archives_terminology_2006.pdf; "Archives," Society of American Archivists, accessed April, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/archives.</ref> The concept of archives as a place appears in the earliest definitions of archives. The first iterations of archival repositories in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East Near East] have also shaped contemporary Western understandings not only of what archives are, but where records can be found. As a result, the concept of archives as a place is a significant element of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science North American archival theory]. 

Early prevailing perceptions of archives have also fed popular stereotypes. Archives are commonly depicted as exclusive, guarded, and hidden places where long-forgotten records are buried in dust.<ref>Karen Buckley, " 'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture," ''Archivaria'' 66 (Fall 2008):98.</ref> Painting a picture of this oft-satirized archival space, Victor Gray, director of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_M_Rothschild_%26_Sons Rothschild Archive] and head of Corporate Records for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, argues, 

:::“Gone are the days when the dust-encrusted denizen of a file-stacked and cobwebby deep could emerge once a year, dazzled by the light, to drag a new pile of unloved papers back into his hole."<ref>Vic Gray, "Developing a Corporate Memory: The Potential of Business Archives," ''Business Information Review'', Vol. 19 (March 2002): 35.</ref>

In a similar vein, new trends in archival thought point towards a broader conception of archives as a place. Depositing records does not make them "doomed to slumber":<ref>Gray, 36.</ref> archives are interactive spaces. 

Traditional archival theory offers a narrow view of place in relation to archives. In reality archival places are not limited to physical buildings, stacks, and institutions. Recorded information is created, used, stored, found, and preserved in countless locations within and outside of formal repositories and the hands of designated archivists. Just as archives can be categorized as [http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/typesofarchives specialized types] or by collection policy, by level of jurisdictional control or phase in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_life-cycle records life-cycle]<ref>For more on the concept of the lifecycle, see: Jay Atherton, "From Lifecycle to Continuum," in ''Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance'', ed. Tom Nesmith (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 391-401.</ref>, so too can they be understood according to their location. 

By offering a discussion of archives as a place and identifying a selection of archival spaces supported by case studies, the purpose of this Wiki is to expand on the concept of archives as solely the space designated for the deposit and preservation of records.

== Background: The role of place in archival theory ==

[[File:Plan Rome - Tabularium.png|thumbnail|left|Plan of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum Roman Forum] featuring the ''Tabularium'' in red]]

The first archival repositories developed in tandem with government. Purpose-built for the deposit of legal documents, “the archives was a place of preservation under the jurisdiction of a public authority.”<ref>Luciana Duranti, "Archives as Place," ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24, No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 2.</ref> Crossing the 'archival threshold' into the control of an archival institution was a process of authentication where documents were imbued with meaning as records worthy of preservation.<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 3.</ref> In turn, [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|medieval]] and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|early modern]] repositories were typically centrally located within or alongside other government buildings, communicating their status as symbols of civic authority. These places have been described as “imposing, powerful, strong, inaccessible beyond the outer rooms [of connected government buildings]”, where the records kept there became “perpetual monuments to the actions they attested to.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 6.</ref> 

[[File:Entrée du site de Paris (hôtel de Soubise). Archives nationales (France).jpg|thumbnail|right|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_nationales_(France) Archives Nationales de France]]]

Records were ''about'' the public but were not conceived of as being ''for'' the public. Until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution], archives were considered as serving a purely legal-administrative function. Existing as restricted spaces of authoritarian control, archives feature in modern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_science modern archival theory] and diplomatics as intrinsically linked with the authenticity of records.

=== Early Definitions ===

[[File:010218 campidoglio tabularium 01.JPG|thumb|010218 campidoglio tabularium 01||right|Inside the Roman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium'']]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]]; [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]]''

The earliest definitions and the historical development of archival repositories serve as points of reference for understanding what archives are today. Some of the first identifiable archives were located in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece ancient Greece], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome ancient Rome], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], and across [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. Places for depositing records were born out of growing bureaucratic state structures. These repositories—and the records—therefore served legal and administrative functions, maintaining the authority of the head of state.<ref>Luciana Duranti, "The Odyssey of Records Managers: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire," ''Records Management Quarterly'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (1989): 1,6.</ref> 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language Greek] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn ἀρχεῖον (''archeion'')] from which the English ‘archives’ is derived means the “any public place belonging to the magistrates.”<ref>See:"Archeion," A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, accessed April 2015, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=archeion-cn.</ref> Today is it more commonly understood to meant the records office. This definition reflects both the archives’ function—preserving legal authority—and it’s location. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium ''Tabularium''] was built in 79 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini B.C.] to serve a similar function as the Greek ''archeion''. The ''Tabularium'' is symbolic of the sophisticated administration and developed bureaucratic systems of the Roman Empire as, “There was a monumental and centralized records center publicly administered and supported, which might be compared to a contemporary data bank.”<ref>Duranti, “The Odessey of Records Managers,” 9.</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis Justinian Code], the body of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system) civil law] developed and administered under the Roman Empire, comes one of the earliest definitions of archives as a place. The ''Tabularium'' was: “The public place where deeds are deposited, so that they remain uncorrupted, provide trustworthy evidence, and are continuing memory of that to which they attest.”<ref>Duranti, "Archives as Place," 2.</ref> 

This definition bears a strong resemblance to the definition of archival repositories today. A place for depositing records, archives secure and communicate authority, guarantees reliability, and ensures an unbroken chain of custody. Serving a private, administrative function, early repositories have therefore guided archival theorists conception of what archives are—and what they are not.

=== Principle of Provenance ===

The importance of place is enshrined in the archival [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance Provenance] is defined as “the place of origin”<ref>See: "Provenance," Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/provenance.</ref> and is used in reference to the ownership, custody, or location of artifacts, artwork, or historical objects. As a key tenet of archival science, the principle of provenance maintains the context of creation and chain of custody of records. This principle is comprised of the sub-principles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_des_fonds ''respect des fonds''] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/original-order respect for original order].<ref>Peter Horseman, “Taming the Elephant: An Orthodox Approach to the Principle of Provenance,” ''The Principle of Provenance: Report from the First Stockholm Conference on Archival Principle of Provenance'', 1994: 51.</ref> By adhering to the principle of provenance, archivists aim to maintain records' context of creation once transferred for permanent preservation from creator to institution. 

Archivists uphold the principle of provenance by following standardized guidelines for archival description. In adhering to this principle while [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_processing processing archival material], archivists maintain and communicate this spatial context through archival descriptions in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_aid finding aids] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database databases]. The Canadian [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/rad/radcomplete_july2008.pdf Rules for Archival Description] (RAD) developed by the [http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/intro.html Canadian Council for Archives] (CCA) and the American [http://files.archivists.org/pubs/DACS2E-2013.pdf Describing Archives: A Contents Standard] (DACS) developed by the [http://www2.archivists.org Society of American Archivists] (SAA) both identify the principle of provenance as a guiding principle for these description standards, for example. 

=== Contemporary Definitions ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]]'' 

The meaning of place is interpreted in contemporary definitions of archives in much the same way as the earliest definitions such as in the Justinian Code. Modern archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Jenkinson Sir Hilary Jenkinson] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._R._Schellenberg Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg] both cite the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary] in offering a definition of archives. In keeping with modern Western European tradition, archives are “(1)A place in which public records or other historic documents are kept; and (2) a historical record or document so preserved”<ref>Oxford English Dictionary as cited by Hilary Jenkinson, "Part I," in ''A Manual of Archives Administration'' (London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 3 and T.R. Schellenberg, "Nature of Archives," in ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques'', rev. ed. 2003 (Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1956), 11.</ref> as stated in Jenkinson’s 1965 ''A Manual for Archives Administration'' and Schellenberg’s ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Schellenberg expands on this definition by making note of the “troublesome”<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> double-meanings of the term ‘archives.’ He specifies that the distinction must be made between archives the records and archives the place.<ref>Schellenberg, 11.</ref> 

Contemporary definitions feature a greater plurality of meanings. It is in definitions provided by professional associations and research projects today that the three-tiered meaning of ‘archives’ emerges. The international [https://interparestrust.org InterPARES Trust] project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] defines defines archives in relation to the institution, the place, and specific rooms, for example. An archival place can therefore be: 

* “An ''agency'' or ''institution'' responsible for the preservation and communication of records selected for permanent preservation”;
* “''A place'' where records selected for permanent preservation are ''kept''”;
* “''Rooms'' or ''sets of rooms'' for the systematic ''maintenance'' and ''storage'' of records and documents.”<ref>Emphasis added. "InterPARES2 Project: Terminology Database." The InterPARES Project, accessed April 2015,
http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_term_fdisplay.cfm?tid=134&cit=1&pageID=2.</ref>

This is how place is interpreted in relationship to archives today. While definitions have been elaborated upon, archives continue to be overwhelmingly conceived of as being uniquely an institutionalized place, with zones of activity focused on the stacks or the building, where records are kept.

== Recasting Archives as a Place ==

Place features in archival theory singularly in relation to the archival repository and actions taken upon records within it. The ‘archival threshold’, “was made to coincide with the actions of formal recognition of the classified and registered documents and of confirmation and representation of their intellectual order (that is, of their interrelationships) in instruments of structural description."<ref>Duranti, 'Archives as Place,' 10</ref> The actions referenced here include (but are not limited to) the physical and intellectual [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e06.htm arrangement and description] of records according to relevant description standards, abiding to archival principles. Elements of archival theory like the [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r9012e/r9012e04.htm principle of provenance] aim to capture the context of creatorship of a record or group of records, but are very narrow in focus. 

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_E._Wilson Wilson Report 1980]<ref> [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 Wilson Report 1980]</ref> offers the interpretation of the principle of provenance as “assert[ing] that records originating from the same source must stay together and that the body creating records maintains a continuous custody of them by sponsoring a functioning archives.”<ref>''The Wilson Report'', 15</ref>‘Source’ and ‘context’ are not the physical places where records are created, where records are found, or where they travel: ‘source’ here refers only to the creator. The principle of provenance is therefore narrowly focused on the material and creator-ship.<ref>Horseman, p?</ref> While place features as an element of context, provenance is not interpreted in archival theory as having a literal spatial element. This is a point of contention for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] archivist [https://twitter.com/millarlaura Laura Millar]. Millar points out that in interpreting archival provenance, adequate focus is not paid to the meaning behind records’ spatial surroundings, the physical location in which they were created or found, how records moved through space before [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/accession accessioning], for example.<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds'</ref> In her view, the principle of provenance is left wanting. By borrowing concepts from sister disciplines, like the archaeological [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/find-spot 'find spot'], Millar argues that archivists' understanding of provenance can include records' physical origins. "Rather than limit provenance to creatorship, we should expand the concept to incorporate spatial and temporal qualities of archaeological provenience and artistic provenance,"<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 12</ref> she explains. She further argues that sections of description standards developed to capture these contextual details, as discussed above, are “woefully underused.”<ref>Millar, 12</ref> 

Thanks to new trends in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism postmodern] and [http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/postcustodial-theory-of-archives post-custodial] theory, place is understood more broadly in contemporary considerations of what—and ''where''—archives are.

=== Post-custodial Theory===

In their 1898 ''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Dutch] archival theorists [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_appraisal Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin] argue for archivists to, “study first of all the arrangement of the archival collection as it was formed and transformed while it was still a living organism."<ref>MFF, ed. trans Leavitt, 60</ref> In their view, archives are not a static collection of material when in the hands of the creator. Today, Muller, Feith, and Fruin’s argument has been extended. Re-thinking archival theory and practice through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism deconstructionist] lens of twentieth-century postmodern [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory critical theory], to deposit, keep, or preserve records in the custody of an archival institution does not freeze them in time, so to speak. Instead, “A postmodern concept of narrative does not let recorded history or canon rest as a final form"<ref>Rimmer, 'Preface,' 21</ref> whether in the custody of an institution or not. 

This postmodern shift in archival theory prompts thinking about archives as places and the activities that take place within them in a different light. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australian] archivists [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/groups/rcrg/upward.html Frank Upward] and [http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=713&pid=2770 Sue McKemmish] describe post-custodialism, for example, as thinking “of custody in terms of the defense of the record, not possession.” They continue that, “This custody is exercised via the setting of standards and monitoring of their implementation in the place of deposit.”<ref> Upward and McKemmish, 138, 147</ref> Furthermore, repositories and institutions are maintained to be active sites. Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Cook_(archivist) Terry Cook] argues for a new perspective on archives as a place. Writing specifically on the revolutionary influence of electronic records on the archival profession in a post-custodial framework, Cook argues that archivists can, “recast our archives not as buildings where old records are stored, but as access hubs.”<ref>Cook, 314</ref> 

Much like the rejection of archivists as passive custodians,<ref>Ham started this. See Ham, “The Archival Edge,” 1975 and Jimerson “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice,” 2007</ref> Cook’s argument prompts thinking about archives beyond the places of consolidation of legal power and authority. Archives are not only where records are located through deposit. They can be thought of as physical and virtual spaces where people and recorded information meet.

=== Expanding the Concept of Place ===

Drawing on a postmodern perspective, archives are places for:

* Active meaning-making through retrieval and interpretation of information;
* Access points for furthering legal and political accountability;
* Forums where narratives and ideas are communicated, represented, and constructed. 

How can the concept of archives as ‘a place’ be expanded? If place is traditionally understood to be an edifice where the records are deposited, kept, and preserved, what else can it mean? People and recorded information interact in a variety of ways, not limited to:

* Research;
* Tours;
* Exhibition and display of archival material;
* Arrangement and description of material;
* Conservation interventions;
* Use of mnemonic devices. 

Considering the physical space archives take up draws attention to:

* The places where records may be created, stored, and used by the creator;
* Spaces where records are processed, stored, undergo conservation treatments, retrieved, and consulted by institution staff;
* Spaces and modes through which records are browsed, accessed, and studied by an archives’ patrons;
* The physical location of a repository and the physical space it occupies in the landscape;
* Physical and virtual sites of interaction between people and information;
* Places where knowledge is transcribed or communicated.

Records do not exist in the place where they are deposited alone. The points above prompt a broader definition for the word ‘place’.

== Exploring Archival Places ==

The examples offered here are a starting point for thinking about the relationship between archives, records, and their locations. Drawing a link between archives and spatiality, and thinking about records beyond the confines of classic diplomatics, it is possible that "Every place is an archive."<ref>Wynn, "Foreword," ''x''</ref> Rather than identify archives by record type, subject matter, creatorship, or private or public status, these categories point to where records are kept, used, or created at the macro- and micro-level, within the physical and virtual realms.

=== Regional Repositories ===

[[File:ArchivesOntario2012DoorsOpen2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Preservation lab at the [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/index.aspx Archives of Ontario]]]

[[File:City of Toronto Archives, main floor.jpg|thumbnail|right|Main floor entrance of the [http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD City of Toronto archives]]]

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]]'' 

Many archival repositories are located according to socio-political [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction jurisdiction]. These institutions are conceived of to house records relevant to communities within their jurisdictional boundaries. Some may be purpose-built as an archival repository, others may occupy pre-existing buildings and tailor them to the archives' needs. Institutions that fall into this category include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation national] archives, as well as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province provincial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory territorial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State state], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality municipal] archives. The establishment of regional as a place to collect specific material of regional import can be interpreted as a tool for community-building. The archive and the material within it—the ‘shared history’ or documents that communicate a ‘shared experience’—further a symbolic common identity.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Anderson Benedict Anderson]</ref> A community may also view their regional archive as a source of identity affirmation, depending on who the archive is representative of. Regional archives can be understood, for example, in contrast with spaces at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots grassroots] or community-level, online spaces which exist regardless of national boundaries, and to systems of knowledge that fall outside of socio-political intellectual frameworks.

==== Case Study ====

[[File:Gatineau Preservation Centre.jpg|thumbnail|left|[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/13/1302_e.html Gatineau Preservation Centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatineau Gatineau], Québec]]

* The Canadian Archival System
* The Quebec Regional System

=== Site-Specific Archives ===

The spatial context of creation may be crucial in understanding archival records. Site-specific archives can be understood as preserving this physical context in tandem with the records themselves. In these cases, location is treated as serving a co-creatorship function. As archivist Laura Millar explains in her discussion of archival provenance and the archaeological find spot, for an archeological artifact, “Its physical, logistical, and spatial context is the key to understanding the object and, through the object, its place and time. Thus, understanding its precise physical location is critical in contextualizing the object.”<ref>Millar, 'Death of the Fonds,' 9</ref> Some repositories take this archaeological approach. 

Site-specific archives may be established in reaction to the creation or existence of specific records. They may be purpose-built or specially designated to house records where they physically and/or conceptually belong. A site-specific archive thus maintains the spatial element of provenance. Preservation of this meaningful connection between a record and a particular location can in turn shape how and where information is accessed and how it is interpreted.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Museum Auschwitz Birkenau.jpg|thumb|The now repurposed [http://auschwitz.org Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial]]]

* [http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/ The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial Archives] is housed in block 24 of the defunct [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau labour and extermination camp] complex. Archival holdings primarily include records created and used over the course of the operation of the camps, such as official Nazi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel Schutzstaffel (SS)] operational records and former prisoners’ diaries.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/collection/</ref> Much of the holdings were found on-site in 1945 after the evacuation of the camps and have never left their location of creation, whereas significant portions of the collections have been ‘repatriated’ back, now under the custody of the archives. Interestingly, the grounds and built heritage of the site are cared for in much the same way as as any other record. Buildings are conserved and landscaping decisions are made, for example, to maintain the site as it was found in 1945 thus preserving its authenticity and documentary integrity.<ref> See: http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/vegetation/ and http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/preservation/preservation-master-plan/</ref> 

* Part of former President of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa South Africa] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela Nelson Mandela]'s personal archive is housed at the [http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/home Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory]. The centre is an extension of the [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/ Nelson Mandela Foundation]. Established in 1999 shortly after Mandela stepped down as President, the foundation was home to Mandela’s post-presidential office.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory1</ref> The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg Johannesburg] location for the foundation was established in 2002 and refurbished throughout the 2000s to accommodate the Centre of Memory.<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/NMF_Annual_Report-2014-WEB.pdf</ref> Mandela’s records that form part of the Centre of Memory’s archive are therefore preserved in the very building they were used and created. The establishment of an archives for the Centre of Memory maintains these records’ broader context of creation and preserves them in a relevant, meaningful location. The activities of the Foundation, the Centre for Memory, and Mandela’s personal archive are all closely linked<ref>https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/about-the-centre-of-memory</ref>, further pointing to the necessity for the physical archive to be housed in this location.

=== Personal Collections ===

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]]'' 

Personal archives are defined as those created outside of a public corporate or administrative context.<ref>See: http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/personal-papers.</ref> These types of archives can include everything from the private papers of notable politicians or authors, to a hobbyist’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy genealogical] research. It is common for private archives of prominent individuals to be acquired by institutions. Adhering to the concept of ‘[http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/t/total-archives total archives]’ developed during the National Archives of Canada-era, most repositories across Canada house private records. This includes, but is not limited to, [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Library Archives Canada], university archives or special collections, and municipal archives. In the United States, private archives—or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript manuscript collections]— are typically acquired by historical societies and universities. Private collections can also be found in the numerous specialized, thematic archives across the United States. 

Personal archives equally exist in countless locations outside the institutional reach. What an archive is according to an individual rarely matches the definitions outlined in archival theory. Personal archives are more idiosyncratic, closely tied to meaning prescribed to items by the creator, and limited only by the creators’ own sense of what an archive ‘is’. Describing the research process for her monograph ''Open Letters: Russian Popular Culture and the Picture Postcard'' historian [https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/history/faculty.html?fpid=alison-rowley Alison Rowley] writes:

:::“Day after day, I would look at hundreds of auctions and make purchases if the family budget, or later, my university professional development account, would allow them. The emerging [postcard] collection remained unfocused, however. Then a colleague passed me a review of Israeli and ''Palestinian Postcards: Presentations of National Self''. I bought the book straight away and liken the experience of reading it to being hit by lightning. Suddenly, I knew why I had been acquiring so many pieces of old cardboard: I was, of course, creating my own archive."<ref>Rowley, 7</ref>

Created by individuals for personal use, these archives therefore may reside in desk drawers, basements, or closets arranged in any manner of boxes, binders, or albums. Online databases, forums, and social media platforms have also given rise to new forms of personal archiving.<ref>Reference></ref>These collections may be shared within a select community or remain completely private. Their physical order and location will always be a reflection of how they were used and the creators’ unique sense of organization, but this logic is may not be easily discernable by anyone other than the creator.

===== Examples =====

* Record collections of numerous prominent authors including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Sylvia Plath], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf Virgina Woolf], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty Eudora Welty] are housed at the [http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/collections/ Mortimer Rare Books Collection] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College Smith College], Massachusetts.
* Author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie Salman Rushdie]'s records, including an installation of his private computer, is housed at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University Emory University's]'s [http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/rushdie1000/ Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library].
* Canadian artist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland Douglas Coupland]'s records are housed at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia University of British Columbia] Library's [http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/douglas-coupland-fonds;rad Rare Books and Special Collections].
* Co-founders of the Vancouver artist-run centre the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_Society Western Front] [http://www.michaelmorris.ca Michael Morris] and [http://vincenttrasov.ca Vincent Trasov]'s joint archive is housed at the [http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/archives/morris-trasov Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery archive].

=== Reading Rooms and Research Spaces ===

[[File:Grande bibliotheque du Quebec-collection nationale.jpg|thumbnail|right|Archives reference room at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_et_Archives_nationales_du_Québec Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec] in Montréal, Québec]]

Reading rooms and research spaces are areas set aside for visitors’ consultation of an archives’ holdings. These rooms are separate from an archives' storage area, where star bring select records for consultation. These rooms are therefore the physical spaces where the public and records meet. They are typically designed with specific lighting and adequate workstations, for example, to maintain an appropriate [http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/publications/downloads/technicalbulletins/eng/TB23-GuidelinesforHumidityandTemperatureforCanadianArc.pdf preservation environment] for material with [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/documents/customer_service_guide_101_reading_room_rules.pdf specific rules] enforced by staff to ensure safe handling. This may include the exclusive use of pencils and paper and securing bags in a locker, for example. In these ways, reading rooms are strictly controlled and mediated access points to information. Reading rooms and research spaces are therefore also social arenas: interactions take place between visitors and records, as well as visitors and staff, and visitors and other visitors. 

How public spaces where information is displayed function as arenas for social interaction is explored in the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curator curation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museology museology]. Museum objects on display are curated to communicate ideas or information on behalf of an institution. The message may also be communicated through the design of an exhibition or layout of the space, intentionally guiding a visitor through the space. As [http://alumni.iupui.edu/associations/socialwork/profiles/silverman.html Lois H. Silverman] explains, that message may not be received as an institution intended. ‘Meaning-making’ is rather, “a process of negotiation between two parties in which information (and meaning) is created rather than transmitted, and ‘meaning’ is in the eyes, head, and heart of the particular beholder.”<ref>Silverman, 161</ref> As social arenas for information exchange, how an individual interprets a message is subject to their experience in that space. 

“The concept of meaning-making provides a useful new approach to understanding visitor experience in museums. It clearly highlights the visitor’s active role in creating meaning of a museum experience through the context he/she brings,”<ref>Silverman,161</ref> and this idea is relevant in the context of archives. Like museums, archives reading rooms are interactive spaces where information is represented and how a record may be interpreted is or digested can be shaped by the space and relationship between visitors and staff. 

==== Case Study ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University New York University]’s [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/ Fales Library and Special Collections] reading room is an example of how public access points to an archive are important social arenas. In acquiring the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl Riot grrrl] archives and bringing it into the custody of an educational institution, how the material and its broader socio-political meaning could be both preserved and made accessible was taken into careful consideration. The ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement and context of creation of the material was successfully kept intact by rethinking the reading room as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-space 'safe space'].<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:Access in this context means both physical and psychological.<ref>Keenan and Darms, 61</ref> Bringing the archives of an intimate, radical feminist community and sub-culture into a public institution raised the issue of finding a balance between “these two 'publics' —the public from whom these personal papers are drawn and the public who uses the collection,” and in turn, “raises questions about access, privacy, and privilege, as well as the protected but complex nature of the safe space that Riot Grrrl sought to establish and that the archive mirrors."<ref>Keenan and Darms, 57</ref> 

:A factor outside of an institutions’ control of visitor meaning-making is memory and self-identity. Silverman identifies three key areas of an individuals’ experience that shape their interpretation of represented information: “special knowledge”, “expectations and norms”, and “life events and situations.”<ref>Silverman, 162</ref> By adhering to the ‘safe space’ concept, the Fales Library and Special Collections reading room facilitates the interaction between patrons and the Riot Grrrl archives with sensitivity and a recognition of this personal element. In so doing, the reading room as a mediated space reflects the politics in which the archives was produced and used. The Riot Grrrl archives at NYU are a case study for the powerful social meaning of reading rooms as public access points and the importance of considering these archival spaces as part of the interpretation of archival holdings.

=== Online Archives ===

Online archives are web-accessible spaces where people and digital material meet. Online archives are established as outreach tools by repositories: a digital face of a brick-and-mortar institution or a space for digitized holdings to be made more widely available. A good example of this type of online archive is the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/our-online-records.htm British National Archives] digital catalogue. 

Online archives can also be found in the form of digital databases not necessarily associated with an archival repository. Databases like [http://rhizome.org Rhizome] focus on collecting subject-specific digital media and rendering more easily searcheable. 

The case studies below focus on another type of archive, that is community-based or grassroots initiatives. They are all interactive spaces established in reaction to current events. The aim is to collect the excess of digital-born information that is too often lost in the vastness of the Internet about an event or subject in one place. In cases like these, the collection and sharing of information in a virtual forum serves to develop community-building and perpetuate memory.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg|thumb|Post-Katrina New Orleans. An example from the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank [http://hurricanearchive.org/collections/show/12 United States Coast Guard Collection]]]

* [http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/ Documenting Ferguson] is a collaborative effort of a team of librarians and archivists associated with the [http://libraries.wsu.edu Washington University Library] and other universities in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis St.Louis, Missouri] area. This database is grown through public contributions of digital-born media relating to the shooting of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown Michael Brown] in August 2014. It is an example of how virtual archival spaces are established in reaction to social events and may lend themselves to grassroots campaigns and efforts for social justice. Virtual spaces such as this case study stand as proof of how archives are evolving in the digital age.

* The [http://hurricanearchive.org Hurricane Digital Memory Bank] is a project based out of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and new Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University], in partnership with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Orleans University of New Orleans] and the Smithsonian Institution's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_History National Museum of American History]. The aim of the Memory Bank is to collect private and public records created in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina Katrina] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita Rita] that hit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States Gulf Coast] of the United States in 2005. This archive includes blog posts and on-the-scene photograph and first-hand testimony and designs itself as a place for building collective memory.

* The [http://911digitalarchive.org 911 Digital Archive] includes media such as photographs, sound bytes, emails, and video clips many dating from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks September 11, 2001] or shortly thereafter. The aim of the archive is to serve as a vehicle for telling the story of the days events. Initial funding came from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation] and was co-organized by the [http://ashp.cuny.edu American Social History Project], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York City University of New York]'s Graduate Center, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rosenzweig_Center_for_History_and_New_Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University George Mason University].

=== Built Heritage ===

Built heritage can be understood as having informational and documentary value as well as aesthetic value. Buildings can be ‘read’ as sources of information about the society and cultural context in which they were built. Architectural features, design choices, or building materials can therefore be conceived of as ‘recorded information’ where the building itself is a record format. The [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN Summer Field School in Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes] run by the [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca School of Architecture] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_University Université Laval], aims to develop skills to “interpret buildings and sites.”<ref>https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/programmes/patrimoine-bati-paysages-culturels.html?L=EN</ref> Approaching a building in this manner introduces a broader notion of how a document is defined and where information can be stored and accessed. Furthermore, if built heritage stands as a record it cannot be institutionalized or submitted to archival processes within a repository. This analysis also prompts an expansion of the notion of archives as a contained space where records are kept. The conclusions of the analyses presented below point out the plurality of knowledge systems beyond the boundaries of archival science and the link that can be drawn between built heritage and record-keeping systems.

==== Case Studies ====

[[File:Grey Nuns nunnery, Montreal.jpg|thumb|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse Montréal, Québec]]

* [https://www.arc.ulaval.ca/enseignants-personnel/professeurs/tania-martin.html Tania Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Research_Chair Canada Research Chair] in Built Heritage and professor at the School of Architecture at the Université Laval, argues that architectural details, for example, stand as evidence of a building’s past use and place in society.<ref>See: Martin, 'Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in ''fin-de-siècle'' Montréal'</ref> She applies this analysis to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Nuns Grey Nuns] Motherhouse former [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent convent] located in downtown [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montréal]. The layout of the Motherhouse, how rooms and wings were designed, is revealing of how the building was used by the nuns and the hierarchy of this community of nuns.<ref>Martin, 213, 215</ref> Building details can also be contextualized within the religious and social culture of the Grey Nuns and Montréal at the time. The Motherhouse can therefore be interpreted as a religious record.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist Journalist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Richler Noah Richler] offers an analysis of the barns and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir weirs] along [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_Neck Digby Neck] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia Nova Scotia]’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Valley Annapolis Valley]. He considered the barns and weirs themselves to be an intrinsic part of the Canadian and local Nova Scotian historical archive, where the built heritage acts as “a script upon the land.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref> Echoing the perspective of Matin above, Richler posits that this broader understanding is particularly relevant and important in the Canadian context. He writes, 

:::“In Canada, we divine our past and read our landscape more often than we know […] We have to do so because so much of our history and so many of our documents are not written—and so we prick up our ears and listen for stories and read the trails and monuments and buildings that are our mute writing upon the land, instead.”<ref>Richler, 27</ref>

=== The Physical Landscape ===

Information is embedded in the landscape. Recording can be conceptual (pointing to features as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic mnemonic devices] in storytelling, prescribing place names) or physical (erecting monuments, signs, drawing maps). The physical landscape can most easily be conceived of as a place where information is recorded and stored when considering the link between memory and place.

[[File:Map of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.jpg|thumbnail|right|Map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain range] crossing Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia]]

==== Case Studies ====

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist Anthropologist] [http://anth.ubc.ca/faculty/julie-cruikshank/ Julie Cruikshank] argues that the glaciers along the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Elias_Mountains Saint Elias Mountain Range] crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Alaska], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon Yukon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia British Columbia] exert an “imaginative force”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> and shape local histories.
: Drawing on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition oral traditions] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_language Tlingit]- and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages Athabaskan]-speaking communities as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_source primary source] material and consulting scientific sources and colonial records, Cruikshank’s findings demonstrate how physical characteristics of a landscape act as mnemonic device. In her view, local knowledge “is produced during human encounters […] It is dynamic and complex, and is often links biophysical and social processes.”<ref>Cruikshank, 3</ref> The physical landscape can therefore be understood as intrinsically linked with the perpetuation of memory and social interactions. I can also be understood as a shaping force on recorded knowledge and a mode of record-keeping.

[[File:Northwest-relief ChilcotinPlateau.jpg|thumbnail|leftt|Map in relief outlining the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin Plateau] in red]]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_history Environmental historian] [http://history.uwo.ca/People/Faculty/turkel.html William Turkel] argues that knowledge can be stored, disseminated, and interpreted via the physical landscape. His study focuses on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_Country Chilcotin region] of central British Columbia of central British Columbia specifically in the current context of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Treaty_Process First Nations' land claims] in British Columbia, resource extraction, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More Native-state relations] in Canada.<ref>For more see work by: legal scholar [http://www.uvic.ca/law/facultystaff/facultydirectory/borrows.php John Borrows] and Mohawk activist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiaiake_Alfred Taiaiake Alfred]</ref> Turkel’s interpretation of the Chilcotin region can be called a “repository”<ref>Wynn, xvii</ref>, having put forward the conclusion that “usable pasts are drawn from material substance of a particular place.”<ref>Turkel, xxiv</ref> Turkel’s environmental and contemporary socio-political lens provides a theoretical framework for understanding how landscapes can ‘preserve’ information, how they come to be infused with social evidence, and how, through human interaction with their surroundings, this information is accessed. Access in this case is arguably simply a matter of perspective.

== Where do Archives Belong? ==

:::''See also: [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]]''; ''[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]'' 

Discussing the challenges inherent in establishing local archives, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haworth Kent Haworth] writes, “Whenever archivists come together to deliberate the acquisition of records and private papers, lip service is paid in a patronizing manner to the principle that records of a particularly local significance should remain in that place.”<ref>Haworth, 33</ref> Where archives are located and their meaning is intrinsically linked with the notion of belonging.

=== Cultural Property ===

Like artifacts and artwork, records are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_property cultural property]. As such, archival material is tied to an individual or community’s sense of identity, relied on for proof of an enduring legacy or for public accountability, or conceived of as a physical counterpart to memory. The concept of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._B._Macpherson possessive individualism] has been applied to communities where, “a group’s existence as a unique individual is believed to rest upon its undisputed possession of property, and that property often comes in the form of historically significant objects. Nations and ethnic groups prove their existence and their worth to the entire world by cherishing their property.”<ref>Handler, 67</ref> Issues such as rightful ownership, [http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalAndDeaccessioningDRAFT.pdf deaccessioning], and [[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|repatriation]] therefore inevitably come into play and are inexhaustible subjects in their own right. Where—and therefore to whom—archives belong is a complicated, broad, and hotly debated topic.

=== Location and Access ===

Where archival repositories and physical access points are is another important topic in this discussion. The location of an archives, or determining where material will or ought to be kept, shapes who can access that material in person. In the Canadian context, for example, there has been a push towards a more regional, decentralized archival system since the 1970s.<ref>Millar, 'Discharging our Debt,' 120-123</ref> A central national archives in a country as geographically huge as Canada is a hindrance to information access. At a more local level, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._Matthews Major James Skitt Matthews], founder and self-appointed first City Archivist of the [http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-of-vancouver-archives.aspx City of Vancouver Archives], gained notoriety for fiercely defending where he believed the archives belonged within the city. Major Matthews argued that the archives he had begun to amass not only had a "proper home", but that home was City Hall.<ref>Keirstead, 92</ref> Centrally located, City Hall was more accessible and kept the archives—the “soul of Vancouver”<ref>Keirstead, 90</ref>—firmly linked, practically and conceptually, to city functions. The purpose-built building that stands today was predicted to be, “much more than a fancy home for the major’s collection. Rather, the building was intended as the cornerstone of the civic government’s records management programme.”<ref>Keirstead, 105</ref>

=== Location and Symbolism ===

The location of an archives lends the institution and the material symbolic meaning. Where material is kept communicates custodianship, for example. A national archives, located in the nations’ capital, sends a message that all material housed there belongs, in some way, to individuals within that socio-political jurisdiction. In keeping with the Canadian example, Canadian archivist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Eastwood Terry Eastwood] notes that the number of archival repositories across the country doubled between approximately 1960 to 1978.<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> Eastwood describes of the 1980s and 1970s that the [http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/10837/11747 1980 Wilson Report] “did not discover why so many primitive archive repositories had relatively recently been established, but one might suppose that all such activity reflected a broadening of the impulse to preserve archival materials as regional and local communities and public and private institutions matured and came to reflect on their past.”<ref>Eastwood, 81</ref> What can be deduced from this local fervor is an effort to bring or keep materials closer to home. On a smaller scale, in 2011 archivist and artist [http://www.denislessard.ca Denis Lessard] took on processing the archive of [http://skol.ca Centre des arts actuels Skol], an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_artist-run_centres artist-run centre] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal Montreal]. [http://skol.ca/programmation/denis-lessard-la-salle-de-traitement-des-archives-sta/ ''La salle de traitement des archives (sta) / Archives processing room (apr)''] established Skol as the first artist-run centre in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec Quebec] to employ a trained archivist.<ref>See: http://skol.ca/en/programming/denis-lessard-archives-processing-room-apr/</ref> The result enables the centre to preserve their archive on-site rather than transfer it to a larger institution, as is common among many smaller archives.<ref>See: http://www.nycarchivists.org/resources/Documents/ArtistsRecordsSymposiumProceedings.pdf</ref>

== Highlighted Further Reading ==

* Basso, Keith H. ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Languages Among the Western Apache''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 
* Cruikshank, Julie. ''Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005. 
* Duranti, Luciana. “Archives as Place.” ''Archives and Manuscripts'', Vol. 24 No. 2 (1996): 242-255. Republished in ''Archives and Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research'', Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007), 1-20.
* Garay, Kathleen and Christl Verduyn eds. ''Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Storing in a Changing Landscape''. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2011. 
* Keenan, Elizabeth and Lisa Darms. “Safe Space: The Riot Grrrl Collection.” ''Archivaria'', issue 76 (Fall 2013): 55-74. 
* Losh, Elizabeth. "Reading Room(s): Building a National Archive in Digital Spaces and Physical Places." ''Literary and Linguistic Computing'' Vol. 19, No. 3 (2004): 373-384. 
* Millar, Laura. "Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." ''Archivaria'' Vol. 53 (Spring 2002): 1-15. 
* Oberdeck, Kathryn. "Archives of the Unbuilt Environment: Documents and Discourses of Imagined Space in Twentieth-Century Kohler, Wisconsin." In ''Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History'', ed. Antoinette Burton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005. 
* Randall, Richard R. ''Place Names: How they Define the World—and More''. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2001. 
* Silverman, Lois H. “Visitor Meaning-Making in Museums for a New Age.” ''Curator: The Museum Journal'', Vol. 38, Issue 3 (September 1995): 161-170. 
* Turkel, William J. ''The Archive of Place: Unearthing Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007. 
* Wiliams, Paul. "Rocks and Hard Places: Locations and Spatiality in Memorial Museums." In ''Memorial Museums: The Global Rush to Commemorate Atrocities''. New York: Berg, 2007. 

== Related Pages ==
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Ancient)|Archives - History (Ancient)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_-_History_(Medieval)|Archives - History (Medieval)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Early_Modern)|Archives - History (Early Modern)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_–_History_(Late_Modern_North_American)|Archives - History (Late Modern North American)]] 
[[Course:ARST573/BC_Archives|BC Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_in_Manitoba|Archives in Manitoba]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Nova_Scotia_Archives|Nova Scotia Archives]]
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_of_Ontario|Archives of Ontario]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Personal_Archives|Personal Archives]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Archives_and_Repatriation|Archives and Repatriation]] 
[[Course:ARST573/Postcolonial_Archives|Postcolonial Archives]]

== References (In progress) ==
<references/>

[[Category:ARST]]
[[Category:ARST573]]
[[Category:Archival Studies]]
[[Category:Archives: The Place]]