ARCHIVAL Storage SUPPLIES Envelopes Acid free Mount Board Acid free Portfolio Boxes Print & Negative Storage Envelopes Polyester Folders Acid Free File Folders Archival Adhesives Acid Free Linen Tape Interleaving Tissue Acid Free Mounting Board Framing Tools & Supplies Custom Matting Service Dry Mounting Supplies Photographic Materials Kodak & 3M Products • Custom Cut UF-3 Plexiglass PrintFile Storage Preservers • pH testing Pens Slide Storage Envelopes • Deacidification Print Shipping Cases • Florescent UV Filtering Light Impressions offers the highest quality conservation products for archival preservation and restoration, framing and mounting, bookbinding and library restoration. We're interested in preserving the past for the future. And providing conservation materials for housing quality art works created today. P.O. BOX 3 0 1 2 ROCHESTER, NY 1 4 6 1 0 Send for our free 64 page Archival Supplies Catalog. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 Prevention Is A* Than Restoration Historians, curators, and preservationists know that the most effective method of preserving valuable books, manuscripts, maps, and other materials is to prevent their deterioration whenever this is possible. We cannot control the condition in which such materials are received or the environmental condi- tions in which they may be stored, but we can and do provide the finest in materials designed to prevent deterioration: acid- free manuscript boxes, file and map folders, protective boxes for rare books and a complete selection of other materials. Our unique lignin-free papers and boards are ideal for many pur- poses—especially for the storage of microfilm and other photo- graphic materials. Write or call for our new catalog and price list. No obligation, of course. Conservation Resources International, Inc. 1111 North Royal St. Alexandria, Virginia 22314 USA 703-549-6610 cn London, EnglandCaracas, VenezuelaBrisbane, AustraliaOttawa, Canada D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 PAPER AND PRESERVATION: No. 5 in a series of discussions on paper products for conservation. Are papers made for permanence necessarily durable as well? Not always Cellulose fibers, the basic con- stituents of paper, are made up of long, polymerized chains of glucose. The longer the chains, the stronger the fibers. And the paper. Over the centuries, paper has been made from a vast variety of raw materials: grasses, hemp, linen, bark, wasps' nests, straw, silk, algae and, of course, wood and cotton. Of these, cotton is one of the purest natural forms of cellulose. Its fibers are long to begin with, and they require less processing—cooking, bleach- ing, beating, washing—so they remain longer and stronger. Durability, as noted by the Amer- ican Society for Testing and Materials (in ANSI/ASTM D 3290) is "the ability of a paper to resist the effects of wear and tear in performance situations. For example, paper currency should be made durable, but permanence is not a problem." Long-fibered papers, such as those made from cotton, are by nature durable. Permanence is also related to fiber length, but in a somewhat different way. While cellulose is inert, it is subject to attack. Heat, light, moisture, vermin, atmo- spheric gases, dust, molds and acids—especially acids— break the chains. The main source of acid in paper is alum. Used for years as a fixative for chemical dyes and for the rosin which sizes the fibers to make them moisture-resistant, any alum permitted to remain in pa- per will quickly destroy the fiber chains. In an astonishingly short time, the paper will self-destruct. Discolored and weakened, it shatters easily, and will even in- fect adjacent papers which are themselves free of acid. Acid-free papers are made with- out alum. A synthetic sizing is used, as well as dyes or pig- ments which require no acid fixatives, so these papers have no internal source of deteriora- tion. Further, in papers made for conservation applications, an alkaline buffering agent is added to neutralize atmo- spheric pollution. These are the papers we call permanent. If their fibers are long at the outset and not short- ened by intensive processing, they are also more durable. The papers and boards sup- plied by Process Materials Corporation for conservation use are all acid-free, to a pH stan- dard of 7 or higher, and buffered against acid deterioration. These include both cotton fiber papers and those made from refined chemical pulp. They range from 100% cotton Archivart* Museum Board, in a subtle range of art- compatible shades, to print pa- pers, acid-free corrugated boards, folding storage con- tainers in a range of shapes and sizes, as well as backing, wrap- ping, filing and restoration materials all designed to meet specific requirements of perfor- mance and permanence. We welcome your inquiry for samples of any of these prod- ucts, and for our comprehensive catalogue, and we invite your comments on the material in these discussions. ARCHMFJ Acid-free conservation products from PROCESS MATERIALS CORPORATION A LINDENMEYR COMPANY 301 Veterans Boulevard. Rutherford NJ 07070 (201) 935-2900 'Archivart is a trademark of Lindenmeyr Paper Corporation. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The American Archivist / Vol. 44, No. 3 / Summer 1981 257 Technical Notes BEN DEWH ITT, .Editor Howard Paper Poster Offer. Howard Paper Mills, Inc., is making a special, limited-time offer to the readers of the American Archivist. For $2 to cover handling and mailing, Howard will send fifteen posters (mostly 17" x 22") featuring the work of famous photog- raphers and artists. To order, send your name, address, and $2 to: Poster Offer JJ, Howard Paper Mills, Inc., PO Box 982, Dayton, Ohio 45401. New West Coast Source for Archival Products. The Hollinger Corporation has opened a new assembly plant in Reno, Nevada, in order to overcome the problem of high shipping costs to the West Coast. The facility will provide archival products for eleven western states and three Canadian provinces. Hollinger estimates that California buyers can save 65 percent of shipping costs previously charged for delivery from their Virginia plant. Catalogs Available. For a catalog including adhesive set tissue, polyester film, conser- vation board, latex-impregnated reinforcing paper, and archival storage boxes, contact: Process Materials Corporation, 301 Veterans Boulevard, Rutherford, NJ 07070. Tele- phone: (201) 935-2900. Pohlig Bros., Inc., offers a catalog of metal-edge archival boxes constructed of solid- fiber century board; the catalog contains technical information about the products. Con- tact: Pohlig Bros., Inc.—Century Division, PO Box 8069, Richmond, VA 23223. Tele- phone: (804) 644-7824. Environmentally Controlled Archival Storage Cupboard. G. Crayfourd and Sons, of London, is producing "The Parish Cupboard" to provide fully vented, stable, storage conditions for registers and records. The equipment was designed in collaboration with the Council for Places of Worship, to conform to requirements of the Parochial Registers and Records Measure of 1978. Their goal was to provide acceptable conditions for the storage of archives without the costly introduction of powered air-conditioning units. Features of the cabinet are: a rust-resistant steel outer shell; a fire-resistant blockboard inner lining with high moisture absorbency and heat insulation for buffered relative hu- midity and temperature within; a venting and circulatory system to allow renewal of air with minimum climatic variation; a panel with fitted hygrometer and thermometer; a security lock and concealed hinges; and adjustable shelves. The cupboard's capacity is Readers are encouraged to send contributions to "Technical Notes." Address them to Ben DeWhitt, NARS(NNR), Washington, DC 20408. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 258 The American Archivist/ Summer 1981 seventeen cubic feet. The manufacturer is interested in marketing the cabinet in the United States. Contact: G. Crayfourd and Sons, 2/4/6 New Mount Street, Stratford, Lon- don E15 3LR, England. Washington Post Available Electronically. The Washington Post can now be received electronically by anyone with a home or office computer, through CompuServe Infor- mation Service of Columbus, Ohio. Subscribers to the home service pay $5 per hour to use the system between 6 P.M. and 5 A.M. and all day on weekends and holidays. The Post is among eleven leading newspapers around the country chosen to go "elec- tronic" through CompuServe's national computer network. For further information contact: Virginia Rodriguez, Public Relations Manager, the Washington Post. Telephone (202) 334-7973. Nuclear Testing for Roof Leaks. Consolidated Protective Coatings Corporation now provides a Nuclear Moisure Detection Service, for analysis of problem areas on roofs. The testing procedure is non-destructive and uses a very safe, low output, radiation source to detect the presence of moisture. It records readings on a detailed blueprint of the roof and can pinpoint areas of leakage and energy loss. The method measures concentration levels as well as the presence of moisture, which can indicate the source of a leak. For further information contact: Consolidated Protective Coatings Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio 44114. Telephone: (216) 771-3258. NCAC Seeks Conservation Data. The National Conservation Advisory Council has un- dertaken a study to quantify the conservation needs of museums, archives, libraries, and historic buildings. In developing an approach, NCAC is seeking information on past sur- veys and reports on collection conditions. Institutions wishing to share information sum- marizing and quantifying the overall condition of collections should contact: Quantifica- tion Committee, National Conservation Advisory Council, A and I 2225, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560. Telephone: (202) 357-2295. New Books on Fire Service. Three new publications for the fire service and other emergency services are available from the National Fire Protection Association. Fire Terms: A Guide to Their Meaning and Use is a practical guide to the definitions of over 4,000 fire service and fire protection terms. It includes 100 illustrations, cross references, alternate usages, and a list of the names and addresses of over 100 federal agencies and national associations. ($10. Catalog No. SPP-60.) Fire Prevention Planning and Leadership for Small Communities, by David A. Lucht, provides steps for planning fire prevention programs involving both fire departments and private citizens. The book also includes fire loss statistics, case studies, listings of over eighty-five resource materials, sample "meeting worksheets," and a directory of programs and gov- ernment agencies. ($4.95. Catalog No. FSP 54.) Hydraulics for Fire Protection, by Harry E. Hickey, can help students solve practical fire protection and extinguishment problems. It is organized into eight subject areas and in- cludes essential definitions and application formulas. An instructor's manual to this text will be available in the Spring of 1981. ($16.50. Catalog No. TXT-6.) All three publications are currently available from the National Fire Protection Associ- ation, Publications Sales Division, Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02269. Telephone: (617) 426-2525. National Archives Reviewing Microfilming Program. After more than forty years of microfilming selected series of records, the National Archives and Records Service has undertaken a comprehensive reassessment of microfilming as a preservation technique. The action follows a sharp increase in microfilming by the National Archives in the past D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 Technical Notes 259 two years, following congressional recommendations to do so. While conceding that mi- crofilm has served a useful purpose in making records available for reference in many places, the Archives wished to study the costs and benefits as well as possible alternative methods. The Archives' current investigation of microfilming is proceeding on five fronts: (1) An eighteen-member Archives Advisory Committee on Preservation, headed by Nor- bert Baer, of the New York Institute of Fine Arts, has established a subcommittee to study alternative forms of copying, and their durability. The subcommittee includes several micrographics experts. A report is due this year. (2) Under a National Archives contract, Coulter Systems, of Bedford, Massachusetts, is surveying transparent electrophotography (TEP) as an archival storage medium. More durable than the silver-gelatin film in common use, TEP is being studied to determine its suitability for preservation microfilming. A report is due shortly. (3) The National Bureau of Standards is conducting a five-year study of the durability of polyester as a microfilm base. Cellulose is the normal base for microfilm. (4) The Archives itself is conducting an evaluation of NARS microfilming policies and procedures to ascertain precise microfilming costs and to identify and estimate alternatives. (5) Finally, an inspection of a representative sample of the Archives' vast microfilm hold- ings has been undertaken. A small but significant number of rolls were found to have reduction and oxidation ("redox") blemishes. These microscopic spots are sometimes found on microfilm stored in less-than-ideal environments, but there are several other known causes. Since these blemishes are progressive, periodic inspections must be con- ducted to avoid serious deterioration and loss of information. While the spots can be prevented and arrested, they cannot, unfortunately, be eradicated. Affected microfilm must be recopied, an expensive remedy. Therefore, before placing full reliance on microfilm, or any other non-paper medium, archivists need to be certain that it will save money and, more important, will outlast the paper. In spite of space problems, which may never really be solved, archivists will remain cautious about recommending destruction of original records. The Archives is also reevaluating traditional microfilming practices, because hidden costs, such as the costs of environmental controls, inspections, and recopying, are increas- ing. In addition, new technologies are emerging that promise alternatives worthy of con- sideration. PHOTOCOPYING IN ARCHIVES T H E MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS, faced with the usual limitations of staff time and institutional resources, has had to accommodate the modern researcher's preference for electrostatic copies of materials. Lengthy travel and extended research at distant re- positories are no longer possible or efficient in many instances. Today, more patrons are researching briefly and photocopying heavily. Archivists are familiar with the difficulties involved in photocopying many primary source materials—letterbooks, pencil originals, carbons, other photocopies, and any doc- ument written in blue ink. Experiments at the MHC proved that the use of a sheet of clear yellow acetate between the machine and the problem document resulted in greatly im- proved copies. The use of yellow acetate serves to mitigate the problem of photocopying any type of blue ink. In effect, the blue ink is transformed into green, and the quality of the photocopy is greatly enhanced. Yellow acetate can also be of benefit when placed behind certain documents, instead of between the item and the photocopying surface; the acetate im- proves the background on which the print appears, especially for thin carbon copies. The implications of such a process are varied. Photocopying requests have inundated many repositories similar in size to the Michigan Historical Collections. It is incumbent D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 260 The American Archivist/ Summer 1981 upon archivists to promote the widest possible use of their holdings, and improvements in photocopying techniques can ease the difficulty of the task. Photocopying with yellow acetate both promotes and facilitates the use of historical documents. Other institutional advantages can be discovered; for example, important documents may now remain safely stored in security areas and not be removed for every photocopy request. Many items are loaned in their original form—diaries, letters, notes—to be photocopied and returned to their owners. It is now possible to create a more legible copy, and one that can be better copied when the occasion arises. Additionally, a photocopy made using yellow acetate is sometimes preferable to the original document. Fragile and fading items may thus be copied onto highly durable paper as invaluable replacements for originals. (TIMOTHY PRENTISS a n d BILL BROWN, Bentley Historical Library, The University of Michigan) Religious Archives: An Introduction by August R. Suelflow Written by a distinguished pioneer in North American religious archives, Religious Archives: An Introduction provides needed guidance in this period of unprecedented growth in the field. Topics addressed include the history and nature of religious archives, the place of the archives in religious organizations, collections policies, basic requirements for an archival program, acquisitions and processing, reference services, exhibits, publications, photoduplication, and microfilming. Over 20 photographs illustrate the test. 17 pages of sample forms are also included. 56 pp., paper. $5.00 SAA members, $7.00 others. Order directly from the Society of American Archivists, 330 S. Wells, Suite 810, Chicago, IL 60606. A postage and handling charge will be added to all non-prepaid orders. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The American Archivist / Vol. 44, No. 3 / Summer 1981 261 The International Scene: RONALD J. PLAVCHAN, Editor WE ARE INDEBTED TO the following correspondents: Australia: R. G. Neale; Austria: Josef Riegler; Bahamas/Caribbean: D. Gail Saunders; Brazil: Maria Amelia Gomes Leite; China: Sun Fangjiu; Federal Republic of Germany: Wolfram Werner; Finland: Eljas Orr- man; France: Michel Duchein; German Democratic Republic: Horst Schetelich; England & Wales: Bruce Jackson; India/SWARBICA: N. H. Kulkarnee; Israel: Haya Wolovsky; Italy: Donato Tamble; Malawi/East and Central Africa: Steve M. Mwiyeriwa; Malaysia/ SARBICA: Zakiah Hanum Nor; Netherlands: T. P. Huijs; New Zealand: Judith S. Hor- nabrook; Nigeria/West Africa: J.C. Enwere; Organization of American States: Celso Rod- riguez; Peru/ALA: Cesar Gutierrez Munoz; Poland: Jerzy Szczepariski; Scotland: Andrew M. Jackson; Senegal/West Africa: M. Saliou Mbaye; Solomon Islands/Oceania: R. G. A. Chesterman; South Africa: Maryna Fraser; Spain: Margarita Vazquez de Parga; Vatican City: Claudio De Dominicis; and Zimbabwe: R. G. S. Douglas. AUSTRALIA Retirement of Ian Maclean. On 2 July 1980, after a long and distinguished career as an archivist, during which he played a leading role in the development of archival practice in Australia and elsewhere, Ian Maclean retired as Principal Archivist, Archives Office of New South Wales. He was for twenty-four years the Commonwealth's chief archives officer, for four years as head of Australia's second largest government archives, the Archives Office of New South Wales, and for five years as archivist of SEATO. Maclean has also acted as an adviser on national archival development, most recently in East Africa, under the aus- pices of UNESCO. Soon after the Commonwealth National Library and the Australian War Memorial were designated as the federal government's first archival authorities, in 1943, Maclean was appointed archives officer in charge of the Library's Archives Section (later Division). He continued to be in charge of the Commonwealth Archives Office, so renamed upon its separation from the National Library in 1961, until 1968, when he resigned as Chief Ar- chivist to assume the SEATO post in Bangkok, Thailand. In 1974, when the Commonwealth Archives Office was renamed the Australian Archives, Maclean again served as chief ar- chivist before becoming Deputy Keeper of Public Records in the Public Record Office, Victoria. Following the separation of the State Library from the Archives Office of New South Wales, in 1976, he became its first full-time Principal Archivist. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 262 The American Archivist/ Summer 1981 New South Wales University Archives. Australia's largest in terms of student body, the University of New South Wales appointed in February 1980 its first university archivist, Laurie T. Dillon. Sisters of Mercy Establishing an Archives. In response to an invitation from the newly- formed National Secretariat of the Sisters of Mercy of Australia, M. Felicitas Powers, RSM, recently retired archivist for the Sisters of Mercy of the Union, Bethesda, Maryland, is on a four to five-month leave of absence to assist in the establishment and preservation of the religious order's archives. The order has been in Australia for over a hundred years and its archives contains a wealth of documentation on the history of the Catholic Church in what was considered missionary territory. National Library Acquires Large Private Film Collection. The National Library of Aus- tralia has acquired the unique private film collections of Harry E. Davidson, internationally known Melbourne film collector, who died in February 1980. The collections consist of 600 Australian Gazette, Cinesound, and Movietone newsreels, as well as 1,200 reels of feature films, shorts, and documentaries. Most notable items include prints of Fritz Lang's 1926 silent masterpiece Metropolis; a German production of Faust by Friedrich Murnau; a 1944 sound feature film of A Yank in Australia (no other copy is known to have survived); several of a series of 1920s industrial documentaries, Made in Australia; and film footage from a 1915 Australian feature film with a World War I theme, A Hero of the Dardanelles. The collections will be preserved in the Library's National Film Archives in Canberra, as the Harry Davidson Collection. BANGLADESH Work Progressing on New Archives Building. In accordance with a second five-year plan (1980-85), the Bangladesh government is erecting two, seven-story buildings in Dacca. The National Archives will take over one of these buildings, whereas the other will become the new National Library. K. M. Karim, Director of Archives and Libraries, intends to occupy a portion of the new archives building in December 1981. The first occupants will be the administrative staff. Completion date of the archives building is 1985. As storage areas are finished, records from the Elephant Road facility and other temporary records storage centers will be transferred in sections to the new archives building. Another project under the second five-year plan is the drafting of proposed legislation for the National Archives system. This will provide the National Archives with a legal basis which currently does not exist in Bangladesh. CANADA PAC Federal Records Centres Celebrate Twenty-fifth Anniversary. As part of the twenty-fifth anniversary celebration of the opening of the first Federal Records Centre on 10 April 1956, the Public Archives (PAC) marked the occasion with a three-day open house for PAC employees, records managers, and senior officials from government institutions in the national capital region. In addition to a tour of the records center, invited guests viewed a special exhibit and a slide and sound presentation. The theme of the anniversary celebration was "Public Archives Records Centres—Twenty-five Years of Service, Expansion and Progress." Pilot Project of the Federal Regional Records Centres. A pilot project has been set up between Information Services and the federal regional records centres in an attempt to promote the dissemination of PAC information, its services to the general public, and PAC publications. Publications produced by information services of the Public Archives have been distributed to the Toronto and Montreal federal regional records centres for display. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The International Scene 263 These publications are available at no charge to the public. The aim of the project is to decentralize the services and goods produced by PAC in Ottawa, to facilitate easy access by people in other parts of Canada, and to make use of valuable resources of the records centers. If the pilot project is successful, and a better link can be developed between Ottawa and the regions, the same procedure will be adopted with the other records centers in Edmonton, Halifax, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. Mennonite Archives Committee Meeting. The archives committee of the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada met at the Mennonite Brethren Bible College in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on 5 December 1980, the day prior to the annual meeting of the society. Members of the committee representing the Centre of Mennonite Brethren Studies in Winnipeg, the Evangelical Mennonite Conference, Rosthern Junior College Archives, Conrad Grebel Col- lege, and the Mennonite Heritage Centre in Winnipeg reviewed various archival programs and microfilming projects in progress. It was also reported that a new archives center is now located at the Evangelical Mennonite Conference office in Steinback, Manitoba. Second Mennonite Genealogy Seminar. The Mennonite Genealogy, Inc., sponsored a second seminar, held on 29 November 1980 at the Mennonite Heritage Centre in Winnipeg. Fifty persons attended and heard John Friesen stress the importance of "fleshing out" the family story, so that it would not only be a "tree," but also include experiences and stories. Name Change for Lutheran Archives in Western Canada. On 11 July 1980, the Con- cordia College Board of Regents approved a name change of the archives of the Alberta- British Columbia District of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The archives is now called the Concordia Lutheran Archives of Western Canada. The archives has been located on the campus of Concordia College, Edmonton, Alberta, since 1962 except for the period 1971-79. Hilda M. Robinson, who was appointed in October 1979, is archivist for both Concordia College and Concordia Lutheran Archives of Western Canada. New Photo Identification Policy in Effect at PAC. The Public Archives is now requiring that publishers and authors who purchase PAC prints for use in publications, cite the image or negative identification code in addition to crediting the Public Archives. This policy is designed to eliminate the need to re-research previously identified images, save valuable staff time for other endeavors, and assure success for requesters in locating the images they have seen in a particular publication. In a period of shrinking budgets and limited staff, this policy is a simple and logical alternative. A number of American archival institutions are adopting the PAC policy. The Special Libraries Association, Picture Division, is compiling a list of institutions which have adopted the identification policy. Such institutions are being requested to send a copy of their policy statement to Project Identification, 108 9th Street, SE., Washington, DC 20003, USA. Positive Results from Pilot Videodisc Project In an effort to find cheaper ways to store, retrieve, and prolong the life expectancy of archival materials, PAC began a pilot project in September 1978 to determine the feasibility of storing material on videodiscs, using laser recording. The system used by PAC in its pilot project consisted of a videodisc player manufactured by Thompson C.S.F. Ltd. of Paris, a vectographic MZ 80 microcomputer, a Hewlett Packard 2645A keyboard and terminal, and a Sony 12-inch television monitor. In the weeks and months that followed, a wide range of sample items from PAC holdings were selected for the experiment. These included prints, paintings, artistic and architectural drawings, photographs, textual documents, medals, posters, maps, and motion pictures. The sample items were then photographed, and the resulting film placed on a videodisc. The results of the pilot project show promise for PAC. It has also shown that a wide variety of materials from the holdings of PAC can be recorded and played back using laser tech- nology. The pilot videodisc project has demonstrated that a technology is available that provides for the economic integration of the storage of moving and still images, in addition D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 264 The American Archivist/ Summer 1981 to the related catalog and control data, in one consolidated machine-readable medium. No other available technology offers such a combination of longevity, accessibility, and univer- sality. International Cooperation Between Canada and Finland. During a recent visit by Olavi Koivukangas, director of the Siirtolaisuusinstituutti (Institute for Migration), Turku, Fin- land, representatives of the Public Archives agreed to closer cooperation between Finland and Canada in the exchange of archival and research information of mutual interest. It was further agreed to designate one institution in each country to serve as a central clearing- house and coordinator in the exchange of data. The Siirtolaisuusinstituutti is already the clearinghouse for Finland with regard to migration studies, and PAC as the national archives of Canada will assume the function for Canada. Xerox Establishes an Archives Program. In December 1980 Xerox Canada, Inc., its head office located in Don Mills, Ontario, established an archives program to support all Xerox operations in Canada. Xerox Canada, Inc., coordinates and directs all facets of the company's Canadian business and has branch offices in all major cities. It also operates the Xerox Research Centre, the Canadian Manufacturing Centre, Xerox Learning Systems, and Ginn and Company. The Records Management Department, in conjunction with the Cor- porate Affairs Department, is responsible for maintaining the company's archives. The secretary of the company will maintain material related to shareholders and directors. As envisioned by the company, the archives program will be an ongoing acquisition process for relevant archival material. For further information about the archives program, contact George Zarra, Manager, Security and Records Management, or Barbara Braznick, Forms Analyst and archivist, Xerox Canada, Inc., 703 Don Mills Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3C 1S2 Canada. CHILE National Archives Sponsors Archives Course. One problem of Chilean archivists has been the lack of a school for archivists. To provide formal training to archivists living outside the national capital area, the Archivo Nacional de Chile is sponsoring a course in archives under the auspices of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Teachers will be sent to the home districts of the students rather than requiring them to come to a central location. The course requires three semesters, which started on 2 March 1981 and will end on 28 June 1982. During the last semester, however, the students will have to spend about twenty days at the Archivo Nacional de Chile, in Santiago. COLOMBIA Second National Congress of Colombian Archivists. The Asociacion Colombiana de Archivistas (ACAR) sponsored the Second National Congress of Archivists, 1-4 October 1980, in Medelh'n. The purpose of this conference was to bring together all Colombian archivists and the heads of various institutions, to stimulate a sense of intellectual commu- nity, and to provide an occasion for the discussion of archival matters. Some of the topics discussed were: archives and its function to history, archival terminology, analysis and eval- uation of documents for disposal, security, free access to and use of archives, microfilming, and the development of archives in Colombia. COSTA RICA New Archivist of the Archivo Nacional. Luz Alba Chacon de Umaria is the new director general of the Archivo Nacional in San Jose. She succeeds Jose Luis Coto Conde, who retired at the end of 1980. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The International Scene 265 Although planning for a new archives building was started under the director-generalship of Coto Conde, the new archivist will lay the cornerstone of the new national archives under construction. The ceremony is scheduled to take place in 1981 and coincide with the hun- dredth anniversary of the establishment of the Archivo Nacional. No date, however, has been set for completion of the new national archives building. EL SALVADOR Newsletter Published for Salvadoran Archivists. Despite the mounting political turmoil in this Central American nation, the Centro Salvadorerio de Ensenanza Archivi'stica (CSEA) celebrated, in April 1981, its first anniversary by publishing the first issue of Sepan Cuantor (January-March 1981). This new quarterly newsletter is intended to provide Salvadoran archivists with relevant news items and articles on subjects of interest. For more information about the newsletter, write to CSEA, Apartado Postal (05), 47-San Salvador, El Salvador, C.A. ENGLAND & WALES Permanent Closing of Chancery Lane PRO Under Consideration. Discussion in the House of Lords has revealed that the government is actively considering the closing of the old Public Record Office (PRO) at Chancery Lane, in London, and the concentrating of the records at the new site at Kew, which at present houses the more modern government departmental records. Several speakers seemed to be more concerned with "convenience" to academic researchers in the central city location, but the Lord Chancellor stated that "There are advantages in keeping public records in one place, and I do not think one ought to overlook desirability of concentration." Sale of Codrington Papers Causes Concern. The recent auction at Sotheby's of the Codrington family papers, which contain much information about the slave trade and plan- tation system in Antigua and Barbuda, has highlighted some problems British archivists are facing. The papers have been stored, cataloged, and repaired in a local record office since 1959, and have now been withdrawn and sold to an unknown private buyer overseas. The first difficulty revealed was the high asking price, which the Gloucestershire RO could not match. At the auction, the selling price was four times its valuation, which meant the price was beyond the reach of the Antiguan government. Only the British government's refusal to grant an export license will now keep the Codrington papers in Great Britain, and this seems unlikely, since it would require someone in the country to match the selling price. The purchase price was not the sole problem. As market values soar for archival materials, more collections will undoubtedly be removed from record offices for sale. At present, it is almost impossible to prevent this, especially since most collections are stored as loans rather than as outright donations. The sale of the Codrington papers has attracted much attention in the press, and various suggestions have been made; but surprisingly few of these suggestions have come from professional archivists. There is, however, general agree- ment that some form of preventative legislation is needed. Code of Practice. The Annual General Meeting of the Society of Archivists, held in London on 2 December 1980, accepted in principle the proposed code of practice, but referred it back to Council for some changes, including more particular attention to the role of the archivist/records manager. (These two positions are not separate disciplines in Great Britain.) Recent events, notably the leakage of information by a staff member in the records center of a nationalized industry, suggest that more guidance and definition is needed for individuals working in this field. Also, the appearance at auction of love letters of Madelaine Smith, presumed murderess of her lover in nineteenth-century Glasgow, has D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 266 The American Archivist/ Summer 1981 raised questions as to how these state records (they were used in evidence at the trial) came into public hands within the past forty years. A Freedom of Information Bill Submitted. A private member's bill to increase public access to government information, including a provision to reduce the present thirty-year rule to a ten-year limitation, was introduced in Parliament by F. Hooley. The first reading of the bill was on 14 January 1981 and the second was on 6 February, but debate has been adjourned. Although the Freedom of Information Bill will almost certainly be opposed by the government, there is some hope that it may be carried if enough Conservative MPs lend their support. Development of Study Groups within the Society of Archivists. After the establishment of the Records Management Group, the Society of Archivists adopted a rule at the 1978 Lancaster Conference permitting study groups. This adoption seems to be leading toward the creation of other kinds of groups that are, perhaps, more clearly described as affinity groups. The society has two study groups: conservation, and records management. There has also been an unofficial affinity group representing local government archivists in the local government trade union, NALGO (National and Local Government Officers Associ- ation). At the 1979 annual conference, at Leicester, a number of archivists from non-local gov- ernment record offices informally met under the title "National, University, and Special Repositories Forum." A steering committee was chosen to consider further action, and subsequently it was decided to seek a more formal status as a study group of the society. Ninety persons attended an open meeting of the renamed "Specialist Repositories Group," held in London in April 1980. The Council of the Society has considered the status of the group twice, and in September 1980 agreed to give support in principle to the formation of a Specialist Repositories Group within the society. Discussions between officers of the society and the groups are under way to draft a constitution for further consideration. Records Management Group Starts Occasional Papers Series. The Records Management Group of the Society of Archivists is preparing to publish a series of occasional papers on specific aspects of Records Management, or problems encountered and solved by members of the group. Michael Cook, archivist of the University of Liverpool, is the general editor of the series. The first paper, by Jill Hampson of the British Steel Corporation, deals with the moving of a records center. Leather Conservation Centre in Final Phase of Establishment The Leather Conservation Centre, incorporated in 1978, is the brainchild of John Waterer, a former leather goods manufacturer, who died in April 1977. This new organization is designed to provide a service to museums and other bodies holding valuable objects made of leather. In addition, the centre will undertake research into methods and techniques and to train conservators in the special skills required in leather restoration and conservation. The Leverhulme Trust Fund has provided a grant of £12,500 to hire a consultant to determine the likely demand for the services of the centre in the museum, archaeological, and related fields. The centre will be located in Hampton Court Palace. New Journal for Catholic Archivists. The first issue of Catholic Archives, a new periodical describing the archives of Catholic religious orders, dioceses, and institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland, was published in March 1981. Cost of the new journal is about £ l . For more information, write R.M. Gard, Editor, 4 Oakland, Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE3 4TQ, England. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY Unpublished Nazi Diaries Soon to be Available for Research. The Munich Institute for Contemporary History has announced that plans are underway to make available to his- D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The International Scene 267 torians some 15,000 previously unknown pages of the private diaries of Joseph Goebbels, propaganda minister of the Third Reich. American military forces had confiscated, shortly after World War II, some 7,000 pages of the diaries pertaining to the 1942-43 period; and these eventually were published in the United States. In 1972, German journalist Erwin Fischer located in Soviet military archives the Goebbels materials, recorded on microfilm, and bought back to the Federal Republic copies of the microfilm. The pages to be made available are part of an estimated 50,000 pages of the Goebbels diaries which he had begun to microfilm shortly before the Reich Propaganda Ministry was destroyed by Allied bombing in March 1945. Soviet troops found the diaries in the Berlin bunker, where both Goebbels and Adolf Hitler committed suicide in the final hours of the Third Reich, and transferred the diaries and other captured Nazi items to Soviet military archives. Controversial Documentary Aired on German Television. The Bavarian Television Net- work sponsored in January and February 1981 a politically sensitive, three-part documen- tary entitled "Flight and Expulsion," detailing complaints of mistreatment from Germans driven out of Eastern Europe at the end of World War II. The documentary blended previously unpublicized film from American, Soviet, and Czechoslovak archives with first- person accounts of middle-aged or elderly Germans who had been forced from their homes by people who had suffered Nazi atrocities. The first segment, televised on 29 January 1981, dealt with the forced exodus of Germans from East Prussia, now part of Poland and the Soviet Union; the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia; and from Romania and Yugoslavia. After this first part, Czechoslovak officials filed a formal protest with the West German Embassy in Prague, and Czechoslovakia's Communist Party newspaper Rude Pravo de- nounced the series as one-sided and designed "to revive revanchism." ITALY Church Archivists Meet in Brescia. The Ecclesiastical Archives Association held its bien- nial meeting (4-7 November 1980) at the Instituto Paolo VI in Brescia, near Milan. The theme of the thirteenth conference was "Today's Ecclesiastical Archives." Participants included church archivists from Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Yugoslavia, and several other European countries. Coincidental with the conference was the release of a volume of the association's journal, Archiva Ecclesiae. This issue contained the proceedings of the twelfth biennial conference, held in Naples in 1978. The Italian Ecclesiastical Association Seeks American Contacts. The Associazione Ar- chivistica Ecclesiastica has expressed interest in establishing contacts with similar organiza- tions of church archivists in the United States. For more information, write to the Associ- ation, Piazza S. Calisto, 16-00153 Roma, Italia. Aerial Photography Exhibit at the British School. The Central Institute for Catalog and Documentation of the Ministry for the Cultural Property, organized at the British School, Rome, an exhibit entitled "Aerial Photography—from war material to cultural property." This exhibit, held 24 June-—10 July 1980, consisted of aerial photographs made by the Royal Air Force during World War II in Italy. This photographic archives has become an important cultural resource for archaeology, geography, and urban and environmental studies. Loreto Medieval Conference Held. The Archivio di Stato di Napoli sponsored an inter- national conference, held at Loreto, 28-31 October 1980. The theme of the meeting was "Southern Italy Society in the Parchment Documents of Montevergine." Special Italian and Anglo-American Exhibit. The Palazzo Braschi (Rome Museum) was the site of a special exhibition on "English Romantic Poets and Italy." Promoters of this exhibit include the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association, the Italian Ministry for Cultural D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 268 The American Archivist/ Summer 1981 Property, the British Council, and the Municipality of Rome. The exhibition, which ran from 16 December 1980 to 31 January 1981, attempted to underline the particular signif- icance of the cultural interrelations between Italy and the Anglo-American world since the last century. Many cultural institutions, archives, libraries, and private individuals contrib- uted documents and artistic works. NEW ZEALAND Fourth Annual ARANZ Conference. The Archives and Records Association of New Zealand (ARANZ) held its fourth annual conference and general meeting in Auckland's Institute and Museum, 29-31 August 1980. The general theme during the conference was the immigration and settlement in the Auckland region. During the general meeting, dis- cussion centered on the scheduling for retention of archives, and a strong resolution con- demning the National Library's intention to destroy newspapers in its custody after micro- filming. Delegates approved a resolution to keep the current format and frequency of the ARANZ official bulletin, Archifacts, but to increase subscriptions to NZ $ 10 (individual) and NZ $15 (institutional) for the year beginning 1 April 1981. A feature of the conference was a resolution to promote archives in the Auckland area. Jolyon Firth, deputy mayor of Auckland City, had urged the establishment of a polytechnic course for volunteers (retirees, housewives, and hobbyists) that would provide a sufficiently trained workforce for appraisal and processing. He also suggested the formation of a steer- ing committee to serve as an Auckland Regional Archives Council in which the National Archives' Auckland appointee would be the chief executive officer. Conference participants enthusiastically adopted this suggestion and set up a steering committee, which then pro- ceeded to take steps to provide a training course for curators of archives, and other inter- ested individuals. The course will be conducted by ARANZ in conjunction with the Uni- versity of Auckland Centre for Continuing Education with support from the National Archives. Fifth ARANZ Branch Formed. The New Zealand Historical Association sponsored a seminar on Canterbury regional and provincial history, in Christchurch, on 24 August 1980. From this seminar about thirty-five interested persons decided to form a Canterbury branch of ARANZ, and set up a steering committee. This is the second South Island ARANZ branch. Proposed Housing of the National Archives Stirs Debate. Early in 1980 ARANZ dis- tributed to all members a circular outlining current government proposals for the accom- modation of the National Archives. In the circular, ARANZ expressed concern that a major proposal of the 1978 Smith Report—provision of a separate and specifically designed ar- chives building—was to be abandoned. Members were requested to convey their sentiments to the minister of internal affairs. Since the initial response, the ARANZ council is reportedly disturbed to learn that its members have received a form letter from the office of the minister suggesting that the expressed alarm is needless. According to the letter, the best possible solution to the housing of the National Archives has been adopted—that is, the National Library Building. Furthermore, the letter implies that the ARANZ position has been misdirected The council has responded to the letter and concentrated on countering three of the minister's major arguments: the alarm is needless, the National Library pro- posal is the best possible solution under the circumstances, and the position taken by ARANZ is ill-considered. The ARANZ position in the controversy is contained in Archifacts No. 15, n.s. (September 1980). NIGERIA First Seminar on Archives/Records Management Archival affairs in this West African country is under the Federal Ministry of Social Development, Youth, Sports and Culture. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The International Scene 269 Although the National Archives has existed for almost a quarter of a century, archivists have had to justify to government officials the usefulness of the Archives to Nigerian society. To publicize the existence and value of the National Archives, Nigerian archivists at their first national conference, held 28 February-2 March 1979, in Kano, agreed to sponsor a seminar on archives and records management. Eighty people from various segments of Nigerian society attended the seminar, held in Port Harcourt, 10-13 November 1980. The theme of the seminar was "The Nation and Her Records." Sponsors sought four objectives: (1) to stress the importance of maintaining accurate records of all public and private insti- tutions, (2) to promote greater awareness of the kinds of information available at the Na- tional Archives and the access rights of the general public to that information, (3) to dis- courage the sale of historical manuscripts to non-Nigerians, and (4) to mobilize public opinion in seeking passage of new archival legislation. One result of the successful seminar was a resolution to expand participation in any subsequent conferences or seminars. Ini- tially, invitations will be sent to all English-speaking states in West Africa, and later to all members of the West African Regional Branch of ICA (WARBICA). PERU PGI Pilot Project on Records Management The Peruvian government has accepted a proposal of UNESCO's General Information Programme (PGI) to initiate a pilot project on records management in cooperation with the Archivo General de la Nacion. The project is intended to assist a history-oriented national archival agency in developing a modern records management program, to provide not only basic and traditional archival services but also new and expanded user-oriented services to governmental agencies. Assistance will be limited to the creation within the capital region of a records center to serve as a model for other records centers in a future network at the national, provincial, and local govern- mental levels. [Unisist Newsletter 8, no. 4 (1980)] Cortes Mission to Peru. Vicenta Cortes Alonso, Inspectora General of the Spanish Ar- chives and UNESCO expert, visited Peru, 22 May-12 August 1980, as part of the UNESCO RAMP (Records and Archives Management Program) Pilot Project. During her visit, the Inspectora General toured the Archives of Administration Publica and the departmental archives in La Libertad, Cajamarca, and Arequipa. She met and talked with various officials about the administration of documents. Exhibition of Historical Documents. The Banco Continental, in collaboration with the Academia National de la Historia and the Archivo General de la Nacion, organized an exhibition of significant historic documents in Peruvian history. The documents were on display, 14-29 August 1980, at the bank's office in Lima. POLAND Franco-Polish Archival Exhibit. As a prelude to the larger joint Franco-Polish exhibit to be opened in Paris in 1982, Polish archivists opened in Warsaw, on 12 September 1980, a smaller exhibit on scientific and cultural relations between France and Poland. Silver Jubilee of the Central Archives of Mechanical Documentation. The Archiwum Dokumentacji Mechanicznej, Warsaw, celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary, in 1980. To mark the occasion, the Archives issued a guide on the archival fonds and an audio cassette of sound recordings relating to Warsaw and its history. In addition, the Archives organized a popular scientific conference and a photographic exhibit entitled "From an Old Album." Polish television broadcast three special programs on the work and resources of the Ar- chives, and Polish newspapers carried numerous stories on the celebration of the silver jubilee. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 270 The American Archivist/ Summer 1981 Exhibition on the 1830 Polish Revolution. In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the short-lived Polish revolution against Czar Nicholas I, a documentary exhibit was organized in Warsaw's Archeological Museum in November 1980. More than 140 historical documents were on display, showing the full course of events from immediately preceding the insurrection to its consequences. Also on exhibit was Wojciech Jastrzebowski's treatise entitled The Leisure Moments of the Polish Soldier: Thoughts of Alliance Among Civilized Nations. Historians have generally recognized this treatise as describing the archetype of the League of Nations. TURKEY UNESCO Report on Modernization of the Basjbakanlik Ar§iv. At the request of the Turkish government, Ivan Borsa of the Magyar Orszagos Leveltar (National Archives of Hungary) visited Turkey, 1-14 April 1980, as a UNESCO consultant. His mission was "to study the present situation of the National Archives in Istanbul, giving particular attention to the legislation now in force and the structure, functions, and activities of the various services." Borsa limited his survey in Istanbul to the Bas,bakanlik Ars,iv (Archives of the Prime Minister's Office), which is the national repository for most of the surviving archives of the former Ottoman Empire. The Bas,bakanlik Arsjv operates independently of the National Archives of the Turkish Republic, in Ankara. The consultant's findings and rec- ommendations were published by UNESCO in October 1980 as a technical report, which contains the interesting point that the situation of the Archives has changed little since the UNESCO technical assistance mission visited Turkey and made recommendations in 1968. VATICAN CITY Expansion of the Vatican Secret Archives Completed. In October 1980, Pope John Paul II solemnly dedicated a new underground addition to the Vatican Secret Archives. The dedication coincided with the one hundredth anniversary of the 1881 opening by Pope Leo XIII of the Vatican Secret Archives to scholarly research. The new, huge two-level reinforced concrete underground addition, situated under the Cortile della Pigna and alongside the old archives, is surrounded by the building that houses the Vatican museums. Construction work was begun in 1975. The new addition is equipped with the latest in archival shelving, as well as security and smoke detection systems; and temperature and humidity are precisely controlled to preserve the most fragile documents. The capacity of the new addition is about equal to that of the old archives, so storage space of the Vatican Secret Archives has now been almost doubled from thirty to fifty-six miles of shelves. Vatican archivists expect the new facility to serve the needs of the Vatican for the next fifty years. Vatican Opens Archives for Historic Exhibition. With little prior announcement, Pope John Paul II opened, on 4 April 1981, the first public exhibition of selected items from the Vatican Secret Archives. The exhibit, consisting of more than 230 priceless historic docu- ments, marks not only completion of the major new addition to the Archives, but also celebrates the centennial of the opening of the Secret Archives to a limited number of qualified scholars. The collection of letters, manuscripts, and papers are on exhibit for two hours a day through the rest of the year, in the entrance hall of the expanded Archives. Among the most impressive items on display is a 1246 letter from Genghis Kahn to Pope Innocent IV, written in both Persian and Arabic, inviting the pontiff to visit the Mongol emperor. Another document is a huge parchment, dated 13 July 1530, addressed to Pope Clement VII and signed by eighty-five British Lords of the Realm petitioning the pope for an annulment of the marriage bonds between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The International Scene 271 INTERNATIONAL Training in Microfilm Technology Available to International Archivists. The Genea- logical Society of Utah has reached an agreement with ICA whereby the Genealogical Society will provide training in micrographics to groups of archivists from foreign countries. There is no cost for this training, but travel costs to Salt Lake City and living expenses must be borne by the trainee or the sponsoring government or institution. Funds for these purposes can be secured from many organizations, and the Genealogical Society will arrange eco- nomical accommodations in Salt Lake City to lessen the burden on any sponsor. A knowl- edge of the English language is not a prerequisite for this training, applications for which should be submitted to the ICA Executive Secretary, 60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois, 75003 Paris, France. ICA Bureau Meeting, 1980. The ICA Bureau, governing body of the Executive Com- mittee, met at the Magyar Orszagos Leveltar (National Archives), Budapest, 1-6 May 1980. At this meeting the Bureau accepted the applications for membership from the People's Republic of China and from the Solomon Islands. Items discussed include reorganization of the Committee for Archival Development (CAD), the Publications Committee, and the Secretariat, to achieve better coordination and implementation of their programs; creation of three additional positions in the Secretariat (secretaries for development, publications, and standardizations); and support of efforts to establish ICA regional branches in Equa- torial Africa and in the South Pacific. It was also reported to the Bureau that UNESCO intends to increase its action in the archives field during the 1981-83 triennium, especially through implementation of the RAMP program. First Meeting of FID Committee on Social Science Information & Documentation (FID/ SD). During the 40th Congress and Conference of the International Federation for Doc- umentation (FID), held in Copenhagen, 12-23 August 1980, the Social Science Information & Documentation Committee (FID/SD) met for the first time, 15-16 August 1980. Parti- cipants for the two-day meeting came from Canada, Finland, Federal Republic of Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, United States, international or- ganizations of CIDSS (International Committees for Social Science Information and Doc- umentation), and the League of Arab States. The committee decided to draft a comparative study of the information needs of high- level decision making bodies, and ways to meet them, and a comparative study of nonprofit and commercial organizations in social science information. In the opinion of the committee, one of its most important duties is to promote contact with international organizations. The committee has already established contacts with several organizations including IFLA (In- ternational Federation of Library Associations), UNESCO, and various FID committees. ALA Newsletter Fills a Need. On 28 August 1980, the executive secretary of the Aso- ciacion Latinoamericana de Archivos (ALA) began a new service for members. Latin-Amer- ican archivists have long acknowledged a need for more communication among themselves, especially about what is taking place in the different countries in the area. Publication of the ALA newsletter, Nota Informativa, is intended to remedy this situation. Eighth Anniversary of the Founding of ALA. Despite numerous financial and other problems, ALA celebrated, on 6 April 1981, its eighth year in existence. In a letter to the membership (Nota Informativa, No. 13), Guillermo Durand Florez, ALA president, recalled the difficult years and expressed hope in the future vitality of the association by pointing out the existence of the newsletter. Colloquium on the Professional Situation of Latin-American Archivists. Under the sponsorship of ALA, the International Council on Archives, and the Brazilian National Archives, a colloquium on the professional situation of Latin-American archivists was held, D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 272 The American Archivist/ Summer 1981 5-8 August 1980, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Those persons who attended the meeting represented a cross-section of the profession in Latin America, as well as ICA, the Orga- nization of American States, the Archivos de Espana, and the Centro de Informacion Do- cumental in Madrid. During the four-day meeting, a wide range of profession-related topics were discussed and a series of recommendations drafted. Some of the topics included official recognition of specific university degrees, archival training, closer cooperation between government and archives, proper government funding of archives, professional associa- tions, document preservation, and establishment of national archives systems. ADP Seminar for Third World Archivists Co-sponsored by Two ICA Committees. The ICA Automation Committee and the Committee on Archival Development co-sponsored an ADP (automated data processing) seminar for senior personnel of national archival insti- tutions in the more developed countries of the Third World. It was held at University College, London University, 10-12 September 1980, to take advantage of the presence of archivists who were converging upon London for the Ninth ICA Congress (15-19 Septem- ber 1980). Seven Third World countries (Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Singapore, and Yugoslavia) sent representatives to the two-day seminar. Topics covered included an introduction to computer technology and terminology, the management of machine-readable records, administrative uses of automation, and archival controls through the use of automated systems. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The American Archivist / Vol. 44, No. 3 / Summer 1981 273 News Notes F. L. EATON and THOMAS E. WEIR, JR., Editors SEND NOTES FOR PUBLICATION to the News Notes editor, the American Archivist, Na- tional Archives Building, Washington, DC 20408, or to one of the following reporters: State and Local Archives to Richard J. Cox, Records Management Division, Department of Legislative Reference, City of Baltimore, MD 21202; Religious Archives to John R. Woodard, P.O. Box 7414, Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem, NC 27109; Scientific and Technical Archives to Arthur R. Abel, National Park Service, Edison National Historic Site, Main Street and Lakeside Avenue, West Orange, NJ 070502; Business Archives to Linda Edgerly, 103 W. 75th Street, New York, NY 10023; State and Regional Archival Associations to Alice Vestal, Special Collections Department, Main Library, Room 610, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221; and Manuscript Repositories to Peter J. Parker, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Manuscripts Department, 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. The Charles Babbage Institute for the History of Information Processing has se- lected the University of Minnesota as the site of its permanent home. The institute already has an active program including archival preservation and fellowship awards. Archivists at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York, have prepared a summary of documentary material available in the in- stitute's archives about Nazi Germany, World War II, and the Holocaust. A de- scription of relevant materials begins with the May 1980 issue (No. 12) of Library &f Archives News, and is continued in the December 1980 issue. The Chicago Public Library is establish- ing a "blues archives" to be housed in the Music Section of the library's Fine Arts Division. The library will first collect rec- ords and tapes of recordings of Chicago blues artists. Future acquisitions may in- clude master tapes of recordings and cop- ies of correspondence and contracts be- tween artists and records producers and between composers and sheet-music pub- lishers. Other future projects might in- clude oral history, videotapes of perfor- mances, sheet music (published or in manuscript), posters, photographs, clip- pings, and pamphlets. In March 1981, a "scrapbook" exhibi- tion illustrating the lives of Italian-Ameri- cans, residents of ten Chicago area neigh- borhoods and suburbs, opened at the Chicago Public Library Cultural Center. Entitled "Italians in Chicago: Collections D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 274 The American Archivist/ Summer 1981 from Three Generations, 1880-1965," the exhibition displays for the first time photographs, documents, films, and arti- facts collected during a two-year research project based at the History Department of the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle. The project was funded by a grant from NEH. An archives for The Cleveland Clinic Foundation was established by its board of governors, effective 1 January 1981. Founded in 1921, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation is one of the largest medical group-practices in this country. Its facilities include an outpatient clinic, a 1,000 bed hospital, a research division, and an edu- cational foundation that provides post- graduate training for graduate and prac- ticing physicians. More than 250,000 patients are treated annually by 300 phy- sicians in more than forty medical and surgical specialities. The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Ar- chives will house institutional records and personal papers of professional staff, ad- ministrative officers, and members of the board of trustees, reflecting contributions made to the foundation, the community, and the development of the medical profession. Inquiries should be directed to Mrs. Carol M. Kelleher, Archivist, The Cleve- land Clinic Foundation Archives, 9500 Eu- clid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106. Tele- phone: (216)444-2200. The Regional History Center at North- ern Illinois University, with the assistance of an NEH grant, has recently completed a three-year project to collect manuscript materials documenting the history of the northern Illinois region. With the comple- tion of the grant period, the center became a fully integrated department within the university and contains three major collec- tions: regional collections, university ar- chives, and the local public records collec- tion that is a part of the Illinois Regional Archives Depository System. The center's SPINDEX-generated guide will be com- pleted in 1981. For additional information please contact Regional History Center, 268 Swen Parson, Northern Illinois Uni- versity, DeKalb, IL 60115. Telephone: (815) 753-1513. To help stimulate the growth and devel- opment of local historical societies in the United States, the American Jewish His- torical Society (AJHS) has published a list- ing of local, state, and regional Jewish his- torical societies. Copies are available to individuals and groups, upon request. AJHS hopes the lists will serve as catalysts to action, because the information pro- vided includes data on programming and ancillary activities. For further informa- tion, write: AJHS, 2 Thornton Road, Wal- tham, MA 02154. The Council of Archives and Research Libraries in Jewish Studies (CARLJS) sponsored an archival conference in May at Shearith Israel, Spanish-Portuguese syn- agogue in New York City. The conference included seminars and workshops in- tended to acquaint federation executives, librarians, archivists, and lay people from the New York and Philadelphia areas with the importance of saving historic Jewish records. The Hispanic Division, Library of Con- gress, held a two-day workshop, 29-30 January, on a proposed national-level "Guide to Hispanic Manuscripts in the United States." Twenty-four people at- tended the workshop, representing major libraries and archives from ten states, as well as the National Archives, the Organi- zation of American States, the Manuscript and Hispanic Divisions of the Library of Congress, and The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections. The workshop was organized by the Conference on Latin- American History and funded by an NEH grant. After papers were presented dis- cussing different types of repositories and earlier descriptions of material, the parti- cipants resolved that a new guide should be prepared by the Conference on Latin- American History. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 News Notes 275 "America's Library," an audiovisual presentation used to orient visitors to the Library of Congress, is now available in a new format that makes it easier to distrib- ute. The presentation uses over 400 slides and nine projectors. The version for gen- eral use is on 16mm. film or videotape and is available from Film, Inc., 733 Green Bay Rd., Wilmette, IL 60091. The eighteen- minute film presents a brief history of the Library, together with a sampler of its holdings from dime novels to the Guten- berg Bible, including Houdini's library, Whitman's poetry, Beethoven's scores, early maps, manuscripts, prints, and pho- tographs. An accompanying study guide is provided for teachers who wish to use the film to supplement class work in American history, government, literature, or art. The Library of Congress is undertaking projects to develop supplemental manuals to two chapters of the Anglo-American Cat- aloguing Rules, 2d edition. The revision of chapter 8 (Graphics) is intended to apply to individual two-dimensional pictorial works such as prints, drawings, paintings, posters, photographs, negatives, transpar- encies, or slides; groups of such objects is- sued in sets or portfolios; photographic or photomechanical reproductions of such works, whether single or in sets; and col- lections or reproductions of such works organized around a person, family group, or corporate body, or gathered together because of the creator or a thematic coher- ence. A draft of the manual will be avail- able this summer, and comments are solic- ited. For a copy of the revisions of chapter 8, or for further information, write to Eliz- abeth Betz, Picture Cataloging Specialist, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540. A revision of chapter 4 (Manuscripts) is also underway. For further information write to Steven Hensen, Senior Manu- scripts Cataloger, Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540. In January 1981, the Emergency Board of the Louisiana State Legislature ap- proved a $25,000 appropriation to the Louisiana State Archives and Records Service for a conservation laboratory. The archives also has initiated a program for the microfilming of privately held histori- cal photographs and postcards. Cincinnati, Ohio, and Baltimore, Mary- land, have been chosen as the two cities to receive NEH grants to establish Metro His- tory Fairs. This innovative educational program adapts the science-fair model to history as a way of involving large numbers of metropolitan-area students in research- ing their family and community heritage. The program will work with teachers and students in area junior and senior high schools. Student projects may take a variety of forms—exhibits, performances, movies, or papers—and will be judged by a wide range of community representatives. The winners will be eligible for statewide and national competition as part of History Day. When Henry Kissinger removed tran- scripts of his telephone conversations from the Department of State, at the end of his tenure, and placed them in the Library of Congress, a number of organizations rep- resenting journalists and historians sued him for return of the transcripts as federal records. If the transcripts could be re- moved from the Department of State as non-record material, access was no longer attainable through the Freedom of Infor- mation Act. Lower courts affirmed the po- sition of the plaintiffs; but the Supreme Court decided in 1980 that the plaintiffs had no standing in court in the matter, and that the question of the transcripts' status as federal records was to be decided within the government. The State Department asserted that as the creating agency it had the sole respon- sibility for making the decision. The Na- tional Archives and Records Service con- tended that the archival agency should make such determinations. NARS and the General Services Administration, of which NARS is a part, then tried to resolve the problem through negotiation with State. The parties could not agree. In such cases of impasse, the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice decides. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 276 The American Archivist/ Summer 1981 The January 1981 opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel stated that nothing in the governing statutes required an agency to follow the NARS decision as to whether documents are federal records, or even to allow GSA and NARS to participate in the identification process. The impact of this opinion goes far beyond the issue of Kis- singer's transcripts by denying NARS final authority to determine what constitutes of- ficial records, and placing that authority with the creating agency. NARS has gen- erally operated under the assumption that it had a role in determining the status of records. GSA plans to draft remedial leg- islation aimed at nullifying the Justice De- partment's decision and clarifying the au- thority of NARS. Neiman- Marcus has begun a search for material to document its seventy-five year history. Richard Marcus, Chairman, stated that the collection of records and memor- abilia will be used to establish a permanent display at the Neiman-Marcus store in Dal- las, about the history of the company and of retailing. Temporary displays reflecting special events will be prepared as well. The Neiman-Marcus Archives will be "intro- duced" in 1982, during the company's anniversary celebrations. It is intended that the documentation will be made available to the public, especially to students of re- tailing. The photograph on the cover of this issue of the American Archivist is of Stanley Marcus, founder of Neiman-Mar- cus, and was featured on a poster asking employees to bring in material that might be useful to the archives. The New Hampshire Historical Society has an interesting and imaginative pro- gram to preserve its map collection. The society encourages people to "adopt-a- map" and pay for the necessary treatment to ensure the map's continued preserva- tion and usefulness. At its 10 December 1980 meeting, the Ar- chivists' Round Table of Metropolitan New York elected its first officers: Michael Lutzker, New York University, chair; Anne Van Camp, Chase Manhattan Bank, vice chair; Mary B. Bowling, Columbia Univer- sity, secretary/treasurer. Founded in 1979, the organization meets monthly during the academic year for a social hour followed by varied programs of archival and local in- terest, frequently centered around tours and introductions to area repositories. Yearly dues are $3. Checks should be pay- able to Archivists' Round Table of Met- ropolitan New York, and sent to Mary B. Bowling, 800 Butler Library, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027. Deering Lumber, Inc., of Biddeford, Maine, has supported an oral history pro- gram run by the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History, at the Univer- sity of Maine. The program included a se- ries of interviews with river drivers who worked for predecessor companies on the Saco River. The last drive took place in 1943. Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, has announced plans to produce a microfilm edition of all surviving catalogs published by motion picture production and distribution companies before 1908. These catalogs frequently provide elabo- rate descriptions of films offered and con- tain information not obvious from the con- tent of a film, such as the date and location of production, names of people in the film, and information about plots and charac- ters. These catalogs describe films both lost and extant. The City of San Diego initiated a com- prehensive records-management program in August 1980 to be administered by the city clerk. Based on an initial review of the state of the records by its records manage- ment officer, many problems have been identified: the inadequacy of the current records retention schedule in meeting legal and administrative requirements; inappro- priate records classification systems that reduce retrieval capabilities; inefficient storage space to accommodate additional records; and technological alternatives to records storage. The records management officer is working closely with department heads in D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 News Notes 277 solving records problems and developing policies, standards, and procedures for program implementation. The Texas County Records Inventory Project, in conjunction with the Texas State Library, Archives Division, com- pleted and released for distribution thir- teen county records inventories in 1979, 1980, and January 1981. The project is responsible for cataloging records housed in courthouse and storage areas in the 254 counties of Texas. The inventories serve as valuable reference sources for researchers, and aid county officials in establishing a records management system as provided for by law. In 1979, inventories of Fayette (volumes 1 and 2), Guadalupe, Hidalgo (volumes 1 and 2), Kenedy, Llano, Schleicher, Ster- ling, Travis (volumes 1 and 2), and Van Zandt counties were published. In 1980 the Harrison, King, and Throckmorton County inventories were published. The Orange County inventory was published in January 1981. Inventories completed and awaiting publication at the Texas State Library are Bosque, Brazoria (volumes 1 and 2), Chambers, Galveston (volumes 1, 2, and 3), Knox, Lamar, Matagorda, and Milan coun- ties. The project, begun in 1973, has pub- lished inventories of fifty-four Texas coun- ties, and an additional forty-one counties are in some phase of the inventory process. Inquiries regarding the project may be addressed to the Texas County Records Inventory Project, Box 5344 NT Station, Denton, TX 76203. Inventories may be or- dered through the Local Records Division, Texas State Archives, Box 12927 Capitol Station, Austin, TX 78711. 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JBL Send for Free Brochure. P H O T O F I L E 2000 Lewis Avenue • Zion, Illinois 60099 • (312) 872-7557EMS SUPPLY CO. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The American Archivist/ Vol. 44, No. 3 / Summer 1981 279 The Society of American Archivists ANN MORGAN CAMPBELL, Editor Minutes: Council Meeting, 27 September 1980 President Maynard Brichford called the meeting to order in the Julep Room of the Netherland Hilton Hotel, Cincinnati, Ohio, at 7:00 P.M. Present were Vice President Ruth W. Helmuth, Treasurer Mary Lynn McCree, and Council members Edmund Berkeley, Jr., Lynn Bonfield, Frank G. Burke, Shonnie Finnegan, Meyer H. Fishbein, Richard H. Lytle, and Paul H. McCarthy, Jr. Virginia C. Purdy, Editor and Council member-elect, and Ex- ecutive Director Ann Morgan Campbell attended without vote. Council member David B. Gracy II did not attend. The agenda for the meeting was adopted. The meeting began with a review of the report on the Council's dues increase proposal, to be presented by McCree and McCarthy at the Open Forum with SAA Officers and Council on 1 October 1980. PRESIDENT'S REPORT. President Brichford reported that the membership of the Stan- dard Reporting Practices Task Force, chaired by Katherine Emerson, is almost complete. The group will hold its first meeting in Cincinnati. The Joint Committee on Archives of Science and Technology has submitted a proposal to NHPRC for additional funding for its activities. The proposal was not provided to the Executive Committee of the Society in advance of its submission. Procedures for obtaining grant funding approved by Council in 1979, require that all proposals for extra funding be received by the Executive Committee. The Constitutional Revision Task Force, chaired by J. Frank Cook, will hold its first meeting in Cincinnati. The group has already begun to conduct its business by mail, al- though very few suggestions have been received from the membership. TREASURER'S REPORT. McCree reported that the Society's financial performance in the last fiscal year was somewhat better than had been expected due to two major factors: (1) sales of publications exceeded projections, (2) staff time devoted to grant-funded activ- ities was greater than had been anticipated. However, the year still ended with a deficit of around $9,000. The treasurer also reported that all of the Society's stock portfolio had been sold over the past few months. A small profit was made on the investment. Additionally, a small return in dividends of approximately 8 percent per annum was realized. The funds are now invested in money market certificates which will return over 11 percent per annum. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 280 The American Archivist/ Summer 1981 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT. Campbell reported that the Society received a grant of $ 18,670 from the Council on Library Resources to support a pilot project in the field of institutional evaluation. A task force headed by William Joyce will implement this project. Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler has joined the Society's staff to conduct the Basic Archival Conservation Program, funded by NEH. The plan of work entails basic workshops, con- sultant visits, and the preparation of a basic manual. Another project discussed by Council in 1979, defining procedures for dealing with rec- ords of United States Senators, may be sponsored by the Organization of American His- torians. Campbell reported that twelve new publications have been issued by the Society in the past twelve months. They are available for examination at SAA's booth in the exhibit area. The meeting was recessed at 10:10 P.M. 28 September 1980 Council convened at 10:30 A.M., 28 September 1980. All persons attending the 27 Sep- tember meeting were again present. POLICY COMMITTEE REPORT. Burke reported that the Policy Committee received a query from an SAA representative regarding the limits of authority to speak and act on behalf of the Society. The committee recommended that SAA representatives need not consult elected officials or staff when engaged in ordinary committee activity not involving policy or financial commitments. However, any matter which would bind the Society to a policy not previously enunciated, or to a commitment of funds from the Society's treasury, should be submitted to the Executive Director for transmission to Council. Burke noted that it is advisable that the Society representatives submit summary reports to the President at least annually, detailing the activities of the group on which they serve. The recommen- dation of the committee was approved on a motion made by Burke and seconded by McCree. The Policy Committee considered two requests received from regional organizations for financial support from SAA. The New England Archivists proposed the creation of a re- volving fund from which regional organizations could borrow funds to support the devel- opment of publications projects or education programs. The Tennessee Archivists had requested support for travel expenses for speakers for a fall meeting. A motion made by Fishbein and seconded by McCree instructed the Executive Director to respond that, given the Society's financial condition, no positive action on the requests could be taken at this time. The Society received a request from the Office of Personnel Management to comment on the present federal position descriptions and qualifications statements for archivists and archives technicians. The Policy Committee recommended that a task force be appointed by Helmuth to prepare a response for review by council. The Committee's recommendation was adopted on a motion made by Burke and seconded by Fishbein. PROGRAMS COMMITTEE. Reporting for the Programs Committee, McCarthy recom- mended that Council approve the creation of a task force to prepare a proposal for a new Forms Manual. Patrick Quinn will chair the group which will be composed of representatives of each institutional professional affinity group. The Forms Manual Task Force was au- thorized on a motion made by McCarthy, seconded by Finnegan. McCarthy reported that Philip P. Mason, chair of the Replevin Task Force, has notified him that the group will submit a final report to Council in the near future. After a discussion of implementation of the Society's new Code of Ethics, a motion made by Berkeley, seconded by Lytle, directed that the Policy Committee, or such successor body D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The Society of American Archivists 281 as the President may designate, be asked to recommend procedures for handling charges of violations of the Code. The motion was passed. Council received a draft proposal for external support from the AAM/AASLH/SAA Joint Committee on Minorities. The committee will be notified that Council wishes to examine the final proposal prior to approving its submission to funding sources. PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE. Berkeley reported on the status of various SAA publi- cations in progress. On a motion made by Berkeley, seconded by McCree, the publication of a "Business Archives Bibliography," compiled by Karen Benedict, was authorized. President Brichford asked that the committee turn its attention to planning for future publications projects. OTHER BUSINESS Women in the Profession. Council discussed opportunities for women in the profession. Consideration of a proposal for monitoring employment practices, received from the Committee on the Status of Women, was deferred to allow time for duplication and review by the Council. Council's meeting was recessed at 12:30 P.M., until 30 September. 30 September 1980 The meeting was reconvened at 9:30 A.M., 30 September. All persons attending the 28 September meeting were present. In addition, Vice President-elect Edward Weldon and Council member-elect Robert Gordon attended without vote. OTHER BUSINESS (continued) American National Standards Institute. On a motion made by Bonfield, seconded by Finnegan, the Council decided to suspend participation by SAA representatives on two ANSI com- mittees. Rather, the Executive Director was instructed to ask ANSI to furnish materials permitting a comprehensive review of SAA's potential involvement. Institute of Certified Records Managers. The Executive Director was instructed to pay the assessment made by ICRM for SAA representation, while reiterating the request of the Society for a more complete definition of the method by which the assessment was calculated and what assessments are anticipated in the future. American Archivist. The inspector general of the General Services Administration is making an investigation of the support given to the American Archivist by the National Archives. Investigators have interviewed Editor Purdy; Douglas Stickley, Assistant Editor; and Ex- ecutive Djrector Campbell, and others. The Council noted precedents for the arrangement elsewhere in the government, as well as precedents internationally for the national archives providing editorial assistance to the national archival journal. Several short-term contingency plans have been developed in case support is withdrawn abruptly. All would entail increased financial support from SAA funds. Berkeley reported that it appears a minimum investment of $20,000-$30,000 per annum would probably be required to place the journal in another institution. National Archives Independence. Campbell reported that bills have been introduced in the House and Senate providing for independence of the National Archives from the General Services Administration. No action is anticipated in this session of Congress. Maynard Brichford expressed his appreciation to Council and to the SAA staff for sup- port during the term of his presidency. The meeting was adjourned at 12:30 P.M. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 282 The American Archivist / Summer 1981 3 October 1980 President Ruth Helmuth called the meeting to order at 2:35 P.M. Present were Vice President Edward Weldon, Treasurer Mary Lynn McCree, and Council members Edmund Berkeley, Jr., Lynn Bonfield, Shonnie Finnegan, Meyer H. Fishbein, Robert S. Gordon, Paul H. McCarthy, Jr., Virginia C. Purdy. Council met in executive session, after which Executive Director Ann Morgan Campbell attended without vote. During executive session, Council approved the motion that follows: WHEREAS, the Society of American Archivists has been exceedingly fortunate in an executive director and central office staff who provide service to the Society far above and beyond the levels reasonably expected of them, and WHEREAS, the success of many of the Society's currently active programs is due in large part to the interest, planning, coordination and hard work provided by the executive di- rector and her staff, and WHEREAS, recognition of such splendid service is often overlooked in the course of busy personal and professional lives, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Society of American Archivists, that the ap- preciation of the Society be and is hereby expressed to Executive Director Ann Morgan Campbell and to each member of her staff for providing to the Society an enviable record of interest, effort, service, and support to all of the members and programs of the Society. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Executive Director Ann Morgan Campbell be, and is hereby especially, commended for her efforts on behalf of all members of the Society in recognizing the problem that extremely high hotel costs at the original meeting site would have presented to many members of the Society who hoped to attend the 1981 annual meeting in San Francisco, and for her imagination and persistent efforts that have enabled the site of that meeting to be successfully relocated to the campus of the University of California at Berkeley where far lower room fees should enable many more members to attend this meeting. PRESIDENT'S REPORT. Ruth Helmuth announced that the Executive Committee will meet in early November. She made the following assignments to members of Council: Berkeley, Fishbein, and Purdy, chair, will serve as members of the Publications Committee. Lytle will prepare proposed procedures for administration of the pending NIS grant. Fin- negan and Bonfield will each prepare position statements on the PAG structure to be distributed not later than two weeks prior to Council's January meeting. Helmuth an- nounced that she depends on individual members of Council to perform the tasks which had been assigned to the Policy and Programs committees during 1979-80. TREASURER'S REPORT. McCree noted the importance of careful analyses of the impact of the new dues structure. She suggested that there be an investigation of sources of support from corporations and from an NEH challenge grant. Helmuth asked McCree to prepare a study of the options for the Society when its lease on office space in Chicago expires in three years. Campbell reported that the present space will probably be adequate for the period although some off-site space for storage may have to be arranged. McCarthy suggested that a study be prepared of the impact of making the American Archivist an optional feature of membership. Purdy will ask the journal's printer for an estimate of incremental printing costs and Campbell will then complete the study. Bonfield left the meeting. OTHER BUSINESS Committee on Education and Professional Development. A statement on archival careers and archival education prepared as the text for a new SAA education brochure by the Committee D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The Society of American Archivists 283 on Education and Professional Development (CEPD) was approved on a motion by Mc- Carthy, seconded by Berkeley. The statement was transmitted to the Publications Commit- tee. A plan submitted by the CEPD for a pilot effort in the approval of archival education programs was considered by the Council. The Council passed a motion by McCarthy, sec- onded by McCree, which instructed the Committee to proceed with the self-study aspects of the plan. After it has received a report of this phase of the program, Council will consider authorization of site visits, the second major facet of the plan. Status of Women Committee Report. Council reviewed a proposal to monitor archival employ- ment practices, from the Status of Women Committee. President Helmuth will contact the committee to recommend changes in the work plan. These included suggestions that the survey be anonymous to encourage a greater participation, and that a pre-test of twenty- five questionnaires be made so that an analysis could be made of the response rate, findings, etc. The committee's revised plan will be reviewed by the Executive Committee. 1982 Annual Meeting. Weldon announced the appointment of Larry Hackman to chair the 1982 Program Committee, and James O'Toole to chair the Boston Local Arrangements Committee. COSLA Statement. The Government Records PAG presented a resolution responding to the "Guidelines for Library Functions at the State Level (draft #4)," of the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies. On a motion by Berkeley, seconded by Weldon, Council passed the following resolution: WHEREAS, the proposed "Guidelines for Library Functions at the State Level (draft #4)," of the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, identifies "the appropriate unit of state government responsible for the function specified in each standard" (chapter 1, second paragraph), and sections 5.8 through 5.9 require the placement of state archival records and records management programs within the state library agency, and section 6.4 would "make clear administrative and legal provision for each of the following library- related responsibilities at the state level" with "(5) preservation of the state's history; (6) management of the state's records and conservation;" and, WHEREAS, the Council of the Society of American Archivists agrees that every state should have a records management and an archival program for the disposition and pres- ervation of state and local government records, the Council believes that experience has shown that these programs are not necessarily carried out most effectively as state library functions, THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Council of the Society of American Archivists objects to the restrictive nature of the guidelines relating to archives and records manage- ment and requests that these guidelines be stricken. ICA Business Archives Committee Meeting. Council authorized the Business Archives PAG to explore the possibilities of sponsoring a 1981 meeting of the Business Archives Committee of the International Council on Archives, in the United States. The acquisition of financial support will be necessary in order to hold the meeting. National Center for State Courts. Council discussed a resolution received from the Government Records PAG regarding the records management and archives activities of the National Center for State Courts. Council action was deferred pending Weldon's acquisition of additional information regarding the isssues addressed in the resolution. Working Group on Public Records. A recommendation was received from the Government Records PAG that a working group of representatives of professional organizations in the fields of archival and records management, public administration, public service, and in- formation processing, be convened under the aegis of the Council of State Governments or D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 284 The American Archivist/ Summer 1981 a similar organization. A motion by Berkeley, seconded by McCree, directed the Executive Director to recommend the proposal to the attention of the Council of State Governments. The meeting was adjourned at 5:30 P.M. ANN MORGAN CAMPBELL, Executive Director for people who know all about Records Storage Paige Boxes are for professionals, experienced people who have learned all about the equipment available for handling, transporting, and storage of records, microfilm, data processing material, and computer printouts. Those people know that Paige files are durable equipment at lowest possible cost. Available Acid Free. Prices at wholesale level. No Sales People. No Distributors. No Stores. Write for Brochure, Prices, Case Histories. THE PAIGE COMPANY 432 Park Avenue South New York, N.Y. 10016 D OR 9-6626 D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The American Archivist / Vol. 44, No. 3 / Summer 1981 285 The President's Page RUTH W. HELMUTH INFORMATION IS OUR STOCK IN TRADE. Everything we do as archivists and manuscripts curators culminates in the information transfer process, whether we serve genealogists, administrators, or "serious scholars." It seems likely that whatever new theory we develop as archivists will derive from, or be strongly influenced by, research in information science. Dick Lytle's pioneering dissertation, portions of which were published in the American Archivist (Volume 43, Nos. 1 and 2), is a conspicuous example. What I found most interesting about his work was the recognition, again, of how little we really know about our users, and about how we search for and retrieve information. Have you ever tried to think about all of the steps involved in searching? My quick instinctive answer is that we search, of course, by function (we arrange by provenance; we search by function); which office, which publication would have been most likely to deal with a matter like this in 1925? Once having established a search strategy based on function—these series, these publications are good places to start—we go on to what are essentially subject-oriented finding aids, the container lists. We browse in folders to pick up leads of other possible series to consult. Or in a university, especially, we have chronological access through those marvelous shelves of bulletins and yearbooks and directories and annual reports. The permutations and combinations of search by function, by subject, by chronology are dazzling; the prospect of trying to analyze the process is overwhelming. User studies have been a traditional and very useful tool for librarians; why have archivists not utilized this technique more widely? At Case Western Reserve University, we have for a long time made periodic analyses of our users, their questions and how we answered them—this last in very broad categories, no great subtleties as to search methods. One persistent finding is that we are regarded as a general information source about the university, and many of these questions can be answered without using original source materials at all. Another large group of questions involves the retrieval of a single document or folder or photograph, a situation that requires minimal searching. Those questions that demand extended search, browsing, following leads from one series to another, are a relatively small percentage of our requests. Certainly the kind of statistics being proposed by the current task force, chaired by Katherine Emerson, would weigh these questions by counting the number of sources consulted and the number of researcher visits. At best, however, how are we to deal with user studies indicating that substantial portions of our holdings are in effect not used—not in ten years, not in fifteen years. I welcome Leonard Rapport's paper on reappraisal; we should reappraise some of those dusty records, and discard them with a clear conscience. And yet, there is something operating that I can only call a faith factor. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 2 8 6 The American Archivist / Summer 1981 User statistics are never going to change our original judgment that certain records are important and should be preserved (you will excuse the expression) because of their intrinsic value. How else can we justify the conviction that some day they will be needed to enlighten an administrator we will never meet, or by a scholar who may not yet have learned to write? Our records are unique—in the proper sense of the word—and that fact imposes some special obligations. Granting all this—that our search methods are exceedingly complex, and the nature of our holdings poses special problems—still we are in the information business. In a world where the fittest survive, we have to learn and use the methodology of that field if we are going to claim our portion of the future. to tmtn 45th Annual Meeting University of Californic -Berkeley September 1-4,1981 D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 Is there something you'd like to last 4OO years? Howard Permalife® is the world's standard for a permanent/durable paper. Under archival storage conditions it will last 400 years. Under "reasonable" conditions, at least a century. Permalife has a slightly alkaline pH to counteract atmospheric acidity and is free from trace metals. It has excellent flex strengths. Ask your Howard Paper Merchant for samples or write "Permalife" at the address below. Howard Paper Mills, Inc. 115 Columbia Street, P.O. Box 982 Dayton, Ohio 45401 HiiiiiiifTr THE NATION'S PRINTING PAPERS HOM^IRD D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 TheWPA Historical Records Survey A Guide to the Unpublished Inventories, Indexes, and Transcripts Compiled by Loretta L. Hefner This guide is the product of a survey of unpublished HRS materials conducted by the Society of American Archivists with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It lists repositories in the United States which hold HRS materials. The guide contains summaries of HRS activity in each state, separate entries for repositories in which HRS materials have been located and lists of specific holdings in each repository. Detailed lists of counties, municipalities, and denominations that are covered by inventory forms in specific project areas are included on microfiche. (1980) 42 pp., paper. $4 SAA members, $6 others. A postage and handling charge will be added to all non-prepaid orders. To place an order or to obtain a complete list of SAA publications, write the Society of American Archivists, 330 S.Weils St.,Suite 810, Chicago, IL 60606. ' fQtt] D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The Modem Archives Institute of the National Archives and Records Service announces for 1982 Introduction to Modern Archives Administration (in cooperation with the Library of Congress) January 4-15, 1982 June 7-18, 1982 For information and applications, please write: Modern Archives Institute (NAX) National Archives and Records Service, GSA Washington, DC 20408 MODGRN ARCHIVES INSTITUTC D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.44.3.161773128241666v by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 Acid-Free Protection Drop Front Gallery Print Boxes • AVAILABLE IN FOUR SIZES UP TO 32" x 40" • SHIPPED FLAT FOR STORING CONVENIENCE __ & REDUCED SHIPPING COSTS • EXCLUSIVE PERMA/DUR® SOLID BOX BOARD • EXTRA STRONG FOR YEARS OF SAFE DEPENDABLE SERVICE • CONVENIENT DROP FRONT DESIGN Just One of the many items in our New 1981 - 82 Catalog of Archival Storage Materials. 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