1. Archival Description People, Records, and Functions Daniel V. Pitti Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities University of Virginia March 2003

2. Overview Preliminary Thoughts Archival records Traditional and digital archival description Encoded Archival Description Encoded Archival Context Encoded Archival Functions? Preliminary Final Thoughts

3. Preliminary Thoughts Cultural heritage communities: archives, libraries, and museums Remembering on behalf of mankind Memory is a human phenomenon Memory is a philosophical problem Recorded memory, no matter what techniques and methods employed, is reductive Memory political (among other things) An old example with contemporary relevance

4. Archival Records Byproducts of people living and working –Individuals and families living their lives –Corporate bodies performing assigned or mandated functions and activities Document human activity Legal evidence Historical evidence

5. Preservation and Use of Records Preservation of records: physical Preservation of context: intellectual Records require context in order to be understood Archival description provides this context

6. Traditional Description Single print apparatus Provenance-based: all records by a single creator treated as a unit Components of description intertwined

7. The Digital: New Opportunities Technologies –Network –Database –Markup Emerging opportunities inspiring new and more rigorous analysis of the logic and structure of archival description

8. Digital Description Recognition of the functional inadequacy of single apparatus Increasing differentiation and formal definition –Components of archival description –Relations between components

9. Components of Archival Description Description of records Context of creation: creators Functions and activities documented in records Dedicated descriptive semantics and structure for each component Components interrelated with one another

10. Records: EAD Encoded Archival Description –Society of American Archivists and Library of Congress –Used internationally –English, Spanish, Dutch, French, and Chinese 1998, 2002

11. What EAD Is An emerging encoding and structural standard for archival description –Data structure –Communication/interchange –Finding aid / archival description ISAD(G)

12. What EAD Is Not Content standard Data value standard Archival management system

13. Principals of Record Description Respect de fonds –Provenance –Original order Hierarchical and symmetrical Inheritance of description

14. People: EAC Encoded Archival Context XML-based prototype standard for encoding descriptions of record creators: corporate bodies, families, and individuals International effort ICA: ISAAR(CPF): implement & influence

15. Authority Control Identifying creator entities Recording name or names used by and for them Rule-based heading or entry formation and control

16. Relations Creators Records Functions and activities Each relation qualified by place and time Records evidence of people acting in particular places and times

17. Characteristics and Events Person –Sex, education, address, competencies, activities, affiliations, awards … –Biography Corporate body –Type, mandate, location, legal status, assets, structure… –Administrative history Family –Assets and structure, activities, location, legal status… –Family history

18. EAF Encoded Archival Functions? Under consideration Highly problematic –Intellectual and philosophical –Linguistic –Cultural-political –Legal A practical approach is needed

19. Development Methodology: Intellectual and Political Step 1: represent current archival description using the new technology Step 2: experience and understand the technology and its potential to transform archival description Step 3: transform archival description

20. Preliminary Final Thoughts Unified, universal access to cultural heritage—good Charles Jewett, the Smithsonian, and the Mud Catalog Many technological challenges Many intellectual, methodological, and challenges And political