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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060">I’m just getting caught up with the discussion! Some thoughts come to mind reading the posts so far …<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Heather -- I was very interested in the rules for ordering that were presented. I was particularly intrigued by the idea that to organize by physical form imposes the least amount of subjectivity by the archivist. I never realized the
intention behind this type of arrangement<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">-<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060">I had never considered this angle either. Archivists could arrange the fonds based on form without having to make decisions continually on where
something belonged – arranging on autopilot. I see this arrangement often in LAC fonds that were acquired in the past. When we adopted RAD and corporate description in the late 1990s, we had a procedures manual with a chapter on arrangement. It reversed
Swift’s order of preference (though it made no reference to him). If I recall correctly the 1998 manual recommended (1) Function or activity (2) subject or theme (3) form or type and (4) media. So since training on the new system I have tended to view the
form-based model as out-dated or “anti-original order”. Recently I had some discussion with Mark Greene about the challenges of using MPLP for personal fonds. He shared with me a paper done by Claudia Thompson who worked with him, showing how his institution
adapted MPLP for personal fonds using a type of form-based model for series arrangement, i.e. using categories like autobiographical, communications, creations, collected material, and the like, including miscellaneous for anything leftover. So adopting this
type of arrangement was seen as a way of speeding up physical arrangement. It immediately reminded me of the old PAC practice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jeremy -- Thus "original order" in personal archives is often a false construct, no matter how we try to define it. We would be better served if we simply acknowledge this limitation, and perhaps rechristen the term "recent discernible
order" (or something far more elegant). "Original order" sounds powerful and authoritative, and I think it leads many archivists to believe that it truly exists in all fonds and accruals. The truth is less ideal.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060">- This “false construct” of original order has hit me increasingly in recent years. The only level of arrangement that is natural
or absolute in personal archives appears to be the fonds level, sometimes it seems that everything else is constructed by the archivist, with the possible exception of the file level. It is rare that I find anything resembling a complete series structure
in a personal fonds. A few obvious series may be evident but most of the rest of the series are constructed, using the principles identified above (activity, subject, form). Very rarely do I find series titles used by a creator that are appropriate for archival
arrangement. This being said, there are always bits and pieces of evident or “discernible original order” that can be used, but much of the fonds seems to elude any direct creator-based arrangement, and we must fall back on identifying and grouping like files
using some form of those principles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060">More random thoughts may follow!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060">Cheers,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060">Rob<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060">____________________________<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060">Rob Fisher</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#002060"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060">Senior Archivist, Social Archives<br>
Bibliothèque et Archives Canada / Library and Archives Canada<br>
550 boulevard de la Cité, Gatineau, QC<br>
Canada K1A 0N4<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060">Téléphone / Telephone: 819-934-7392<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:#002060">The opinions expressed above are mine, and not those of my employer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#002060"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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