[Personal_archives] Arrangement Discussion

[Heather Home]

Hello Everyone,

The week of arrangement discussion has arrived. Unlike past discussions 
we don't have an expert who is open to questions but we are taking a 
panel discussion approach. I will do my best to facilitate discussion by 
asking some questions and discussing some of my impressions of the readings.

Perhaps a good place to start is to ask people: What is arrangement? The 
concepts of respect de fonds and original order seem central to the 
discussion regardless of the time period. Conceptually, this seems to be 
acknowledged and agreed upon by all the authors. But practically, what 
does this mean. Is arrangement the recognition of something or the 
creation of something? Or both? Original order in personal papers seems 
like an elusive, perhaps mythical, creature in the early articles. Often 
discussed yet rarely witnessed. Is this something we still think, or is 
it the fact that our ways of seeing (as archivists) have changed and 
that "order" can be seen in "disorder"? 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.

Overall, I thought that the articles dealt with large concepts and small 
practicalities but seemed to skirt around that something that lies in 
between.

What say you all?


-- 
Heather Home, B.A., M.A.S.
Public Services/Private Records Archivist
Queen's University Archives, Kathleen Ryan Hall
Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6
t: 613.533.6000 x74456
f: 613.533.6403

** Donations to the Friends of the Archives fund are always appreciated: www.givetoqueens.ca/archives **