Advanced Arrangement and Description of Archival Documents

PRE-REQUISITES: ARST 510, ARST 515, ARST 516, ARST 520

The goal of this course is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of classical and contemporary theories, methodologies, and models for arranging, describing, and providing access to archival documents.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To deepen students' understanding of the classical literature concerning the arrangement of archival documents and contemporary interpretations of that literature.
2. To familiarize students with various perspectives concerning the nature and purpose of archival description in the twenty-first century.
3. To introduce students to some proposed models for enhancing provenance-based access points to archival descriptions.

CONTENT:

1. Classical and contemporary theories of archival arrangement. 
2. Fonds and series based approaches to archival arrangement. 
3. Arrangement and description in the context of personal papers. 
4. Postmodern perspectives on archival description. 
5. Archival description and authenticity. 
6. Name authority control for persons and corporate bodies. 
7. Provenance and pertinence based approaches to archival subject indexing.