Archival Research and Scholarship

Pre-requisites: ARST 510, 515, 516, 520

Goal: To examine the directions taken by archival research and scholarship in different times and contexts, the focus of contemporary investigations and writings, research trends and needs, and the possibilities for future development.

Objectives:

1. To develop an historical understanding of the relationships among archival research and scholarship, archival practice, the archival profession, archival institutions, and archival education.
2. To provide insights about the relationship between archival research and scholarship and the social, cultural and legal needs and requirements of the time.
3. To provide knowledge of the methods used by archival scholars to observe, describe and interpret documentary phenomena and archival situations.
4. To develop an understanding of the ways in which new ideas originate and of the methods for testing and developing them.
5. To develop an appreciation of the interdisciplinary character of the archival field and of the methods by which ideas from several fields can be brought to bear in the archival discipline without compromising its internal consistency.

Content:

1. An overview of archival research and scholarship from the sixteenth century to present times.
2. An in depth analysis of several research projects taken from different contexts through research reports and the scholarly writings resulting from them.
3. A study of contemporary research needs as identified by the archival profession.
4. An identification of contemporary research needs demonstrated by social and legal developments (e.g., globalization, information technology, privatization, and copyright).