The Development of Professional Education for Librarians and Archivists in the United States: a Comparative Essay

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544 American Archivist / Vol. 57 / Summer 1994

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The Development of Professional Education for Librarians and Archivists in the United States: A Comparative Essay

ROBERT SIDNEY MARTIN

Abstract: The author compares the historical development of professional education for librarians and for archivists in the United States. While librarians have developed a formal graduate education program for preparing practitioners for entry into the profession, archivists in the United States are only now beginning to develop such a program. The author identifies the funding provided by the Carnegie Corporation and the leadership provided by the American Library Association as the critical elements in the successful development of professional education programs for librarians, and he contrasts this situation with the lack of leadership provided by the Society of American Archivists in developing archival education. The article concludes with a discussion of some possible future directions for archival education.

About the author: Robert Sidney Martin is associate dean for special collections in the Louisiana State University Libraries, Baton Rouge, where he administers a large program including archives, historical manuscripts, and rare books. He earned a Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an M.L.S. at North Texas State University, and a B.A. at Rice University. He has been extremely active in both the American Library Association and the Society of American Archivists, and he has published extensively on the history of libraries and librarianship and on the exploration and mapping of the American West. The Development of Professional Education 545

IN 1909, AT THE FIRST GATHERING of ar- models of professions or believes that fo- chivists in the United States, Waldo Gif- cusing on the process of professionaliza- ford Leland asserted that "we must disa- tion offers more useful interpretive power, buse ourselves of the idea that anyone can the role of education in denning both the

be an archivist." He pointed out that there profession and the professional is central to Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/3/544/2748683/aarc_57_3_116720kn81j25108.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 had been a time "when anyone who liked understanding the concept of professions. books and was unfit for anything else could For the purposes of this essay, a profession be a librarian, but that time is long since is simply an occupation that exhibits one passed." He predicted that "the evolution or more of a set of characteristics ascribed of the archivist will proceed somewhat as to an ideal type. Chief among those char- has the evolution of the librarian."1 acteristics are that a profession lays claim Since the time of that statement, the li- to a knowledge base that can be learned brary school has evolved from the status of during a period of formal education prior an independent trade school to one of the to entry into professional practice.3 constellation of professional schools that Professionals generally acquire their characterize the modern university. Mean- specialized knowledge in three different while, archivists have failed to establish a circumstances or environments: formal pre- similar program or curriculum to prepare appointment course work in colleges and students for entry into the profession, with universities, on-the-job training, and pos- serious deleterious effects on the compe- tappointment workshops or other instruc- tence of practitioners, the availability of re- tional programs offered by specialists sources with which archival institutions outside the workplace. As Paul Conway achieve their goals, and the status of the points out, "The standard notion of pro- profession. fessional education arranges these three en- The principal objective of this article is vironments in a linear time line. Namely, to explore this discrepancy in the devel- individuals seeking a professional career opment of professional education of two first pursue the recognized entry-level de- fields that, in many other respects, have so much in common. Why have librarians and archivists, who share so many characteristics, ideals, and activities, followed such different approaches toward professional education? pertinent to this discussion are Kathleen M. Heim, The literature of the sociology of pro- "Professional Education: Some Comparisons," in As Much to Learn as to Teach: Essays in Honor of Lester fessions is vast, and a discussion of that Asheim, edited by Joel M. Lee and Beth A. Hamilton, literature is beyond the scope of this paper. (Hamden, Conn.: Linnet Books, 1979), 128-76; and Richard J. Cox has already aptly analyzed Margaret Stieg, Change and Challenge in Library and Information Science Education (Chicago: American the application of that literature to archi- Library Association, 1992), 45-60. Andrew Abbott vists.2 Whether one ascribes to taxonomic takes a very different approach to analyzing professions and professionalism in The System of Profes- sions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988). 3Abbott rejects both the taxonomic approach and 'Waldo Gifford Leland, ' 'American Archival Prob- the professionalization model, but his definition of lems," in Annual Report of the American Historical professions as "exclusive occupational groups apply- Association for the Year 1909 (Washington, D.C.: ing somewhat abstract knowledge to particular cases" GPO, 1911), 348. (p. 8) emphasizes the importance of the knowledge 2Richard J. Cox, "Professionalism and Archivists base in establishing the identity and domain of a pro- in the United States," American Archivist 49 (Sum- fession. His book includes an extensive meditation on mer 1986): 229^t7. Additional useful reviews of the the interaction between the university and the profes- part of the literature of the sociology of professions sions (pp. 195-211). 546 American Archivist / Summer 1994

gree."4 After acquiring the normal preap- entry into the profession, based on the suc- pointment credentials, the professional then cessful completion of a specific course of receives additional training by the em- study within the university, usually at the ployer in specific technical or administra- graduate level.7 Almost all these programs

tive procedures germane to that organiza- have appeared during the course of the past Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/3/544/2748683/aarc_57_3_116720kn81j25108.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 tion. "Finally, as their career needs dictate, century.8 professionals seek specialized continuing Following this model, librarians have education to maintain or broaden skills."5 developed a well-defined structure of pro- The focus of this essay is the first in this fessional schools, offering a curriculum series of experiences: formal, preappoint- leading to a master's degree, in programs ment degree programs. accredited by a national association. This These formal degree programs do not master's degree—which goes by many appear overnight. Charles D. Churchwell, names but will be referred to here by the library administrator, educator, and author normal designation of M.L.S.—is the req- of a classic history of library and infor- uisite credential for entry into the profes- mation science education, has demon- sion. Without it, no one can claim status as strated how formal degree programs a member of the library profession. As evolve. Jane Robbins and Charles Seavey note in their review of the development of the Professional education for an oc- M.L.S., it "has evolved ... to the point cupation has always been a subse- where it is today the credential for entry quent development of the occupation into the ranks of the professional library 9 itself. As the knowledge of an oc- practice." cupation accumulated and its tech- Archivists have as yet developed no niques became more complex, the such structure. As Cox notes, "Archivists methods of education evolved from have . . . virtually no control over or even that of apprenticeship programs, the influence on archival education."10 Indi- earliest and simplest form of profes- viduals may claim the status of archivist sional education, to the highly organ- without having completed any specific ized professional school. Profes- course of study and without any specific sional education has become, educational credentials. A recent review of therefore, the most widely used archival education programs by Timothy method of transmitting knowledge Ericson documents their weakness and lack and techniques of an occupation of uniformity." David Murrah claims that from the skilled practitioner and the- oretician to the unskilled beginner.6

Over the course of time most professions 7William J. McGlothlin, Patterns of Professional have evolved rather formal mechanisms for Education (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1960), xii-xvii. "Heim, "Professional Education," provides a good overview of the development of professional education in the United States. "Paul Conway, "Effective Continuing Education 9Jane Robbins-Carter and Charles A. Seavey, "The for Training the Archivist," Journal of Education for Master's Degree: Basic Preparation for Professional Library and Information Science Education 34 (Win- Practice," Library Trends 34 (Spring 1986): 578. ter 1993): 39. "Cox, "Professionalism and Archivists," 236. 'Conway, "Effective Continuing Education." "Timothy L. Ericson, " 'Abolish the Recent': The 'Charles D. Churchwell, The Shaping of American Progress of Archival Education," Journal of Educa- Library Education (Chicago: American Library As- tion for Library and Information Science 34 (Winter sociation, 1975), 1. 1993): 25-37. The Development of Professional Education 547

one cause for this lack of uniformity is that seeking advice from experienced librarians, "the profession at its best is indeed a hy- and commitment to self-improvement. brid product of multiprofessional train- The expansion of library service in the ing."12 This assertion is further supported last quarter of the nineteenth century, par- by empirical data provided in a recent ticularly the growth of public libraries and Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/3/544/2748683/aarc_57_3_116720kn81j25108.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 study by Alan Gabehart of the credentials academic institutions, increased the de- desired by employers of archivists, which mand for professional librarians. With this shows an extremely wide variety of differ- expanding market in mind, Melvil Dewey ing educational backgrounds.13 founded the first formal school for librarianship at Columbia University in 1887. As Professional Education for Librarians Margaret Stieg has observed, "this event marked the beginning of a transition from The development of education for li- haphazard, personalized preparation to for- brarianship has followed a pattern that, as mal standardized instruction and testified to library educator Kathleen Heim pointed growth and maturing within the new pro- out, "parallels, and at times even antici- fession."16 14 pates, the other professions." Prior to The Columbia school, which moved 1887, preparation for a career as a librarian with Dewey to the New York State Library was the responsibility of the practitioner, in Albany in 1889, was part of a larger who engaged in a sort of apprenticeship movement away from apprenticeship and 15 common to other professions. Would-be toward formal training programs as the ba- librarians first acquired a good basic liberal sis for entry into the professions. Although education, and then learned library skills in Dewey's program emphasized training in self-directed reading programs, by observ- the technical aspects of librarianship, it laid ing practice in a library, or sometimes by the foundation for an eventual shift from a more formal apprenticeship in a college training to education.17 or large public library. Advice to prospec- The ensuing two decades witnessed the tive librarians from such leaders in the pro- establishment of a number of additional fession as Justin Winsor stressed reading, programs, including those at Pratt Institute, Armour Institute, Drexel Institute, and Simmons College. The University of Wis- consin and Syracuse University were the first (after Columbia) to provide a home for l2David J. Murrah, "Employer Expectations for Ar- a library school in a university setting. chivists: A Review of a 'Hybrid Profession' ", Jour- nal of Library Administration 11 (1989): 170. These schools coexisted with training pro- 13Alan D. Gabehart, "Qualifications Desired by grams run by large public libraries like the Employers for Entry-Level Archivists in the United New York Public Library and the Los An- States," American Archivist 55 (Summer 1992): 420- 39. geles Public Library. 14Heim, "Professional Education," 131. Practitioners in the field were closely in- "This discussion of the history of library education volved with the development and manage- is based in large part on Carl M. White, A Historical Introduction to Library Education: Problems and Progress to 1951 (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1976); C. Edward Carroll, The Professionalization of Edu- cation for Librarianship, with Special Reference to the Years 1940-1960 (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, "Stieg, Change and Challenge, 25. 1970); and Charles D. Churchwell, The Shaping of "The distinction between education and training is American Library Education (Chicago: American Li- important, and it is often missing in the discussions brary Association, 1975). Margaret Stieg provides a about archival education. The focus of this essay (as very useful summary in Change and Challenge, 24- its title indicates) is professional education for librar- 30. ians and archivists. 548 American Archivist/ Summer 1994

merit of these library training programs, ing one full year of technical and profes- which often were little more than formal- sional library courses, and having two ized apprentice-training classes. They were full-time instructors and two faculty mem- all operated by former or current practi- bers who had themselves been trained in a tioners, and their goal was to provide a library school.20 Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/3/544/2748683/aarc_57_3_116720kn81j25108.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 source of trained librarians to serve in the As Churchwell points out, "These growing number of library organizations. groups—the Committee on Library Train- Their curriculum varied widely, as did their ing, the Professional Training Section, and entrance requirements. the Association of American Library The American Library Association Schools—all had as their chief objective (ALA), established in 1876, had long main- the improvement of library education."21 tained a high level of interest and involve- The control over quality in library educa- ment in library education. An effort to for- tion remained rather low, however, and malize this interest was the creation of the few were satisfied with the system. By Committee on Library Training in 1903. 1919 this dissatisfaction with the system The committee was charged "to investi- reached the point of widespread public dis- gate from time to time the whole subject cussion. A significant stimulus to this dis- of library schools and courses of study, and cussion was a paper at the ALA annual report the results of its investigations, with conference that year, presented by Charles recommendations."18 Subsequently, in C. Williamson, a Columbia University 1909, the ALA established the Section on Ph.D. in political economy who had been Professional Training for Librarianship, to head of the Division of Economics and So- serve as a forum for discussion of issues ciology in the New York Public Library's related to professional education and train- Reference Department. Williamson ob- ing.19 served that librarians were being trained in The faculty and staff of a number of the a wide variety of library schools, training library schools believed it was necessary to classes, apprenticeships, and summer insti- have a separate organization to facilitate tutes. No meaningful coordination existed discussion of internal problems, and they between these various training agencies, formed the independent Association of and their standards were so low that there American Library Schools (AALS) in could be no expectation that their graduates 1915. Membership in AALS—which ap- had received an adequate education. He as- proximated a rudimentary sort of accredi- serted that the present state of library ed- tation—was predicated on an institution's ucation was nothing more than "a variety meeting a few basic criteria: requiring a of valuable parts scattered around waiting high school diploma for admission, offer- for vital machinery not yet constructed or even planned."22 Williamson was con- vinced that these "valuable parts" could be transformed into a working system of 18American Library Association, "Annual Report of the Committee on Committees," ALA Bulletin 17 (July 1923): 179. For a review of some of the activities of the Committee on Library Training, see Charles A. Seavey, "Inspection of Library Training 20Donald G. Davis, Jr., The Association of Ameri- Schools, 1914: The Missing Robbins Report," Uni- can Library Schools, 1915-1968: An Analytical His- versity of Illinois Graduate School of Library and In- tory (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1974), 25. formation Science Occasional Papers, no. 186, 21Churchwell, Shaping of American Library Edu- February 1989. cation, 10. ""Conference Proceedings of the American Li- 22Charles C. Williamson, "Some Present-Day As- brary Association, June 26-July 3, 1909," ALA Bul- pects of Library Training," ALA Bulletin 13 (July letin 3 (September 1909): 442. 1919): 120. The Development of Professional Education 549

library education only if the American Li- programs were weak, that they tended to brary Association did its duty and took the spend entirely too much time on technical leadership in such a movement. He pro- and procedural matters, and that they were posed the establishment of an ALA train- chiefly concerned with the needs of large

ing board to undertake this task. libraries rather than those of the smaller li- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/3/544/2748683/aarc_57_3_116720kn81j25108.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 Four years later, in April 1923, William- braries that were the mainstay of the Car- son's recommendation bore fruit when negie benefactions. Johnson concluded that ALA created the Temporary Library Train- "one year of technical training superim- ing Board, charged to investigate the needs posed upon a high school education is not of the profession, document the inadequa- sufficient to place a librarian in a position cies of library education, and solicit advice to assert for the library its proper place in from other professions on standards, ac- the community."24 He recommended that creditation, and structures.23 before the Carnegie Corporation spent At this juncture a significant new partic- more money for library buildings, it should ipant, in the form of the Carnegie Corpo- do something about the education of li- ration of New York, inserted itself into the brarians, citing the rapid progress that had development of library education. Begin- been made in medical education in the five ning in 1886, Andrew Carnegie had given years following the Flexner report. He millions of dollars to American communi- stressed that—in the words of Carl ties (and not a few colleges and universi- White—"the standing of professional ties) to underwrite the construction of workers, no less than the social worth of library facilities. Carnegie's association their profession, follows—but does not with the construction of library buildings is precede—the development of professional 25 so strong that, in the minds of many Amer- training of high standard." icans, the word library is always preceded The Carnegie Corporation followed up by the name Carnegie. In 1911 Carnegie Johnson's report with a study aimed spe- founded the Carnegie Corporation to carry cifically at library education. Charles C. on his various philanthropic pursuits, and Williamson, commissioned to undertake the corporation continued funding library that study, focused primarily on the insti- construction for several years. tutional members of the Association of By 1915, however, the officers of the American Library Schools, which were corporation came to question the wisdom presumably the best library education pro- of continuing the Carnegie library building grams in the country. He studied their re- program, and they commissioned Alvin S. ports and catalogs and, during the 1920-21 Johnson, professor of economics at Cornell academic year, he visited each campus and University, to conduct a study of the pro- studied their organizations and methods. gram. Johnson found that, although the He compiled all of this information into a provision of library buildings had made a report to the corporation, an expurgated great impact on American life, many of version of which was published in 1923. these libraries were not giving good service, due in large part to the dearth of well- trained librarians to operate them. He noted that most of the existing library training 24Alvin S. Johnson, A Report to the Carnegie Cor- poration of New York on the Policy of Donations to Free Public Libraries (n.p., n.d), 47, quoted in Sarah K. Vann, The Williamson Report: A Study (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1971), 20. 23Churchwell, Shaping American Library Educa- 25White, Historical Introduction to Library Edu- tion, 20. cation, 169. 550 American Archivist/ Summer 1994

Williamson's conclusions and recom- York, were operated by a small inner circle mendations touched on all aspects of li- of like-minded individuals who shared this brary education, including such items as common goal. These interests had already qualifications of students, salaries of in- established a pattern of involvement with

structors, need for textbooks, and the like. the reorganization of professional educa- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/3/544/2748683/aarc_57_3_116720kn81j25108.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 He saw clearly the distinction between pro- tion throughout America. Carnegie money fessional and clerical aspects of library had already funded transformational stud- work, and he understood the need to dis- ies of professional education for medi- tinguish between them in the programs of cine,28 engineering,29 teachers,30 and law.31 education for the profession. His most im- These studies were all aimed at promoting portant recommendations were that library the common welfare by raising profes- schools should confine themselves to edu- sional qualifications through education. The cating professional librarians and should Carnegie Corporation was therefore primed leave the training of clerical workers to the to take immediate action on the recom- libraries; that library schools, like other mendations of Johnson and Williamson. professional schools, should be organized In 1925 the Carnegie Corporation em- within universities and not at libraries; and barked on a ten-year program of library im- that a college degree should be required for provement, earmarking $5 million for a 26 admission. In short, he recommended that special program of support for library serv- library education be established as graduate ice. The intention of the program was to professional education in the university. He continue the corporation's special interests also recommended that the American Li- in the library field by providing endow- brary Association work out a system of ments for library schools and for the Amer- voluntary certification for librarians and es- ican Library Association.32 Under this pro- tablish a national accreditation agency for gram, between 1925 and 1941 the Carnegie 27 library schools. Corporation provided funds totaling $3.8 The Williamson report struck the Amer- million in direct subsidies or endowments ican library world like a thunderbolt. It had a profound impact on education for librarianship in the United States and Canada, 28 and it set the stage for a period of dynamic Abraham Flexner, Medical Education in the United States and Canada: A Report to the Carnegie growth and development. Both the Johnson Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (New and Williamson reports must be seen, how- York: The Foundation, 1910). 29 ever, in the overall context of Carnegie Charles R. Mann, A Study of Engineering Edu- cation, Prepared for the Joint Committee on Engi- philanthropic efforts aimed at the improve- neering Education of the National Engineering ment of the rising professions in American Service (New York: Carnegie Foundation for the Ad- society by strengthening professional edu- vancement of Teaching, 1918). 30William S. Learned, The Professional Prepara- cation. The various Carnegie philanthropic tion of Teachers for American Public Schools: A organizations, including the Carnegie Foun- Study Based Upon and Examination of Tax-Supported dation for the Advancement of Teaching Normal Schools in the State of Missouri (New York: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of and the Carnegie Corporation of New Teaching, 1920). 3lAlfred Z. Reed, Training for the Public Profes- sion of the Law: Historical Development and Prin- cipal Contemporary Problems of Legal Education in the United States, with Some Account of the Condi- 26Charles C. Williamson, Training for Library Ser- tions in England and Canada (New York: Carnegie vice: A Report Prepared for the Carnegie Corpora- Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1921). tion of New York (Boston: Merrymount Press, 1923), 32White, Historical Introduction to Library Edu- 136-42. cation, 167; Churchwell, Shaping American Library "Williamson, Training for Library Service, 145. Education, 42. The Development of Professional Education 551

to library schools at ten different institu- The development of library education tions.33 did not stop with the momentous events of The American Library Association was the 1920s. In the 1940s a series of confer- also primed and ready to act on many of ences focusing on key issues in library ed-

Williamson's recommendations. Its first ucation set the stage for the eventual Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/3/544/2748683/aarc_57_3_116720kn81j25108.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 major step was transforming the Tempo- adoption of the 1951 Standards of Accred- rary Library Training Board into the Board itation, which firmly established library ed- of Education for Librarianship (BEL). The ucation at the graduate level and set the BEL established standards for library edu- master's degree as the basic professional cation in 1925 and began to accredit indi- credential. Schools that did not require a vidual programs. By 1932, twenty-five college degree for admission disappeared, schools had been accredited under the 1925 and undergraduate programs in library sci- standards. One historian has acclaimed the ence survived only in the context of teacher establishment of the BEL as "one of the education. high points in the professionalization of li- As in other aspects of American life, the brary education because by this action the 1960s were a time of ferment, growth, and national organization accepted its respon- upheaval in the education of librarians. The sibility for establishing and maintaining ac- influx of federal money into education fed ademic and training standards for its the need for more librarians and simulta- members."34 neously provided the wherewithal for ex- Another major event was the establish- panded programs of education for librari- ment of the Graduate Library School anship. Indeed, twenty-three library (GLS) at the University of Chicago in schools were founded between 1961 and 1926, with $1.44 million of Carnegie Cor- 1975, representing more than a third of the poration money. The GLS was explicitly current number of accredited programs.36 intended to do for education for librarian- "But in the middle 1970s," Margaret ship what Johns Hopkins had done for Stieg notes, "contraction replaced expan- medical education and Harvard had done sion almost overnight."37 Retrenchment in for legal education.35 For the first time, higher education and shriveling federal there was a graduate, professional school funds for libraries squeezed the job market for preparation of librarians, with a faculty for library school graduates. The Library dedicated to scholarship and research. The School at the University of Oregon closed graduates of the Chicago school became in 1978, and in the subsequent fifteen years the leaders in librarianship and the educa- at least fifteen more schools have followed tion of librarians for more than a genera- suit.38 There is widespread speculation in tion. the literature about the causes for these clo- sures, including at least one full-length

"This figure is taken from table 2 in Robert M. Lester, A Thirty-Year Catalog of Grants (New York: Carnegie Corporation, 1942). The institutions were Chicago, Columbia, Michigan, Emory, North Caro- 36Stieg, Change and Challenge, 28. lina, California, McGill, Denver, Hampton, and At- "Stieg, Change and Challenge, 28. lanta. 38The Graduate School of Library and Information "Carroll, Professionalization of Education for Li- Science at the University of California at Los Angeles brarianship, 47. recently just missed being "disestablished"; it was 35John V. Richardson, The Spirit of Inquiry: The merged with the College of Education ("GSLIS 'Dis- Graduate Library School at Chicago, 1921-1951 established' at UCLA; Task Force Acts to Save MLS (Chicago: American Library Association, 1982) is a and Ph.D.," American Libraries 24 [July-August thorough account of the founding of the GLS. 1993]: 598). 552 American Archivist / Summer 1994

study of four specific instances,39 but there pears mature, to have solved, or at is little agreement about what the trend least to have come to an accommo- portends. dation with, problems that archivists Another quite notable trend has been the are only beginning to address.41

impact of rapid developments in informa- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/3/544/2748683/aarc_57_3_116720kn81j25108.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 tion technology on the library profession Indeed, a review of the history of archival and, consequently, on the programs of li- education in the United States reveals that, brary education. Beginning in the 1970s as Cox notes, "many of the concerns and many "schools of library science" have issues about archival education have re- added the word information to their names mained virtually unchanged for nearly half in an effort to expand or define the domain a century."42 of the profession. Recent developments at Those concerns and issues date from the Berkeley and UCLA seem to indicate the first gathering of archivists in the United abandonment of the "L word" entirely in States, organized by Waldo Gifford Leland 40 the names of these programs. One may at the annual meeting of the American only speculate on the ultimate outcome of Historical Association (AHA) in 1909, at these changes, but there can be little doubt which the statements quoted at the begin- that the profession of librarianship is now ning of this essay were made.43 Subse- in a period of major change, which is nat- quently, archivists met regularly under the urally reflected in the programs of educa- auspices of the AHA and discussed topics tion for the profession. of mutual concern, including proper training for archivists. As Jacqueline Goggin Professional Education for Archivists points out, however, "it was not until the National Archives was established . . . that Let us turn now to the system for pro- systematic and standardized training for ar- viding professional education for archi- chivists was seriously discussed."44 vists. As Stieg points out, Because of its size, its position, and its location, the National Archives dominated archival education is more difficult to summarize neatly than library education, primarily because it has yet to come up with anything remotely 41Stieg, Change and Challenge, 30. approaching a standard. It suffers 42Richard J. Cox, "Archival Education in the from more unresolved questions, and United States: Old Concerns, But New Future?" in trends are more difficult to discern. Cox, American Archival Analysis: The Recent Devel- opment of the Archival Profession in the United States By comparison, library education ap- (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1990), 98. "'The account that follows is based primarily on the following sources: H. G. Jones, "Archival Training in American Universities, 1938—68," American Ar- chivist 31 (April 1968): 135-54; Richard C. Berner, "Marion Paris, Library School Closings: Four "Archival Education and Training in the United Case Studies (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, States, 1937 to Present," Journal of Education for 1988). Librarianship 22 (Summer-Fall 1981): 3-19; Jacque- "°See Stieg, Change and Challenge, 10-16, for a line Goggin, "That We Shall Truly Deserve the Title discussion of the impact of technology and the role of 'Profession': The Training and Education of Ar- of information science. Abbott's chapter on the in- chivists, 1930-1960," American Archivist 47 (Sum- formation professions aptly and convincingly de- mer 1984): 243-54; Richard J. Cox, "Archival scribes this evolution in terms of the competition for Education in the United States: Old Concerns, But a jurisdiction among the various information profes- New Future?" in Cox, American Archival Analysis, sions. This competition has been brought about in part 98-112. Stieg presents a useful summary in Change by rapid changes in technology. (Abbott, System of and Challenge, 30-32. Professions, 217—25). "Goggin, "Training and Education," 245. The Development of Professional Education 553

virtually every aspect of archival life in the include a master's degree in history or so- United States, from the moment of its in- cial science, which might be supplemented ception in 1934 until well into the 1960s. by a course in cataloging or bibliography. The compelling need for a trained and ex- "It is the historical scholar . . . who dom-

perienced staff to manage the records ac- inates the staff of the best European ar- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/3/544/2748683/aarc_57_3_116720kn81j25108.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 cumulated from a century and a half of chives," Bemis noted. "We think it should national government created an immediate be so here." He admitted that "a course in demand for archivists. "Now suddenly," 'library science' would be useful, particu- H. G. Jones observes, "there was a great larly for purposes of cataloging . . . librar- National agency to be staffed, but not a sin- ies auxiliary to archival practice." As for gle institution in the United States offered the employment of actual librarians in an archival training."45 Given this fact, cou- archives, Bemis warned that pled with the close affiliation of archivists with historians in the United States, it was there is a distinct danger in turning small surprise that the vast majority of the over archives to librarians who are first recruits to the National Archives staff not at the same time erudite and crit- were historians. And that staff, largely de- ical historical scholars. They tend to void of any archival education or experi- put the emphasis upon cataloging ence, required a great deal of training. and administration, on mechanics The Society of American Archivists rather than on archival histology and (SAA) was organized in 1936, thus estab- the sacred principe de provenance, to lishing a claim for a separate professional which they are usually oblivious.46 identity for archivists. From the outset, issues of education and training were a cen- As Jones has pointed out, "the signifi- tral focus of concern for the SAA. One of cance of the Bemis report lies not so much its first actions was to appoint the Com- in its specifics as in its philosophy."47 Be- mittee on the Training of Archivists, mis strongly asserted that archivists must chaired by Samuel Flagg Bemis, a distin- be historians and that they must be trained guished historian. The Committee ad- in university graduate history programs. dressed its charge with alacrity, and Bemis SAA warmly endorsed this approach, issued his report in July 1937. which went without serious challenge for Bemis recommended a two-tier system more than thirty years. The condescending, of archivists. At the top—"the more ex- patronizing tone Bemis adopted toward li- alted group" in Bemis's words—would be brarians laid an unfortunate foundation for the planners and administrators. This group the relationship between the two profes- should be trained in American history, hav- sions. ing demonstrated their competence as his- An alternative approach to archival ed- torians by earning the Ph.D., in the course ucation, based on a direct alliance with li- of which they would have completed a dis- brary education was formulated at about sertation requiring extensive use of manu- the same time. In 1936 Margaret Cross script and archival sources. They should Norton, the state archivist of Illinois, ad- also have a thorough command of both vocated the establishment of a two-year de- French and German. The second tier would be the technicians. Their preparation would

46Samuel Flagg Bemis, "The Training of Archivists in the United States," American Archivist 2 (July 1939): 157. 45Jones, "Archival Training," 136. "Jones, "Archival Training," 137. 554 American Archivist/ Summer 1994

gree program leading to a master's of The success of this program led to a library science in archives. The first year grant from the Carnegie Corporation for of the program would be the standard li- the development of a more comprehensive brary school curriculum, and the second archival training program. This program

year would be devoted to archival methods. grew and expanded over the years. In 1955 Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/3/544/2748683/aarc_57_3_116720kn81j25108.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 The idea apparently was never taken seri- it began to offer a certificate in archival ously.48 Norton did offer a course in "ar- administration for completion of an eight- chival economy" at Columbia's School of course sequence in history, archives, and Library Service in 1940, but the course was records management. By the late 1960s it not repeated. She continued to insist, how- was offering an M.A. in public administra- ever, that the "great scholar" approach to tion, with the possibility of archives as one archival education, as advocated by Bemis, of two major fields of study. Because the was not the best approach. In 1940, she program has been consistently staffed by wrote, lecturers from the National Archives, however, and because the vast majority of the Justin Winsor is frequently cited students are employees of the Archives, it as the example of a great librarian has constituted little more than an in-house 50 who was also a great scholar and our training program for that institution. young archivists are urged to emulate Thus, by 1940, the predominant char- him. It is no disparagement to the acteristics of American archival education memory of Justin Winsor to point were well established. These characteris- out, however, that no one today tics, as articulated by Stieg, were "domi- would tolerate the standards of serv- nation by the National Archives; division ice in Winsor's library.49 between those favoring history and those emphasizing library techniques as training; 51 Meanwhile, Solon J. Buck tried to lead and random ad hoc courses." The prob- archival education in a slightly different di- lems were equally clear: rection. In 1937 he had taught a course in archives administration at the Columbia the smallness of a profession that University Graduate School. The course required few postulants and that apparently did not attract sufficient enroll- could not support a full, independent ment, and it was not repeated. But in 1939, training program; and the lack of at- with Ernst Posner, Buck persuaded the tention to preparation for anything American University in Washington, D.C., other than governmental archives. to initiate a program of archival education The needs of manuscript collections in its School of Social Science and Public were virtually ignored.52 Affairs. The program consisted of a two- course sequence offered in the evening, What was SAA's role in these develop- and the vast majority of the students were ments? After the Bemis report, SAA dis- employees of the National Archives. solved the Committee on the Training of Archivists. Although archival education issues continued to be discussed and de-

48Goggin, "Training and Education," 248. 49Margaret Cross Norton, "Discussion of Dr. Buck's Paper," in Archives and Libraries, edited by 50Jones, "Archival Training," 140—42. A. F. Kuhlman (Chicago: American Library Associ- "Stieg, Change and Challenge, 31. ation, 1940), 125. 52Stieg, Change and Challenge, 31. The Development of Professional Education 555

bated, SAA took no formal action in the quently established a lasting relationship arena for more than thirty years. Jones with the Columbia University School of could observe in 1968 that, "notwithstand- Library Service. Schellenberg summarized ing the urgent need for adequately trained his point of view in his textbook The Man-

archivists, the Society of American Archi- agement of Archives, published by the Co- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/3/544/2748683/aarc_57_3_116720kn81j25108.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 vists has done little officially to encourage lumbia University Press in 1965: "Library the establishment of training courses." He schools are the proper places in which to went on to note that ' 'the professional So- provide archival training... . [T]he training ciety having failed to offer leadership, in- provided in [existing archival training auguration of academic training for archi- course] has usually been too discursive and vists in the United States was left to private too theoretical to be meaningful."55 Schel- initiative," such as those of Buck, Norton, lenberg did not make many converts in the and others.53 archival community. The results of these private initiatives In the 1970s the SAA exhibited an in- was a fragmented array of ad hoc courses, creased engagement in archival education. some in history departments, some in Frank Evans and Robert Warner surveyed schools of library science, with no stan- the condition of the profession and re- dards, no common curriculum, and little ported that few archivists had any formal impact on the profession. Jones summa- training in archives. As Terry Eastwood rized this state of affairs: notes, "either the universities were not offering courses or ... prospective archivists Thus we archivists have failed in were not taking them, and evidently em- 56 our responsibility to our profession— ployers did not require them." if we are a profession—to provide In 1970, the SAA created the Committee adequate, regular, and comprehen- for the 1970s to plot the course of the So- sive training.. . . [B]oth individually ciety for the coming decade. Education was and collectively we have failed to one of the areas investigated by the com- build a true foundation of profes- mittee. The Report of the Committee for sional education through which we the 1970s admitted that "as a Society we might become progressively more have taken little positive action" in the proficient ourselves and through critical area of archival education. Echoing which others might be prepared to Jones, it went on to concede that "in the join us.54 absence of leadership and direction provided by the Society, the matter of educa- Meanwhile, the debate between those tion and training has been left to the 57 who favored archival education programs initiative of concerned members." The in schools of library science and those who evidence presented by the committee was favored history departments as the appro- rather damning: "Appointments to respon- priate locus continued. The foremost pro- ponent of the library school was T. R. Schellenberg, who had taught a course at the School of Library Science at the Uni- 55T. R. Schellenberg, The Management of Archives (New York: Columbia University Press, 1965), 70. versity of Texas in 1960 and had subse- 56Terry Eastwood, "Nurturing Archival Education in the University," American Archivist 51 (Summer 1988): 233. "Philip P. Mason, "The Society of American Ar- chivists in the Seventies: Report of the Committee for 53Jones, "Archival Training," 138-39. the 1970's," American Archivist 35 (April 1972): 54Jones, "Archival Training," 148. 206. 556 American Archivist / Summer 1994

sible positions as archivists, manuscripts for archivists at the graduate level in a uni- curators, and records managers too fre- versity setting.59 quently are made without regard to aca- Meanwhile, the number and variety of demic preparation, training, or experi- programs in the United States continued to

ence." The committee asserted that "if the expand: thirty-six multicourse programs Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/3/544/2748683/aarc_57_3_116720kn81j25108.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 members of our Society are to achieve their are listed in the 1991 SAA Directory of Ar- full potential and recognition as profession- chival Education. But as Ericson points out als, the Society must address itself di- in his recent article, growth does not nec- rectly" to the problems of archival essarily imply improvement; he adduces a education.58 number of disturbing data that leave one The committee made seven detailed rec- questioning the state of archival education ommendations for improving archival ed- in the 1990s.60 ucation. It is interesting to note that it recommended rather strongly that the So- Summary and Conclusions ciety not attempt to establish separate degree programs for archivists at that time. The contrasts between the development Following one of the specific recommen- of education for librarians and education dations of the Committee for the 1970s, the for archivists could scarcely be stronger. SAA proceeded to develop guidelines for Both professions, beginning about the turn archival education programs, first promul- of the century, embarked on an effort to gated in 1977 and revised in 1988. These provide for appropriate preappointment ed- guidelines provided fairly basic minima for ucation for entry-level practitioners. By the the wide variety of programs offered by 1930s librarians were served by a host of schools of library science and departments thriving schools offering similar curricula of history. The guidelines were evidence, and leading to similar degrees, the minimal among other things, of an emerging con- quality of which was ensured by accredi- sensus on the content of archival education. tation from the national professional organization. Archivists, in contrast, wedded The first formal program of education themselves to the historians, whose hand- for archivists in North America was estab- maidens they were apparently content to lished in 1981 at the University of British be; as late as the 1970s, they had not yet Columbia, allied with the library school, reached consensus on what archivists which changed its name to the School of needed to know, much less on where and Library, Archival, and Information Studies. how they could learn it. A full program leading to a master's of archival studies is provided. The success of Two major differences between the li- this program has demonstrated the viability brarians and the archivists may account for of the concept of a separate degree pro- this discrepancy in their educational en- gram in archival studies. There can be no deavors. These two factors are things the doubt that the program has succeeded in librarians had got and the archivists had large part because of the commitment of not: librarians had the Carnegie Corpora- Canadian archivists, working through the Association of Canadian Archivists, to establish a program of professional education 59Terry Eastwood, "The Origin and Aims of the Master of Archival Studies Program at the University of British Columbia," Archivaria 16 (Summer 1983): 35-52; Eastwood, "Nurturing Archival Education," 228-51. On the leadership of the ACA, see especially 58Mason, "The Society of American Archivists," the latter, p. 239. 207. '"Ericson, " 'Abolish the Recent,' " 25-37. The Development of Professional Education 557

tion, with its determination to support sixty years later, in 1936. The Williamson social amelioration through the develop- Report was published in 1923; the SAA ment of strong service professions; and 'Committee for the 1970s' Report was they had an active and well-organized na- published almost fifty years later, in 1972.

tional association, the American Library The ALA had a large permanent staff when Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/3/544/2748683/aarc_57_3_116720kn81j25108.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 Association, poised to take advantage of it established the Board of Education for the assistance offered by the Carnegie Cor- Librarianship in the 1920s, while SAA was poration. It was Carnegie money and ALA without any full-time staff until 1974. It leadership that were the critical elements in seems clear that archivists have lagged be- the successful development of professional hind librarians, in the strict chronological programs for librarians. sense, and that only now perhaps have ar- In contrast, the Society of American Ar- chivists developed the critical mass needed chivists repeatedly failed, over the course to develop pre-appointment professional of several decades, to exercise effective education programs. Nevertheless, the As- leadership in developing an appropriate sociation of Canadian Archivists has dem- structure for archival education. Even onstrated what vision and commitment can when the Carnegie Corporation provided achieve: ACA was founded only in 1975, funding for a modest graduate archival ed- but its active involvement in developing ucation program at American University, professional education for archivists led to the SAA took no steps to build a system the establishment of a successful program of professional education on that founda- in less than a decade. tion. The contrast between the ALA's in- Today the current state of archival edu- volvement with the Graduate Library cation in the United States appears to be School at the University of Chicago and analogous to the state of American library the SAA's lack of involvement with the education described by Williamson in American University program could scarcely 1919, "a variety of valuable parts scattered be more telling. around waiting for vital machinery not yet In short, the American Library Associ- constructed or even planned."61 As ation performed in a manner typical of a Churchwell noted, the development of pro- professional association: it provided lead- fessional education follows the develop- ership in defining the knowledge base on ment of the profession itself. It may be which practice in the profession is sup- simply that the retarded development of posed to be based, and it supported the de- professional education for archivists in the velopment of formal programs of graduate United States is a reflection of the retarded preappointment education for preparing development of the profession itself. In re- prospective practitioners. In contrast, until cent years the SAA has begun to exercise recently the SAA has failed to function as some leadership in archival education, in a typical professional organization in the developing guidelines, culminating with critically important matter of professional the current draft for an M.A.S. degree. Per- education. haps we are witnessing the emergence of At least part of the current discrepancy new consciousness of the importance of between the state of education for archi- professional education and a willingness to vists and the state of education for librari- deal with the difficult but important issues ans may be readily explained as the differ- ence between the relative maturation of the two professions. The American Library Association was founded in 1876, the So- "Williamson, "Some Present-Day Aspects of Li- ciety of American Archivists was founded brary Training." 558 American Archivist / Summer 1994

involved. Perhaps Williamson's "vital mation science educators, increasingly con- chinery" is now being planned. cerned with their own survival, seek As Richard Cox has pointed out, "The rational ways to diversify their enterprise, education of the archivist is fundamental to claim an expanded domain or jurisdic-

to the well-being of the archival profes- tion, and to fashion new coalitions, they are Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/57/3/544/2748683/aarc_57_3_116720kn81j25108.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 sion."62 What is at stake is the health of more and more looking at mergers or con- the profession itself, in terms of the profi- solidation with allied professional fields. ciency of its practitioners and the quality Joint-degree programs with a host of other of service they are able to provide society, fields have proliferated. Archival educators and in terms of the availability of resources have already found a welcome home in archival institutions must have to achieve many schools of library and information their goals. Until a system of preappoint- science, as those institutions seek to trans- ment education has been established for ar- form themselves into schools of informa- chivists, and until basic entry-level creden- tion management, knowledge mediation, or tials established, the profession will remain the like. mired in the situation Waldo Gifford Le- If the Society of American Archivists land decried more than eighty years ago, adopts standards for a master's of archival when an archivist was anyone who claimed studies degree, such degree programs will to be one. find a welcome home in a number of ex- The present volatility and instability in isting schools of library and information library and information science education studies. Perhaps Leland's predictions of may be viewed as an opportunity for ar- eighty years ago will yet be proven right: chival education. As library and informa- "The evolution of the archivist will proceed somewhat like the evolution of the librarian."63

62Cox, "Archival Education in the United States," 112. ''Leland, "American Archival Problems."