PROTECTING RESEARCH VALUES: THE DAYMINES GROUP OFRECORD$ UNIVERSITY OFIDAHO LIBRARY

Richard C. Davis

BARRY DAY, son of a general store operator in them, in several accessions, to the University of Idaho. the small mining town of Wardner, in the Coeur There they remained piled in the library basement until d'Alene mining region of northern Idaho, staked his resources could be found to process them and make Hercules lode claim atop a ridge above Burke Canyon them available to researchers. A collection this large in 1889. Continually for twelve years Harry and his was beyond the everyday processing capabilities of the partners labored before one of them struck rich ore on Special Collections Department. Since these records June 2, 1901.1. As if in a classic tale of the West, within were thought to have value greater than the local weeks the Hercules became a mine, and by the end of histories of the individual companies represented--parti­ the year the Days and their partners were rich. For over cularly so as the archival literature had previously given forty years thereafter, the Days expanded their mineral relatively little attention to the research values of indus­ ,holdings. The Hercules played out by 1925 but with trial records--two subvention grants were obtained. Hercules profits the Days gained control of Tamarack Under the first, from the National Historical Publica­ & Custer Consolidated, Dayrock, and Sherman Lead tions and Records Commission, the author was mines, which continued for decades as notable silver­ employed as project archivist from late '1986 into 1989; lead-zinc producers. The "Day Interests" also swallowed under the second, from the U.S. Department of Educa­ up numerous smaller concerns, many of them never tion, Michael Tarabulski was employed in the same productive, but each representing some former owner's capacity in 1991-1992.3 dreams of wealth. My first sight of the Day mining records, on Decem­ Harry's son Henry L. Day reorganized twelve of the ber 2, 1986, gave the impression of an amorphous mass, mining companies controlled by his family into one overflowing from ramshackle shelves, heaped up on the firm, Day Mines, Inc., with headquarters in Wallace, basement floor: unlabeled cartons, loose handfuls of Idaho, in 1947. Day Mines then owned 719 patented correspondence, drawers out of filing cabinets, bundles claims in the Coeur · d'Alenes, amounting to 10,000 of file folders tied with string, shipping crates of diverse acres, the largest body of mineral lands in the region. sizes, leather-bound volumes large and small, diplomas, As the local mines faltered, Day Mines, Inc., searched framed photographs, chest x-rays, and other items. In the American West for new mineral properties, even­ such a state it was impossible to accurately gauge the tually operating gold, silver, lead, copper and other volume of this material, but the best guess was a little mines in the states of Washington, Utah, Colorado, and under 2,000 cubic feet. In the weeks ahead, each box, the province of British Columbia, as well as in Idaho. file drawer, volume, or cluster of loose material had to When Henry L. Day retired in 1972, management be inspected one at a time to identify--or at least make passed from the hands of the Day family, and in 1981 a preliminary guess at--its creator, date, and type 6f the Hecla Mining Company, drawn by Day Mines, Inc.'s record so that this information could be placed in a rich mineral reserves, acquired the Day empire through an exchange of stock, making Hecla for a time the largest silver mining company in the United States.z RICHARD C. DAVIS, Manuscripts-Archives Hecla had no interest in Day .Mines' older records, Librarian at the University of Idaho, presented an early and between 1981 and 1984 Henry L. Day donated form of this paper to the MHA 1992 convention in 19 20 Day Mines Oroup o/Recorch ' personal computer database. Once sorted and printed, in 1984. The great bulk date between the 1910s and the the resulting crude "preliminary inventory" provided a early 1950s. Most of it derives from lead, silver, and zinc glimpse of how complex the collection was, how many mining and milling in the Coeur d'Aienes and the companies, partnerships, and persons had been respon­ related smelters in Northport, Washington, and Carne­ sible for creating it; the first real knowledge of what we gie, Pennsylvania, but there are small amounts from had. With preliminary inventory in hand, student assis­ gold, silver, and copper ventures in other Western states tants could begin roughing out the arrangement of each and Canada. By the time the initial mass of the Day company's records, one company at a time. collection had been sorted by company, boxed, and By the summer of 1987 enough was known about the shelved, the actual volume was found to be about 1,600 mining records and the functions they had served to cubic feet. Once appraisal standards were established, begin drafting tentative appraisal guidelines, initially 42 percent of this--bulky records mostly in long runs of based on a test-case analysis of the records of one firm, routine material--could fairly readily be segregated for the Hercules Mining Company, which at that time discard in the first two years of the project. The last included about 300 cubic feet (since reduced to 73 cubic year of work saw another 23 percent weeded based on feet). These guidelines considered both evidential and closer inspection of the files. This left about 560 cubic informational values, were influenced by a desire to feet of material, about 35 percent of the original bulk.S retain unique information, and were intended to If this reduction seems alarming, consider the statistics balance information against bulk.4 In February 1988 the claimed for the federal government of the United guidelines and analysis were circulated for criticism States, where under 2 percent of all the records ever from three categories of experts: historical researchers; produced become archives. However, in the National subject experts "knowledgeable about a particular dis· Archives, and, as I will try to show, in our treatment of cipline" as creators of records5, in our case mining the Day mining records, these reduction figures "repre­ executives and engineers; and fellow archivists with sent volume and not information."9 prior experience in business records. (We knew of no In an attempt to gain a sense of the sources found archivists with prior experience with such a collection of useful by mining historians, I examined a variety of mining records.6) We asked a total of eighteen persons. published monographs. The majority of mining his­ Only eight actually made substantive comment, but the tories, I found, either have avoided unpublished sources review process publicized the collection among people altogether or cite only personal papers and scattered most likely to appreciate its potential and perhaps individual manuscripts in repositories. About a half­ reassured some historians who might have feared Idaho dozen of those I examined used such primary material was infested with vandal archivists intent upon trashing as records of county clerks and recorders, courts, mining the sources of history. As one critic remarked, he had districts, labor unions, and documents filed with com­ "read the report like .a historian, prepared to complain panies registration agencies and stock exchanges.to I about the discard of potentially meaningful materials, found something more than a dozen mining histories but find myself without any complaints of that sort."7 listing corporate records in their bibliographies. Not all Our referees, it turned out, made vital contributions in of them used these records in an important way, and provoking some reconsideration of the relative value of many of those which did seemed to have found value specific record types. only in the correspondence contained therein.tt Most of We identified and inventoried records of a total those that went beyond correspondence were still limi­ of ninety-two mining corporations and/or partnerships ted to narrative materials. Joseph Cash, Working tlJe (counting corporate reorganizations and name changes), Homestake, cited individual reports, lists, and letters in three corporations engaged in activities not related the Homestake Mining Company's records in Lead, directly to mining, and ten persons, all of whom were South Dakota. David and Brenda Stone, Hardrock either members of the Day family or key members of Oold, claimed reliance upon the records of the Alaska business enterprises dominated by the Day family. Juneau Gold Mining Company, in the possession of the These materials were assigned to eighty-seven manu­ Alaska Light & Power Company. James W. Byrkit, script groups, arranged, and inventoried. Groups varied Forging tlJe Copper Collar, found in "the old United in size and diversity from a single item, the Records of Verde Copper Company records, provided by Jerome the Fern Mining Company, one book of directors' historian Herbert V. Young, ... a rich vein," noting in minutes, to the 76 cubic feet, after appraisal and weed­ particular the use of reports by mine operators and ing, of the records of the Tamarack & Custer Consoli­ detectives for owners' and managers' political concerns. dated Mining Company. The earliest records are a few John Fahey's J7Je Days o/ t!Je Hercules, based on the fragments in the papers of Harry Day dating from the Day material when it was still in private hands, largely 1880s; the most recent are among the letters and clip­ used the letters of Harry Day, somewhat pre-selected by pings of Henry L. Day which extend almost to his death Henry L. Day.tz Few books on mining history seem to Mming History Association 1.994 Annual 21

have depended upon non-narrative record types. Ronald body of records against the objective costs of maintain­ Brown, Hard Rock Mn1ers, cited, among other records, ing a large bulk of material indefinitely. Here follow employee time slips of the B.O.B. Mining and Milling representative examples of the application of appraisal Company of New Mexico for discussions of wage stabi­ decisions to the Day mines records.I6 lity and leases for property holdings and development, Among records documenting the organization of an found in collections of personal papers in the economic enterprise are those concerning the selection University of New Mexico Library. More recently, Clark of company leadership and the formation of policies: Spence, 77Je Co.11rey Placer Mining Company, used a directors' and stockholders' minutes; files of incorpo­ more diverse array of mining records, including ration, meeting, and election documents; narrative accounting journals (for property purchases, main­ annual reports; annual operating statements; monthly tenance costs, and capital investments), expense financial statements; series of general correspondence; accounts (for freight and equipment costs), sales orders and series consisting entirely of mineral patents, deeds, (for equipment and conditions of shipment), specifica­ contracts and other legal documents. These records, tions books (for quality and design of equipment), and which we might call policy records, relating to the deeds and patent notices (for acquisition of claims), highest level of decision making and broadest range of chiefly in the Baker Library of Harvard University, and activities, were weeded of duplicates but otherwise kept Larry Lankton, Cradle to Orave: Li/e, Work, a.11d Death intact. at t/Je Lake Superior Copper Mines, examined the The much bulkier operating and housekeeping impact of technology on labor, in part through the study records present a more difficult appraisal problem. We of "time books," "contract books," and "invoice sought to avoid what has been derided as the "tip of the books,".I3 iceberg"l7 approach to appraisal, but in fact operating There has not been enough research use of mining and housekeeping records suffered far greater reduction records to provide guidance in deciding how to reduce in bulk than did policy records. The appraisal process, the great bulk of the rich variety of record types in the as developed in the first two years of the Day mining Day collection to manageable proportions. We are not records project, was largely comparative and subtractive, much concerned here with the primary value of the identifying each record type, analyzing its function and records, which related to the needs of the enterprises its relationships with other records, and discarding which produced them, but with their secondary values, those among several possible sources of any given type for subsequent researchers. Traditional archival theory of data determined not to provide the best access to defines these secondary values as two types: evidence on that information, taking into account difficulty of use the organization and management of capital and labor and bulk, among other considerations. to effect the purposes of the enterprise; and informa­ The voluminous and specialized records resulting tion on the persons, places, and things with which that from myriad day-to-day economic transactions were enterprise did business (such as the mine worker and kept when they were cumulative and often discarded the investor, the mining town and the political system, when they recorded only individual transactions.!& To the technology applied and the landscape exploited). give one example: mining companies upon receipt of a The analysis of the records against the concepts of bill or invoice from a supplier might typically make an evidential values, which document the nature and entry in a shoddy, temporary volume we have termed an actions of the organization creating the record, and "invoice register." Once paid, stamped with a number, informational values, which document the subjects, and filed, the invoice became a voucher and the transac­ places, and persons with which that organization dealt, tion was entered in an often well-bound volume called a are familiar as the theory developed in the National "voucher register." An illustration, in itself insignifi­ Archives and explicated most thoroughly by Theodore cant, will compare the informational content of each of Schellenberg, a Ph.D-trained historian.t4 These values these documents. A Hercules invoice register gives for a are logically related in that both depend upon the typical transaction, the purchase of a newspaper sub­ provenance of the records: informational values in scription, the date Aug. 26, 1919; the filing number archives gain .their validity from the evidential aspect of 3005; the amount $.85; and the notations Jack Quinn, the same body of records, just as knowledge of author­ Spokesma/J Review,· subscription to Review, Aug. 1 to ship and the author's purposes in writing is essential to Sep. 1, 1919. This is, in this instance, about all the enable the researcher to interpret the meaning of any information the voucher itself contains. For the same person document.IS transaction, the voucher register gives the date Aug. 28 Archival appraisal depends on analysis; it is no more (two days later); the same name, Jack Quinn, same capable of being reduced to a mechanical routine than filing number, same dollar amount, and adds the facts is historical scholarship, if it is to provide a meaningful that the check was drawn on Wallace Bank & Trust framework for assessment of the research potential of a Company and the expense charged against the office 22 Day Mines Group o/Records

expense account. But it omitted mention of the purpose Paper mining is a game of the expense. Of the two volumes, only the invoice Not so difficult to play; register identified the item purchased, but only the But mining down beneath the ground voucher register named the account to which the expense was charged. Lacking an invoice register, dis­ Is something else, I'd say. carding the vouchers would mean that some informa­ To build a shaft on paper tion would be lost on the specific equipment required Is as simple as can be; to run a mining company. But could such a minute level But to sink it down straight in the ground of information justify keeping a vast sea of vouchers? Is quite different, you see. Some vouchers included lists up to 100 pages or more So take it from me, fellow, of items purchased. Sometimes only different sizes of screws, bolts, nuts, and other small supplies. Should we If you're raring to buy stock--You may get a lot of keep such bulky series or is it enough to document that paper, on a certain date the company spent a certain amount But maybe not much rock.23 on such materials from a certain supplier? We conclu­ ded that vouchers could nearly always be discarded In a manner analogous to the operation of account­ when their contents were covered in either an invoice ing journals and ledgers, capital stock journals and register or a voucher register. In the Tamarack and stock ledgers together provide both a chronological and Custer, for example, 3 volumes of voucher registers and a name arrangement to information on changes in 2 volumes of invoice registers allowed the discard of ownership of the corporation; all have been kept. The 24,742 vouchers, filling almost 64 feet of shelving. But same information is found on cancelled certificates, of with many other companies, when cumulative expense which our mining records contain many volumes, pasted and income records were lacking, we kept much smaller back to the stubs. As long as both stock ledgers and numbers of vouchers.J9 Journals existed covering the same years, we discarded How far could we go in discarding accounting certificates, except those few, like the single volume for records? In judging the value of such specialized the Hercules, which had related correspondence, wills, materials, the knowledge of our experts proved most and other legal documents glued or stapled to them. As useful. In the archival literature one can find both the handsome ~ocuments, stock certificates are sought by caution that "all general subsidiary journals and ledgers, collectors; they can also be quite bulky, those for the with their indexes" should be kept20; and the license Tamarack & Custer alone filling 10.5 feet of shelving. that "the archivist may elect carefu lly to destroy all Despite the advice of one of our consultants that can­ entry documentation and journals in favor of an indexed celled stock certificates were "of value for research,"24 ledger."21 Journals and ledgers contain substantially the we could come to no conclusion but that, when stock same information, in a different arrangement, and the journals and ledgers are complete, certificates have no discarding of the journals would save much space, but it evidential or informational value not duplicated else­ would have been "a terrible mistake," our historian of where.25 accounting explained, for "journals and ledgers work as In spite of our desire to reduce the volume of the a set. Accountants need both to reconstruct the finan­ collection as far as consistent with saving research cial history of a company. ...lt would be extremely diffi­ values, it was redundancy of info rmation, never bulk in cult or perhaps impossible to reconstruct the general itself, that sentenced records for discard. Sometimes, journal fro m the ledgers."22 Corporate records are parts however, records would be kept because they contained in an interacting mechanism and their appraisal basically similar information presented in a different depends upon an understanding of the functioning of arrangement. For example, records of the major com­ each part, and not upon following a convenient rule of panies contain a great deal of documentation on the thumb or conventional wisdom offered by some earlier workforce, and much of it is not only bulky but relates archivist. to very minor matters. The "employment cards," existing The sale of capital stock was nearly as basic to the from 1916 through most of the 1920s, designate such mining enterprise as exploration for and extraction of information as the individual's birthplace, marital and mineral wealth. The Day collection will be a rich source family status, age, previous injuries, employment for determining not only who became wealthy, but also experience and languages spoken.26 Payrolls, covering those (perhaps larger in number), who would have all classes from mockers to executives, give more speci­ found their own experiences described in this contem­ fica lly work-related information such as jobs held, shifts poraneous doggerel: worked, pay rates, deductions for board, hospital in­ surance, and "orders." In the payrolls are also totals in each category for each part of the operations of larger Mining HistOiy Association 1.9.94 ADnua/ 23

mines, and for each of the firms and persons to which the iceberg" appraisal will not meet the needs of many the deductions were credited. Here we find, for exam­ lines of research, but it hardly follows that archivists ple, that one Burke grocer in September 1922 received should eschew appraisal altogether, as has been advoca­ a check for $151.24 in "orders" from the pay of three ted.29 "Tip of the iceberg" is a caricature of the Schel­ miners employed by the Hercules, in each case taking lenbergian values theory. As the preceding discussion the man's entire monthly earnings. Following passage of should suggest, evidential and informational values, Social Security legislation in the 1930s, the payrolls properly understood, need not so restrict the record were supplemented by "compensation records," which saved. An understanding of these values and their appli­ arrange the same data, chronological in the payroll, into cation should beneficially expand a researcher's grasp of separate accounts for each employee, and also provide the nature of the sources upon which historical scholar­ additional personal information such as had been recor­ ship depends. But, as the archivist Maynard Brichford ded for an earlier period on the employment cards. lamented twenty years ago, the vital question, "how Sometimes the compensation records can be used to does archival evaluation affect our evidential and infor­ trace a worker's career as he moved from one company mational heritage... does not interest our historical to another, and the alphabetical arrangement tends to brethren."30 More recently Susan Grigg noted on the bring family members together. All of these records are part of historians "some Jack of attention to how evi­ bulky. For the Hercules alone the employment cards, dence and actuality are related ... Practicing historians several thousand items, were 3 cubic feet; the payrolls, have generally not debated or even recognized issues in 13 volumes, 5.5 cubic feet; and the compensation this part of their common knowledge. "31 records, 4 volumes, another cubic foot. But all is obvi­ Archivists are equally remiss in having a poor under­ ously potentially very useful for research, whether for standing of what researchers are really doing when they the genealogist who might be after specific individuals visit their repositories.32 The superficiality of some or the social historian who might want quantifiable data archivists' conceptions of scholarship is revealed by such on large numbers. All of these kinds of record were remarks as "the study of ideas has been superseded by deemed worthy of saving. the study of behavior,"33 as if no one worthy of the Payrolls, in archival terms, are largely "informa­ name historian would study ideas ever again. While tional" rather than "evidential" in value. But sometimes archivists commendably make studies purporting to records were deemed to have archival value primarily explore "historians' conceptions of the research pro­ for their evidence bearing on the interpretation of other cess," these easily give the impression of a view from records. For the Tamarack & Custer in the 1910s and without, and results predicting "heavy concentration on 1920s there were several folders of ·"authorizations to techniques of evaluating and weighing evidence, with far deduct orders from pay," signed by the employee and less attention to how evidence is obtained in the first consisting of printed or typed forms supplied by local place,"34 too comfortably fit a tendency to seek refuge merchants. The essential information on these forms is in records management for fiscal, phychological, and also in the payrolls, but had I not seen the authoriza­ intellectual reasons.35 tions, I might never have been so sure exactly what the With historiography variable and research trends word "orders" meant in the payrolls. unpredictable, archival appraisal obviously needs some Thus, the mining records appraisal proceeded first measure other than current observation of research by careful study of the records (and of available external trends. This is the merit of the evidential and informa­ sources) to learn the functions the records had perfor­ tional values: they provide a basis of preserving impar­ med and their relationship to one other. Subsequently, tiality in records.36.. At the least, archival decisions must the elimination of as much bulk as consistent with not be arbitrary. The good archivist will not frantically protecting evidence and information delivered a stuff records into procrustean categories; he will listen resource more useful--and certainly more economical to to the records and plan according to what they say. store and maintain--than the original mass could be.27 While archivists usually discard vouchers, for example, Appraisal in the mining records project became an it is mindless to do so without knowing what kinds of evaluative and subtractive procedure. Perhaps it is not information will thereby be lost in any particular collec­ LOo fanciful to imagine the archivist analyzing, arrang­ tion, and without considering whether a sometimes ing, describing records like a sculptor studies and mea­ discardable record might not be worth keeping in the sures marble, each discarding material judged superflu­ absence of other, more cumulative records. The archi­ ous. The process of "taking away," Michelangelo reflec­ vist must also be aware of the evidential value of even ted, "brings out a living figure ... which ... grows the more minor records (such as the Tamarack & Custer authori­ as the stone is chipped away."28 zations), which may seem insignificant from the stand­ Historians typically have not demonstrated a clear point of the corporation's leadership and administ­ understanding of archival appraisal. Certainly a "tip of ration. Even if the information in them is not unique, 24 Day Mines Oroup of'Re cords

the key to some puzzle once its origin and function is mining records and federal records is not strictly accurate, as we can understood. Finally, the archivist ought to keep a mean­ never be cert ain exactly how much bulk of mining records was ever created (as opposed to the bulk accessioned by the University of ingful record of all materials discarded, not merely a Idaho). My impression is that the records of at least the major statement that certain types of materials were not kept, companies from the mid-1900s to the 1940s were substantially but the dates, coverage, and volume of each type discar­ complete. There were few obvious gaps of significance. The earliest ded.37 To do otherwise would deny the researcher the records were more fragmentary and so arc the latest ones, for Day opportunity to see the evolution of the organization Mines Inc. Missing for the latter company were the most important (from the standpoint of evidential value) records, such as minutes that created the records he is studying. If the researcher and executive correspondence, which were presumably kept back by troubles to pursue it, this knowledge of context can be Hecla for their continuing usefulness, and the great bulk of bouse­ as useful to the criticism of research sources as it is in keeping records. Vouchers of Day Mines Inc., for example, were allowing the archivist to gauge evidential and informa­ almost entirely absent. tional values. While legend has it that some medical IOCoun ty records: Russell R. Elliott, Nevada's 7ifll!ntielh Ccnlul}' Mlntng Doom: Tonopah_ Oo/dlie/d, Ely (Reno: University of doctors bury their mistakes, intellectual integrity forbids Nevada Press, 1966). Court documents: Robert W. Smith, :JlJe the archivist from doing so. Just as the wise patient Coeur d'AietJe Mlntng Hi1r of1 8.92 (Corvallis: Oregon State Col­ keeps the doctor honest by demanding explanations of lege, 1961). Mining district records: Watson Parker, Oold tn tbe medication or surgery, so should the researcher keep Bt1ck Hill.r (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966). Labor watch on the processes used in preparing what will union records: Mark Wyman, Ht11d R ocl: Epic: Weslem Miners become, after all, the sources for history. and the lnduslrtill Revolution, 1861J-J.91() (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979), and Richard E. Lingenfelter, :JlJe HudrocJ: Miners: A Htstoty of/be Mlntng Lnbor Movemenltn the American ENDNOTES West_ 1863-18.9.1 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974). Registration office records: Clark C. Spence, Brit;sh Investments !John Fahey, 771e Days ofthe Hercules (Moscow: University Press nod /he Anu:rt'can Mining Frontier, 19o0-1.9(}J (Ithaca: Cornell of Idaho, 1978), p. 39. Fahey's eminently useful study focuses on the University Press, for the American Historical Association, 1958), Hercules Mi ning Company as a partnership, 1889-1924. and W. Turrentine Jackson, 771e Enterpnsing Scvl: Investors in lbe 2John Fahey, Hec/n: A Ccntuty of Westem Mining (Seattle: Amert'can Weslnller197.'/(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, University of Washington Press, 1990), pp. 200-204. 1968). 3The University of Idaho has published a comprehensive guide to IlSee, for example: Lingenfelter, 7he Hardrock Miners, John all the Day mining records: Dny to Dny: 771e Hirtor!C Day Mines Rowe, 7he Hnrd-Rock Men: wmisb lmmigmnls and tbe North Group ofNorth em Idaho: A Guide to R ecvrds ofMin;ng wm­ Amert'can Ml'nt'ng Frontier (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1974); panies in tbe University ofldabo Libnuy, edited by Terry Abraham Duane A. Smith, wlomdo Mlntng: A Photogmpbic ./Vstoi)'(Aibu­ and Richard C. Davis (Moscow: University of Idaho Library, 1992). querque: University of New Mexico Press, 1977); Stanley Dempsey 4Richard C. Davis and Gregory Eisenlein, "Archival Appraisal of a nd James E. Fell, Jr., Mining tbe Summit: wlomdo's Ten Ml'lc the Records of the Hercules Mining Company and Associated Dtslrict_ 18o0-1.9tfti(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986). f irms)," July 27, 1988, an unpublished manuscript. An abridged For use or correspondence: Elliott, Nevada's Twentieth Centuty version appears in Dny to Dny. Mlntng Doom,- Wyman, Hatd R ock Epic, Michael P. Malone, 771e SJoan K. Haas, Helen W. Samuels, and Barbara T. Simmons, Bnlllt.• /Or Dulle: Mlnt'ng nod Politics on the Nor/hem Frontier, Appnusing lbe R ecvtds of Modem Science and Technology: A .1864'-J.90o(Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1981). Guide (Cambridge, Mass.: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 12Joseph H. Cash, Worl:i11g /be Homes/11ke (Ames: Iowa State 1985), p. 7. University Press, 1973); David and Brenda Stone, Hnrd Rock Oold: 6The only article dealing with mining records that I have found in 771e SIOIJ' ofth e Oren/ Mines that Wet'C the Hear/bent ofJuneau the archival literature, oth er than my own "Getting the Lead Out," (Juneau: Centennial Committee, 1980); James W. Byrkit, Foqp'ng cited below, is Maureen A. Jung, "Documenting Nineteenth-Cen­ the wpper 0JIInr: Atizonn 's Lnbor M?n,?gemenl Wnr of1.90.1-1.921 tury Quartz Mining in Northern California," Ameriam Arc!Jivts/53 (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1982), p. 96, 56, 393; Fahey, (Summer 1990) 406-18, which was published subsequently to the 771e Dnys ofth e Hen:ules, pp. vii, 297. H. Lee Scamehorn, Mtne & important part of the appraisal work on the Day Mines project. Ml'/1: The CF~Itn the 7ivenlielb Ccntuty (Lincoln: University of U nlike the present article, which springs fro m an analysis of a finite Nebraska Press, 1992) mentions diverse recent types, leaves it body of material, Jung attempts a retrospective application of unclear which were actually used in a ny important way. "documentation strategy," seeking to identify potential documen­ 13Ronald C. Brown, Hnrd Rock Miners: The Entetmounla;n West, tation from all sources. The original explication of "documentation 186{}-1.92() (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1979); strategy" is Helen W. Samuels, "Who Controls the Past?" Amert~ Clark C. Spence, 771e Conroy Placer Mining wmpany.- A Pioneer am An:hiws/49 (Spring 1986) 109-24. Oold Drcdgtng Enterprtse in Montano, 18Jl7-1.922 (Helena: Mon­ 7Letter from Clark C. Spence, Ma rch 28, 1988. Those who provided tana Historical Society, 1989). Laarry D. Lankton, Cmdle lo Omve appraisal advice were Earl H. Bennett, Francis X. Blouin, Jr., (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991). Maynard Brichford, William S. Greever, Michael Ostrogorsky, 14Theodore Schellenberg, Modem Arc!Jives: Princtj:Jies nnd Tec!Jm~ Duane A. Smit h, Clark C. Spence, and G lenn Vent. ques (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956), pp. 135-38. For 8When processing was finally completed, there still remained three application of these concepts, developed for the treatment of cubic feet of Day material, mainly bound volumes, which could not governmental records, to records generated by private organization, be identified with a known mining company. This material has been see Richard C. Berner, Arc!Jivnl J7Jeol}' nndPm ctice in the United kept, pending further study. Stales: A Htslon'cnl Analysts (Seattle: University of Washington 9James 0. Bradsher, "When One Percent Means a Lot: The Press, 1983), pp. 47 ff. This application has been challenged by some Percentage of Permanent Records in the National Archives," OAH writers, such as Frank Boles and J ulia M. Young, "Exploring the Newsleller, May 1985, 20. Comparison of the discard rates of Black Box: The Appraisal of University Administrative Records," MiJJJilg Hist01y Associatio.ll 19.94 A.rJ.Ilua/ .25

Amt:rican Arcbivis/48 (Spring 1985) 121-40. I have dealt with this 29Peter Ward, "What's Worth Keeping from the User's Perspec­ conflict in "Getting the Lead Out: The Appraisal of Silver-Lead tive?" Association of British Columbia Archivists/Northwest Archi­ Mining Records at the University of Idaho," AmericanArcbivist55 vists Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, April 27, 1990; (Summer 1992) 461-62. Also pertinent to the continued usefulness Peter Steere, "Research Use of Historical Mining Records: Pro­ of Schellenberg's concepts is Elizabeth Lockwood, '"Imponderable blems of Appraisal and What is History," Society of American Matters': The Influence of New Trends in History on Appraisal at Archivists 54th Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, September 2, the National Archives," American Archivist 53 (Summer 1990) 1990. 394-405. 30Maynard Brichford, "Historians and Mirrors: A Review Essay," ISFor further discussion, see Richard C. Davis, "Getting the Lead American Archivist 36 (July 1973) 402. . Similar observations by Out," 462-63. archivists and occasionally by hi.storians are abundant. For example: t6For a comprehensive account of what types of records exist in the Meyer H. Fishbein, "Archival Training for Historians," American Day collections, what functions they served, how they relate to one Historical Association NewslelleJ; December 1966, p. 7; Dwight L. another, and what specific records there are for each of the cor­ Smith, "The Archivist and the Historian: First Cousins," 111/noir porations and partnerships, see .Day lo Day, pp. 4-16. Libranes52 (February 1970) 176; Clark A. Elliott, "Communication 17A criticism leveled against Schellenberg for his presumed empha­ and Events in History: Toward a Theory for Documenting the sis on evidential values. JoAnne Yates, "Internal Communication Past," Amt:rican ArcbM'sl 48 (Fall 1985) 358; and Barbara C. Systems in American Business Structure: A Framework to Aid Orbach, "The View from the Researcher's Desk: Historians' Per­ Appraisal," American Archivir/48 (Spring 1985) 156. ceptions of Research and Repositories," American Arc!JJvJ'sl 54 18A traditional archival procedure: see Harold T. Pinkett, "Identifi­ (Winter 1991) 35. cation of Records of Continuing Value," Indian Archives 16 (1965) 31Susan Grigg, "Archival Practice and the Foundations of Historical 59-60; Arthur H. Cole, "Principles for the Selection of Materials for Method," Joumal ofAmerican HJ's/01}'78 (June 1991) 229. Grigg Preservation in Collections of Business Records," Archives and correctly advocates that scholars should learn to use a knowledge of Ltonmes (1938) 179; Robert W. Lovett, "Appraisal of Older Busi­ archival principles to locate materials. She sees "provenance as part ness Records, American ArchJvi.S'f15 (July 1952) 234-35. of a broader insight into the contextuality of historical sources .... The 19Ralph Hower, perhaps the leading early proponent of the archival provenance of a primary source is the historical actuality from which preservation of business records in the United States, in "The it arose" (p. 233). Grigg did not go on, as she might have, to point Appraisal of Business Records," Bulle/in of!be Business Historical out that this "contextuality" also bears on not only the location but SoCJe/y 11 (October 1937) 44, would keep vouchers "if their con­ also the evaluation of these sources, an insight implied nearly a tents are not recorded in registers." half-century earlier by the historian Louis Gottschalk, who observed 20Hower, "Appraisal of Business Records," 44 (c.f., Dennis E. "if the document is where it ought to be... its provenance. ..creates a Meissner, "The Evaluation of Modern Business Accounting presumption of its genuineness." See "The Historian and the Records," Midweslem ArcbJvist5 (Spring 1981) 80. Historical Document," in Louis Gottschalk, Clyde Kluckhohn, and 21Michael Lewellyn, "The Yellowed Square of Paper: Archival Robert Angell, Tbe Use ofPei'Sonal Documents in HJ'sto~y, Anthro­ Appraisal of Accounting Records," Oeoqpn Arcb1vt: 7 (Fall 1979) pology_ lind SoCJology(New York: Social Science Research Council, 23-31. 1947), pp. 29-30, italics in the original. 22Letter from Glenn Vent, June 2, 1988. 32Bruce W. Dearstyne, "What is the Use of Archives: A Challenge 2J"Paper Mining," in Walt Holliday, Mining-Camp Melodies for the Profession," Amuican ArchJvJ$150 (Winter 1987) 76-87. (Butte: Oates & Roberts Press, 1924), p. 66. 33Peter A. Baskerville and Chad M. Gaffield; "The Vancouver 24Letter from Duane A. Smith, April16, 1988. Island Project: Historical Research and Archival Practice," Arc!JJ~ 25Cole, "Principles for the Selection of Materials," pp. 355-56, vana 17 (Winter 1983) 174. advises the discard of stock certificates. Jung, "Documenting Nine­ 34Barbara C. Orbach, "The View from the Researcher's Desk," teenth-Century Quartz Mining in Northern California," p. 416, 30-31. asserts that "share certificates" have no "alternative information 3SThe modern history of archivy has been a search for professional source." And for "stock transfer records" she makes the same identity. For an attempt at a comprehensive discussion of the issues assertion. But from close comparison of our 20th century Idaho involved, see William J. Maher, "Contexts for Understanding Pro­ mining records I could not avoid the conclusion that the presence of fessional Certification: Opening a Pandora's Box?" Amedcnn stock journals and ledgers clearly made stock certificates redundant, An·bJVisl 51 (Fall 1988) 408-27. Some archivists, such as Randall C. except when special circumstances exist, as mentioned in the text. Jimerson, "Redefining Archival Identity: Meeting User Needs in 26AJso called "identification cards." W.H. Carlton in Amer/c,?n the Information Society," Americ.?JJ Arc/11visl 52 (Summer 1989) Mine Accounting: Methods and Foll11s Employed by Leading Min­ 332-40, seem driven by fear of "becoming irrelevant" (p. 332). The ing Cbmpames(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1913), p. 111, calls similar sharpest of many debates, including both Canadian and American cards in use by a Minnesota copper mining company "pedigree participants, on whether archivists should be information profes­ cards." sionals or a special kind of· historian, raged for two years in 27G. Philip Bauer as early as 1946 asserted that "values must be Arch1vann in the aftermath of George Boloteoko's article, weighted against costs." Tbe Appra1&1l of Curren/ and Recent "Archivists and Historians: Keepers of the Well" 16 (Summer 1983) Reco1ds, National Archives Staff Information Circulars, no. 13 5-25, and concluped with the same author's "Instant Professional­ (June 1946). The practical concerns of saving large bodies of ism: To the Shiny New Men of the Future" 20 (Summer 1985) records have increasingly become a subject of discussion since then. 149-57. A pessimistic view was expressed in Marilyn Pettit, "Archi­ See Frank Boles, in association with Julia M. Young, Arcluval vist-Historians: An Endangered Species," OAH N ewslel/e1; Febru­ Appnu.i:tii(New York: Neal Schuman, 1991), especially pp. 2-14 and ary .1992, p. 11. A related theme, the organizational as well as the 54-74. intellectual relations between archivists and historians, has been a 28 Complete Poems and Selt:cled Lt:llt:J'S ofMichelangelo (1963), as frequent subject in archival literature. Especially useful for a histori­ quoted in Donna W. La Cour, comp., AJtisls in Quoin/ion: A cal perspective are Ernst Posner, "Max Lehmann and the Genesis dictiona1y of'I be Cre,11ive Thought of'Painle1:s, Scu/p!OJ'S, DesljjneJ'S, of the Principle of Provenance," in his Arc/11ves and !be Public Wd!eJ:s; Educator:s; and OtbeJ'S (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFar­ Inleft's! (Washington: Public Affairs Press, 1967), p. 41; William F. land, 1989), p. 138. Birdsall, "The Two Sides of the Desk: The Archivist and the 26 Day Mines Oroup ofR ecOJds

Historian, 1909-1935," Amedam Arcb;vJs/ 38 (April 1975) 159-73; in the United States: Archivists--and Historians?" OAHNewsleller, Leslie J. Workman, "To the Editor," A merican ArcbJvJ.i'l 46 (Sum­ August 1985, 17-18. mer 1983) 261-62; Mattie U. Russell, "The Influence of Historians 36For more along this line see Richard C. Davis, "Getting the Lead on the Archival Profession in the United States," American Arcb1~ Out," especially pp. 462-63. v;s/ 46 (Summer 1983) 277-85; J. Frank Cook, "The Blessings of 37Some implications of "documenting the appraisal process" beyond Providence on an Association of Archivists," Amencan Archivist 46 that mentioned here are discussed in Robert Sink, "Appraisal: The (Fall 1983) 374-99; Larry J. Hackman, " Historical Documentation Process of Choice," American An-hJviS't53 (Summer 1990) 457-58.

Courtesy Hen.ty Hinck, Clarkston, Wasbing too