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The Ideas of T.R. Schellenberg on the Appraisal

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The Ideas of T.R. Schellenberg on the Appraisal THE IDEAS OF T.R. SCHELLENBERG ON THE APPRAISAL, ARRANGEMENT, AND DESCRIPTION OF ARCHIVES BY RICHARD STEPHEN STAPLETON B.A., ACADIA UNIVERSITY, 1981 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARCHIVAL STUDIES in THE FACULTY OF ARTS Administered by School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies an d the Department of History We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard: THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AUGUST 19 85 © Richard Stephen Stapleton, 1985 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies The University of British Columbia 1956 Main Mall Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Y3 Date 10 September 1985 DE-6 (3/81) ABSTRACT This thesis is an examination of the ideas of the eminent American archivist, T.R. Schellenberg (1903-1970), on the arrangement, description, and appraisal of archives. The formulation of these ideas is set in the context of the National Archives of the United States where Schellenberg was employed for more than twenty-five years. The National Archives was the first archival institution to attempt to deal with the problems created by large volumes of records. Accordingly, Schellenberg1 writings—the most famous of which is the book Modern Archives; Principles and Techniques (1956)—are concerned primarily with finding solutions to these problems, especially with regard to arrangement, description, and appraisal. His skillful blending of archival theory and practice in the presentation of general principles and techniques is emphasized, as well as his important role in the modernization of the archival profession. Through a comparison with the writings of other archivists, it is concluded that Schellenberg1s ideas have a continuing relevance for present day archivists. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER II LIFE AND CAREER 3 CHAPTER III IDEAS ON ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION 2 8 CHAPTER IV IDEAS ON APPRAISAL .58 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION 8 3 NOTES ' 8 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY 99 iii 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION T.R. Schellenberg (1903-1970) was an American archivist of international reputation. In 1956, his Modern Archives; Principles and Techniques became the first archival textbook to be written by an English speaking archivist since Hilary Jenkinson's A Manual of Archive Administration (1922 and 1937). Schellenberg published one other book, The Management of Archives (1965), as well as numerous journal articles and publications for the National Archives, where he spent most of his professional career from 1935 to 1963. He was also active in the field of archival education and served as an archival envoy to Australia and Latin America. Even though Schellenberg's works have been cited by numerous other writers, there exist, to my knowledge, only two articles which focus specifically on him. One of these, "In Memoriam: T.R. Schellenberg, 1903-1970" is a eulogy which appeared in the American Archivist in 1970 shortly after his death. The other, Jane Smith's "T.R. Schellenberg: Americanizer and Popularizer," published in the American Archivist in 1981, deals primarily with Schellenberg1s life and career and does not treat his archival ideas in any detail. The purpose of this present study is to concentrate on Schellenberg's ideas in the areas of arrangement, description, and appraisal of archives, which constitute the core of archival work. Schellenberg's name is still well known among present day archivists, primarily in association with his book, Modern Archives. However, his actual ideas are almost certainly not as well known today. As present day archivists continue to search for improved approaches to arrangement, description, and appraisal, it is worthwhile to pause and reflect on the ideas of the past. Schellenberg's ideas on arrangement and description are discussed in the third chapter of this thesis, while his ideas on appraisal are treated in the fourth chapter. In order to place Schellenberg in the context of his times, the second chapter is devoted to his career at the National Archives. For the most part, discussion is limited to public records of a textual kind simply because he wrote primarily from this perspective. However, his observations on the arrangement and description of private records, which he discussed in The Management of Archives, are considered briefly in the -third chapter. The richest sources of information for this study, of course, have been Schellenberg's publications. A microfilm copy of his private papers—the originals are housed at the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka, Kansas—also proved to be valuable. Other important source materials included publications pertaining to the National Archives during Schellenberg's career there, and other major writings on arrangement, description, and appraisal, both past and present, which provide a context for discussion of Schellenberg's writings. 3 CHAPTER II LIFE AND CAREER Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg was born on the 24th of February 190 3 in Harvey County, Kansas. He spent most of his childhood in the small town of Hillsboro where his father, who had emigrated with his parents from southern Russia in 18 79, was the editor of a German Mehnoriite newspaper."^" In later years Schellenberg remembered the inhabitants of Hillsboro as being "highly individualistic in their tastes, opinions, and morals. Their convictions, in fact, were so strong, that, if one were not aware of their sincerity, one would consider them opinionated; 2 and their manners were frank to the point of bluntness." And of his father he wrote: "To his way of thinking there were no half- truths, for a thing was either true or false, and if it were true 3 it was to be told, no matter how much the truth might hurt." Schellenberg could easily have been writing about himself as he seemed to acquire from his father and his Hillsboro neighbours a sense of stubborn individualism. An early indication of this individualism came during Schellenberg's years as a student of history. When he was in his late teens the family moved for a short time to Texas where they operated a large farm. Schellenberg1s boyhood love of outdoor life was soon replaced by an intense longing to attend university. This ambition was finally realized, and in rapid succession Schellenberg earned his B.A. in history from the University of Kansas in 192 8, his M.A. from the same institution two years 4 later, and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1934. Schellenberg's area of specialty was European and American relations, especially with regard to the Monroe Doctrine. His publications in this field were noted for their fresh interpre• tations. Commenting on one such publication a classmate praised 4 him for "leading our generation in showing up the fossils." While Schellenberg's historical interests would be of limited relevance to his work as an archivist, his willingness to challenge accepted traditions contributed both to the frustrations he encountered and the achievements he earned during his career. In his nearly thirty years at the National Archives, Schellenberg frequently opposed top management, especially during the decade of the 1950s when he held his highest administrative position. Despite his reputation for a certain contrariness, however, Schellenberg's penchant for the truth served him well in other areas, particularly in his writing and teaching which contributed significantly to the development of a distinct archival profession. Despite this lifelong dedication to his profession, Schellenberg confided in 1961: "It is a profession into which I drifted after I finished my work at the University of Pennsylvania. It is not one I chose."5 In fact, he must have been delighted to be able to work at all during the Depression and New Deal years of the 1930s. In 1934 and early 1935 Schellenberg served as the Executive Secretary of the Joint Committee on Materials for Research, a project sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council and concerned primarily with the then innovative practice of microfilming. During the spring of 1935, he was 5 employed as a historian with the National Parks Service. Neither of these positions was stable, but the experience he gained from them certainly helped him to obtain his appointment to the National Archives as a deputy examiner in the division of accessions in June of 1935. The National Archives, a late comer to the world archival scene, was established by the American government as an independent agency only in 1934. The initiative behind the move had come primarily from historians who deplored the fact that the proper care of government records had been repeatedly overlooked. It was the task of the National Archives to compensate for this neglect. The first Archivist of the United States, Robert D.W. Connor (1934-1941), and his staff turned to whatever sources of aid they could discover. From the study of Sir Hilary Jenkinson's A Manual of Archive Administration (1922) , which was the only such work available in English at that time, Connor learned that archives proper are government documents only, are not collected but rather are drawn up in the course of regular business, and have remained in official custody. While this definition was cited by Connor in official publications, Jenkinson's further contention that archivists must simply receive records from government agencies without becoming involved in the appraisal process of determining which records qualified as archives was never accepted by the National Archives as part of its policy.
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