New Zealand Archivist Vol VI No 4 Summer/December 1995 ISSN 0114-7676 Access to Health Information

Rosemary Collier The Society's Conference under this title was held at National Archives in Wellington on 25 and 26 September. Approximately 50 members and participants heard papers on a variety of topics on the theme. In organising the conference, we endeavoured to cover all aspects of the subject. In this issue we publish the first day's keynote address by Dr Derek Dow, plus that of one Government speaker: Susan Shingleton from Te Puni Kokiri. In our March 1996 issue we will publish three further papers.

In 1994 the BBC and ABC made a television counsel, which finds aspects of the proposed structure programme, shown recently on TVNZ, about an and lines of reporting inconsistent with the Archives Australian doctor, Barry Marshall. He discovered that, Act. We understand that the Solicitor-General has contrary to received opinion, bacteria could live in the considered this opinion and given his view of it. stomach, despite its acidity. His discovery of the Tom Wilsted's review of the McDermott-Miller bacterial cause of stomach ulcers and stomach cancers report appears in this issue. As archivists we may feel could not have been proved if, along with 10-year-old that the emphasis of Miller's recommendations is on frozen blood samples, identifying personal public image and number-crunching, rather than on information had not been kept. the main professional tasks of the archivist. Yet he has The information in the hospital patients' records examined a wide array of relevant literature and enabled a connection to be made between the causes demonstrates an understanding of what those basic of death, identified from death certificates, and the tasks are. However, he queries the opinion of blood samples from 10 years earlier. The interpretation numerous archivists to whom he spoke, that National of the blood samples showed that bacteria were present Archives services to government are more important in the same patients as those who died from stomach than service to other researchers, because statistically, cancers. there are more of the latter than the former. The value of records (and blood samples!) may not That is to ignore the constitutional role of National emerge until long after their current use is over. Archives, and to confuse quantity with importance in his assessment of the tasks of the institution. Just The Miller Report because there are more non-government users than government ones does not mean that the latter are In addition to developing the issues of the value more important per se, just as policy files are usually and uses of health information and the protocols that more important than others to an organisation, but should govern access to it, this issue of New Zealand there are not so many of them. Archivist revisits the McDermott-Miller report and the The Minister of Internal Affairs has criticised the restructuring of National Archives. 'avalanche of paper' at National Archives, yet in his At present, the restructuring has been put on hold report where he speaks admiringly of National Library, due to the Archives and Records Association of New Miller does not mention the quantity of archives Zealand (with support from NZSA and other accruing at that institution. organisations) having obtained an opinion from legal We await further developments with interest.

'To file a few copies of these unique records": Should we retain health information for historical purposes?

Derek A Dow While working as Greater Glasgow Health Board archivist I had an annual engagement as the warm up act for an audience of environmental health officers, attending an international seminar run by the Communicable Diseases (Scotland) Unit. The participants appeared to appreciate the relevance of the past to their contemporary concerns, but I have always assumed that the organisers' rationale was to start the meeting with a historical presentation so that latecomers would not miss anything of professional value. Looking at our programme for the next two days, I am reassured that the same reasoning has not been applied. Although the emphasis will be on current issues, the liberal sprinkling of archivists suggests that we will not lose sight of the value of retention for other than purely clinical or administrative purposes. by health authorities embrace the affairs of institutions, administrators, health professionals and patients, the bulk of the material relates to those vital processes of birth, illness and death. And it is the fate of these clinical records which most exercises the minds of those disparate groups who have an interest, in whatever capacity, in this area. It may help place our deliberations in perspective to recall that such concerns pre-date the arrival off Port Nicholson in August 1839 of the Tory, the New Zealand Company ship which carried New Zealand's first Pakeha settlers. Seven years earlier, in 1832, Dr Moses Buchanan, published a History of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, claiming this to be the first essay on hospital statistics to appear in Britain. In describing the role of the hospital Secretary, He also made a heart-felt plea for the retention of institutional records: Some of them I discovered, after a laborious search, in the Hospital, others in the office of the Treasurer, and the rest in that of the Secretary. Would it not be of advantage to have the whole concentrated in the office of the Secretary, who Derek A. Dow - Keynote Speaker should be enjoined, to secure them in afire-proof safe? ... Surely the Directors will see it a duty hereafter, to file a few copies of these unique records.1 My own role in this assembly is perhaps more Buchanan, who served as both physician and ambiguous than most. After four years as a full-time surgeon at the Infirmary in this pre-specialist era, was postgraduate history student in the mid 1970s, primarily concerned with medical audit. Earlier enjoying the facilities of the Scottish Record Office and generations, as shown in Guenter Risse's pioneering other repositories as a user, the poacher turned study of eighteenth century hospital medicine, held gamekeeper, and I spent eleven years as GGHB similar views, and had encouraged the accurate archivist, with responsibility for an extensive collection recording of case histories as a teaching aid for doctors of records dating from the 1780s. Most of these and medical students.2 Late twentieth century medical originated with the hospitals but they also included historians share these concerns, though patient audit primary care and public health material. Well in excess and medical education are but two of the research of 50 per cent of this material consisted of patient topics which can be explored through surviving records. On coming to New Zealand in 19901 reverted clinical records. or regressed to become a full-time historian with a At this point I should say a little about what has continuing bias towards medical history. It has been survived, since without such knowledge it is difficult said that gamekeepers make the best poachers, and to envisage what ought to be done. These comments vice versa. I intend to apply this dual experience to will be drawn largely from the Glasgow archives, the core question of my paper, 'Should we retain health which I believe to be generally representative of the information for historical purposes?' pattern elsewhere.3 To set the scene and place this issue in its broadest Until the 1970s, the survival of clinical records in context, I propose to do four things this morning. Britain was a purely serendipitous affair, dependent Firstly, I will say something about the nature of clinical in large measure on the financial woes of the National records, which form the crux of the debates about the Health Service, which ensured that the 1940s vision of archives of health care. Secondly, I will discuss the a massive hospital rebuilding programme was disposal and retention schedules used in Britain, and interminably delayed. Let me quote from the the new legislation which has been introduced over autobiography of the Scottish playwright, James the past decade or so. Thirdly, I will talk about the use Bridie, best known for The Anatomist, his account of which has been made of patient records by historians. Messrs Burke and Hare, the Edinburgh grave-robbers Finally, I will refer briefly to the issue of confidentiality, turned murderers, who provided cadavers for Dr from the viewpoint of both users and custodians. Robert Knox in the late 1820s. Bridie, under his real And so, to the first of these, the clinical records. name of Osborne Henry Mavor, was a very successful Some years after joining the GGHB the Post Office consultant physician, who had this to say of his time delivered to me an envelope addressed simply to 'Dept as a junior doctor at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) of Vital Records. Glasgow. Scotland'. This was an in 1913: 'The first act of a resident in taking up duty inspired guess, for the envelope contained a was to have the senior resident's master key copied in genealogical enquiry which I was able to answer from a local ironmongers. With this key I opened the little, the GGHB archives. The story, however fortuitous and low, dark worm-eaten door and found an enormous irrational its genesis, highlights the essential nature of heap of ward journals deep in dust and festooned with what the organisers of this conference have elected to cobwebs.'4 In the 1960s these case notes were removed call 'health information'. Although the records created to the Scottish Record Office in Edinburgh for safekeeping, along with those of the Western Infirmary over the years, there may be such an accumulation that which opened its doors in 1874 and had retained their preservation in entirety is a matter of some almost all of its patient records from then until the difficulty.'91 have yet to meet a medical records officer Second World War. In 1980 this collection of some 5,500 or hospital archivist who would quibble with this volumes was returned to the GGHB archives. In 1984 assessment. it was transferred yet again, to the new GGHB This leads to my second topic, the increasingly repository located in a refurbished ward at a former complex and daunting task of attempting to devise local authority infectious diseases hospital built in disposal and retention schedules for clinical records. 1900. The British Records Association's interest was first So what exactly are these clinical records? In aroused by a 1957 letter to the London Times Glasgow, which almost certainly houses Europe's most concerning the threatened destruction of King's Cross extensive acute general hospital record collection, a Hospital case notes. These dated from 1839 (another group of archivists and historians has recently coincidence with the Tory's arrival in New Zealand). produced a booklet on Selecting Clinical Records for In 1958 the BRA reported that the Royal College of Long-Term Preservation: Problems and Procedures, the Physicians of London had offered accommodation to introduction to which states that: ensure their survival. Having conducted a survey to In the context of this enquiry clinical records, discover the range and extent of similar material, the hospital records, medical records, case sheets, case report then stated that the majority of hospitals had histories and case records are all taken to mean the no records 'of a clinical nature' predating the twentieth same thing. That is, records relating to or containing century.10 Two years later the BRA memorandum noted information derived from an attendance, or a series that sampling of clinical records, to reduce the bulk, of attendances, at a hospital, clinic or community was currently under careful consideration. Ten years health centre for medical purposes.5 after the inception of the British National Health Such a 'clinical' definition, however, conveys little Service, it was perhaps too soon for anyone to foresee sense of what has been created over the years, or of the massive increase in medical records which was to what has survived. take place over the next three decades. Potentially one of the most useful sources of In 1958 the Scottish Record Office (equivalent to information for historians and certainly the most New Zealand's National Archives) had already drawn concise are hospital admissions and discharges up a schedule (SHM58/60) for the 'Destruction of registers. Those for the GRI, founded in 1794, follow a Hospital Records' note the emphasis! This was fairly standard format for British voluntary hospitals. deliberately vague on the matter of 'medical records', The regulations printed in the GRI's first annual report the term used to embrace any form of clinical notes. required a book to be kept in which was written the The explanatory notes recommended retaining these name of the patient, that of the subscriber who for 'as long as it is practicable to do so', taking into recommended him or her as a fit subject for the account any clinical and research requirements. The hospital, the date of admission, and 'other particulars' schedule also urged record holders to preserve decided upon by the managers.6 documents where there was reason to believe these Beyond the registers lie the individual patient notes, might be of historical interest 'now or in the future', which until well into this century tended to be models without giving any specific guidance as to the criteria of brevity. In many instances these were compressed to be applied. In England and Wales, similar guidance onto a single sheet. Typically, several hundred sets of (Preservation and Destruction of Hospital Records, patient notes were bound together in a large leather HM(61)73) was issued by the Department of Health volume, variously described as a casebook or ward and Social Security in 1961. journal. As the name suggests, these were arranged By the mid 1970s, archivists and historians were by separate hospital wards, and according to the increasingly concerned about the prospective loss of consultant in charge of the case. It was only from about invaluable clinical records. In Scotland, the historical 1916 that the more familiar individual unit folder came importance of the university schools of medicine into use, although this was not fully adopted in many enabled the Scottish Record Office to persuade a hospitals until around the time of the Second World number of area health boards to establish archival War. The following statistics give some indication of posts. In less than a decade there were three full-time what Barbara Craig, a Canadian archivist whose 1988 and two part-time health board archivists, whose London PhD thesis examined a century of medical activities covered more than half of the entire Scottish record keeping in London and Ontario, described as population.11 England, with ten times the population, 'the unexpected tyranny of volume'.7 The Glasgow had fewer equivalent posts. Western Infirmary case notes, which are almost Scottish Office officials, representatives of the complete for the sixty-five years from 1874 to 1940, medical colleges, and archivists were involved by this occupy 130 linear metres of shelving; the same hospital stage in discussions about appropriate and workable now creates in excess of 200 linear metres of new criteria for the selection of records for permanent records per annum.8 In one of the first attempts to preservation. Our colleagues in England were engaged analyse what might be done to preserve medical on a similar exercise. None of these deliberations have records for future generations, a British Records borne much fruit. The 1981 report of the Wilson Association memorandum provided a classic example Committee on Modem Public Records acknowledged of understatement in 1960: 'Then there is the clinical that National Health Service records had 'commanded note, a kind of record peculiar to medicine, of which, more attention from users and would-be users than any other with which we have had to deal'.12 Given in this area. Twenty years earlier, Dr Charles Newman, the magnitude of the problem, and the potential costs Dean of the Postgraduate Medical School of London of retention programmes, the government rejected and a respected medical historian, claimed that case Wilson's advice that clinical records should continue notes 'tell you what was really done to patients, and to be protected by the Public Records Act. Although from this is to be derived the most trustworthy and this brought no immediate change, I understand that complete assessment of what doctors believed and both the Public Record Office (in England) and the thought at any given time, and how their minds were Scottish Record Office have now removed clinical working'.21 Patient records also help to restore the records from their retention schedules.13 The imbalance caused by the under-representation in implications of this for long-term medical and written records of the lower classes.22 historical research have still to be determined. In some cases, the notes reveal as much or more Turning to New Zealand, I find it interesting that about the doctor as they do about the patient. In 1815, the Ministry of Health did not seek the views of its for example, a patient at the recently opened Glasgow own departmental historian in December 1993, when Asylum for Lunatics exercised his legal right to it circulated a discussion paper on the retention and challenge the actions of the doctors who had declared disposal of health and disability information.14 The first him insane. Appended to his case notes was the I knew of this document was when Rosemary Collier following entry by Dr Robert Cleghom, Physician to sent me a copy in the lead-up to this meeting. Nor do the Asylum: 'Cured in the opinion of the [sic] I know of any other New Zealand health historians Dumbarton jury, the whole of whom I conceive half who were consulted. Despite this omission, the mad.'23 discussion paper acknowledged the importance of Patient records are a good example of the 'particular retaining historical data in two specific instances, both instance paper', a record which is part of a series of which might be regarded as unique to this country. containing similar information about a wide range of The first of these related to Maori information, individuals or transactions. These PIPs have described as a 'taonga or treasure [which] must be considerable historical research value, succinctly treated with the utmost respect. It contains information described by Duncan Chalmers, Deputy Keeper at the that describes individuals and the population group. London PRO: It has importance for the living people, those who have They may be analysed in order to provide passed away, and the future generations.'15 The second independent proof or refutation of contemporary example cited in the draft stemmed directly from the assumptions, or the evidence of published 1988 Cartwright Report: 'The Government has an statements, reports or policy files. Even where they interest in ensuring that there are full historical records, have formed the basis of statistical analysis and especially if an inquiry of the kind at National publication, they may allow further, disaggregated Women's Hospital occurred in the future.'16 Both of analysis to be undertaken or research to be pursued these concepts appeared in the second draft, issued on aspects of information which they contain that on 18 April 1994.17 While historians would welcome have hitherto remained unexploited.'24 such sweeping proposals, I imagine that Contemporary historians of medicine have a much administrators and records officers would baulk at the wider research agenda than that suggested by Charles cost. Newman, with its emphasis on the activities of health In his preliminary guidelines to this consultative professionals. In 1992 Guenter Risse and John Harley process the Chief Archivist noted that 'The disposal Warner, two of America's most respected medical schedule aims to: identify and make provision for the historians, noted that the use of patient records seemed preservation of those public and psychiatric hospital to be 'coming into vogue', and expanded on the ways medical records that form part of New Zealand in which Newman's general thesis might be applied. archival heritage.'18 Nowhere in this, or the ensuing Arguing that '[a]s in the history of science, a focus on drafts, is there any reference as to how these materials practice has recently come to the fore in the history of might be utilised. medicine', they demonstrated how clinical records In Britain, the prolonged and sometime intense might be employed to chart variables in treatment discussion of the Wilson Committee's report forced determined by ethnicity, class and gender.25 The archivists and others to consider this question. As versatility of such records is shown in the following Alexandra Nicol and Julia Sheppard, representing the agenda which appeared in the most recent issue of Public Record Office and the Wellcome Trust's Social History of Medicine: 'Hospital records... may yield Contemporary Medical Archives Centre, wrote in 1985: answers to questions regarding topics ranging from 'The fundamental question of use therefore needs to hospital administration, organization, nursing, be asked, if not resolved.'19 The third section of my concepts of disease, the history of drugs, therapeutic paper addresses this question. strategies, operation techniques, and risks, to statistical In 1979 Professor Barry Smith published a history analysis of diagnoses, admissions, and discharges and of health care in nineteenth century Britain. His so on.'26 The list is extensive but by no means introduction began with the claim that 'Patients loom exhaustive. small in medical history.... It followed from the In 19821 urged researchers to make use of the 'rich historian's lack of interest that archivists did little to and currently under-utilised source' contained within collect such records of everyday medical attendance the GGHB archives, and offered some specific as might have survived.'20 The statement gave little suggestions.27 There was little response at the time, but credit to the record keepers who were already engaged it is encouraging to note that scholars are now moving in this direction, stimulated by the establishment in is informative to chart the changing pattern of research Glasgow of a Wellcome Unit for the History of over the past four decades. The first attempt to study Medicine. One of the first publications of this unit, the history of mental illness was undertaken in the mid which owed its formation in part to the existing 1950s by Dr Geoffrey Blake-Palmer, subsequently commitment to the GGHB archives, was Stephen Director of the Health Department's Division of Mental Jacyna's pioneering research on the impact which late Health. His somewhat perfunctory analysis of nineteenth century developments in pathology and psychiatry in Otago from the mid 1860s to the mid laboratory analysis had upon surgical diagnoses at the 1880s was based on asylum registers, reports and Glasgow Western Infirmary. Jacyna himself letterbooks.32 In the 1960s Warwick Brunton launched acknowledged that this work had only scratched the his career as a medical historian with an assessment surface of what might be achieved.28 of the Nelson Asylum records for approximately the I have already referred to admissions and same period.33 During the 1970s and early 1980s a discharges registers as a valuable resource. By the mid number of Auckland and Otago history students nineteenth century those for the Glasgow Royal completed bachelors' or masters' theses which looked Infirmary then the city's only acute general hospital in broad terms at the impact of mental illness.34 contained a wealth of detail on such diverse matters Mirroring events in other parts of the English- as social conditions, patterns of immigration, and speaking world, researchers in the 1990s have occupational hazards in the industrial landscape of a undertaken more detailed prosopographical studies city described as the 'Workshop of the World' on of asylum populations, and begun to ask more specific account of its engineering prowess. A sample from the questions. Barbara Brookes35 and Bronwyn Labrum,36 1871 registers has recently been used, in conjunction for example, have undertaken a series of studies on with subscribers' lists and census enumerators' books, gender differences in the treatment and care of patients to study links between household and family at the Seacliff and Auckland asylums from the 1870s background, and the utilisation of hospitals, areas to the 1920s. Another welcome development has seen which have been largely neglected by social one Otago student conduct an appraisal of attitudes historians.29 towards epilepsy, based upon a study of c.150 patients The lack of census data for New Zealand prohibits admitted to Seacliff Hospital between 1880 and 1915. any parallel study, but there is ample scope to utilise It is clear from these examples that medical history patient records to examine other aspects of the New rooted in the interpretation of clinical records is on the Zealand hospital system for example, the changing increase. This supplies a partial answer to the gender balance in hospital admissions, something I 'fundamental question of use' referred to by Nicol and have already written about in general terms; why did Sheppard. It would be unrealistic and misleading to this vary from hospital to hospital, and how do the claim that this field will ever attract droves of figures compare with the patterns in Britain and researchers.37 I would contend, however, that such elsewhere? Another important topic is the user-pays studies can make a vital contribution to our philosophy, well established in principle in the colony's understanding of health care and health policy­ hospitals by the late nineteenth century; patients were making, especially at a time of rapid changes. expected to pay according to their means but, again, An important factor in determining whether such no detailed studies have been conducted to discover research will be performed is the extent to which issues how and to what extent this concept was applied.30 of confidentiality affect access to the relevant records. In Britain and New Zealand the most The final section of this paper offers a brief comprehensive collections of patient records are those consideration of this question. relating to lunatic asylums or mental hospitals. This During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, high survival rate has provided historians with a respecting the privacy of patients did not feature veritable treasure trove of data upon which to construct prominently in the medical world. In 1803, Professor theories of social control and to analyse changing James Gregory of Edinburgh noted that 'every student attitudes to care and treatment. The basis for such attending the clinical lectures has access to the clinical analyses often lies in the aggregated data found in books and may transcribe from them whatever he annual reports. pleases.'38 When the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh In Glasgow, for instance, by 1850 the reports opened in 1729 the managers placed their contained tables showing occupations prior to accountability to the subscribers far above the rights admission. Looked at over time, these reveal a of patients and published a full list of names, disproportionate number of miners from the 1860s, addresses, diseases and outcomes, as part of the first peaking at 8.8 per cent of male admissions between annual report for 1729-30. 1876 and 1880. For females, there was a steep rise in In New Zealand, at a much later date, Dr George the number of shopgirls admitted in the 1870s and Cleghom of Blenheim was taken to task in 1893 by 1880s.31 My assumption would be that these respective The Lancet for publishing an account in the New Zealand patterns were linked to the extremely high incidence Medical Journal of the terminal illness of Prime Minister of injury and death in the West of Scotland coal John Ballance, who died of cancer of the colon.39 Details industry at this time, and to the rise of the department of Cleghorn's role in caring for Ballance were also store. Such hypotheses, however, could only be tested published later that year in E.D. Hoben's In by examining the detailed and often highly descriptive Memoriam: John Ballance, Premier of New Zealand: The case notes of individual patients. Story o f His Illness, Death and Burial. Turning to the equivalent New Zealand records, it The draft disposal guide-lines issued by New Zealand's Chief Archivist in November 1993 made closure period.' though she did acknowledge only one direct reference to case notes, suggesting the that earlier access might be granted by an ethics retention of those relating to 'notable events or persons committee.44 where the records add significantly to what is already In 1992 Risse and Warner wrote that scholars had known'.40 This begged a number of important so far encountered relatively little difficulty in gaining questions about confidentiality. In 1984 Dr Stephen access provided the records were old enough, and of Lock, editor of the British Medical Journal, reviewed the a character not to raise serious issues of new General Medical Council guide-lines from a confidentiality.45 In Scotland, obtaining access has been historical perspective. Lock cited the obituary written much less restrictive than this statement implies. by Major-General Orde Wingate's doctor, after the Granting permission is the responsibility of the Chief former died in an air crash in 1944 while operating Administrative Medical Officer for the relevant Health behind the Japanese lines with his Tong range Board. In Glasgow, the CAMO has followed a penetration group'. The obituary repeated the well permissive regime during the past twenty years, known story of Wingate's attempted suicide. The granting access for all serious academic research, on motive for this was to dispel the belief that Wingate the advice of the Health Board and University was mentally unstable and to demonstrate that he was archivists. I can recall only one occasion during my in fact suffering from cerebral malaria at the time. Lock eleven years in Glasgow when access was refused, in used this and other examples to urge the GMC to the case of a researcher whose interests seemed more reconsider the impact which its code might have upon prurient than academic. Two weeks ago I received legitimate historical inquiry by medically qualified confirmation from the University archivist that the researchers.41 His editorial was reinforced by Irvine privilege of access has never been abused during these Loudon, a general practitioner turned historian, who two decades. raised the question of how long disclosure ought to Risse and Warner warned in 1992 that 'new legal be barred. Loudon noted that consent to disclose questions of authorship, ownership, and access to clinical information was often granted by relatives in clinical charts threaten to complicate matters for future order to clear a subject's name, where it could be shown researchers.'46 Recent changes to the British legislation, that some organic disease had affected behaviour.42 intended to clarify and facilitate the rights of patients The question of continued confidentiality also to see their own records, may have serious implications arises where a patient has gone on record with his or for future research projects. The Access to Health her account of events. James Frame's The Philosophy of Records Act 1990 Chapter 23 is intended 'to establish Insanity (1965) is an articulate account of time spent as a right of access to health records by the individuals an inmate of the Glasgow Asylum, republished by a to whom they relate and other persons'. In confirming prominent psychiatrist in the late 1940s as an example the CAMO's role vis-a-vis access, the guide to the Act of self-awareness. Unfortunately, the psychiatrist did issued by the Management Executive of the National not have access to Frame's Gartnavel case notes, which Health Service in Scotland notes that Chapter 2 Section I located in the hospital archives in the early 1980s. 4 'ensures that information will not be disclosed to an According to Frame, his wife was instrumental in applicant who is not the patient against the patient's restoring him to health, and she appears as the real wishes'. There is no reference in the legislation to heroine of the story. The case notes tell a rather different historical use at some future date. Although the Act story, recording that Frame attempted to murder his applies only to records created after 1 November 1991, wife every time she came to visit! In New Zealand, there must be some concern about the principles being Janet Frame, no relation to the best of my knowledge, applied retrospectively. has published several accounts of her treatment in In New Zealand, the Ministry of Health's December psychiatric institutions here and in Britain.43 Should 1993 discussion paper suggested: 'Where a health future historians have the opportunity to present their agency's need to retain particular health information interpretation of the evidence concerning such persons ceases, consideration should be given to offering who have chosen to place their version of events in individuals the choice of having their records the public domain? transferred to them or disposed of in accordance with For historians, the question of access to information their wishes.' The accompanying questionnaire asked has wider implications than the activities of the great respondents to 'define what information should be or the notorious. To date, this issue has been covered stored indefinitely in archives and what should be by the use of extended closure periods for such returned to consumers or destroyed'47. The potential sensitive material. In England and Wales, Lord restriction for historical scholarship does not need to Chancellor's Instrument 92 of December 1991 be spelled out. reaffirmed that records relating to individual The eponymous hero of Shakespeare's Hamlet, who identifiable patients should be closed for a period of had his own medical problems, threatened to 'wipe 100 years. In Scotland, the closure period has recently away all trivial fond records'. For medical historians, been reduced to 75 years, the same yardstick which is such data are a critical part of how they interpret the applied in New Zealand. Such lengthy closures create past. No one should underestimate the difficulties in problems for record custodians. In 1989 Irene Kearsey, setting up and maintaining a system for the retention a medical records officer largely responsible for the of clinical records. As Sir Patrick Nairne, Permanent detailed disposal schedule for patient information Secretary of the English DHSS, remarked in 1980: 'The records in Victoria, argued that: 'The expenses incurred National Health Service must be one of the largest in having records in an archives are only defensible if producers of documents in the public services. It is access is available, even if restricted or delayed by a giving away no secrets to say that the problems of selecting from these documents material of real 19. A. Nicol & J. Sheppard. Why Keep Hospital Clinical Records? historical value is one to which no one has yet found British Medical Journal. 26 January 1985. pp.263-4. 20. F.B. Smith. The People's Health 1830-1910. London: 1979; p.9. an effective and economical answer.'48 Naime looked 21. Newman's view was endorsed in the following year by the to the Wilson Committee for a solution, but it BRA: 'Casenotes also provide a far more accurate basis for the ultimately delivered no firm answers. history of treatment than do textbooks, because they tell what In conclusion, here is a quote from Francis Clifton, was in fact given to patients, and not what was recommended.' 22. S.H. Raffell. Records as Phenomena: The Nature and Uses of physician to an early eighteenth century Prince of Medical Records. PhD thesis. University of Edinburgh: 1975; Wales. Around 1732, little more than a decade after P-6- the establishment of the British voluntary hospital 23. Case Notes for William Thomson. GGHB Archives, F1B13. movement, and three years after the opening of the 24. C.D. Chalmers. Principles of Retrieval and Selection. In D. Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to which I alluded Reeder (ed.). Archives and the Historian. Leicester: 1989; p.7. 25. G.B. Risse and J.H. Warner. Reconstructing Clinical Activities: earlier, Clifton had this to say: Patient Records in Medical History. Social History of Medicine: Three or four persons should be employed by The Journal of the Society for the Social Flistory of Medicine. the hospitals to set down the cases of patients there Vol.5 No.2: August 1992; pp.182-206. from day to day, candidly and judiciously, without 26. O. Riha. Surgical Case Records as an Historical Source: Limits and Perspectives. Social History of Medicine. Vol.8 No.2: any regard to private opinion or public systems, August 1995; pp.271-83. and at the year's end publish these facts just as they 27. D.A. Dow. The Archives of the Greater Glasgow Health Board. are, leaving everyone to make the best use he can In O. Checkland &: M. Lamb (eds.). Health Care as Social for himself. The benefit the public would receive History: The Glasgow Case. Aberdeen University Press: 1982;, from them would vastly more than balance the pp.158-69,206-8. 28. L.S. Jacyna. The Laboratory and the Clinic: The Impact of expense.49 Pathology on Surgical Diagnosis in the Glasgow Western Two and a half centuries later, medical historians Infirmary, 1875-1910. Bulletin of the History of Medicine. Vol.62: have cause to be grateful for the efforts of Clifton and 1988; pp.384-406. those of a like mind. Whether these principles can or 29. M.W. Dupree. Family Care and Hospital Care: the 'Sick Poor' in Nineteenth-century Glasgow. Social History of Medicine. should be applied in the future remains to be seen. Vol.6 No.2: August 1993; pp.195-211. 30. D.A. Dow. Springs of Charity? The Development of the New References Zealand Hospital System, 1876-1910. In L. Bryder (ed.). A Healthy Country: Essays in the Social History of Medicine in 1. M.S. Buchanan. History of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. New Zealand. Wellington: 1991; pp.44-64. Glasgow & London: 1832; p.33. 31. D.A. Dow, 'Lost to his country as well as to his friends': 2. G.B. Risse. Hospital Life in Enlightenment Scotland: Care and Voluntary Hospitals and Working Men. Scottish Industrial Teaching at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Cambridge: 1986; History. Vol.8.1:1985; pp.40-2. pp.43-4,240. 32. G. Blake-Palmer. Psychiatry in Otago 1863-1885. New Zealand 3. For a guide to what has survived in New Zealand see F. Rogers. Medical Journal. Vol.55:1956; pp.497-511. Archives New Zealand 3: Medicine and Health. Plimmerton: 33. W. Brunton. Hospital or Prison?: Some Attitudes at the Nelson 1990. Lunatic Asylum 1858-1872. Comment: A New Zealand 4. J. Bridie. One Way of Living. London: 1939; pp.211-12. Quarterly Review. Vol.37:1967; pp.19-23. 5. H. Maxwell-Stewart, A. Tough, J.H. McColl & J. Geyer- 34. M.S. Primrose. Society and the Insane: A Study of Mental Illness Kordesch. Selecting Clinical Records for Long-Term in New Zealand 1867-1926, With Special Reference to the Preservation: Problems and Procedures. Glasgow: 1993; p.9. Auckland Mental Hospital. MA thesis. University of Auckland: 6. Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Annual Report. 1794; pp.13-14. 1968; J. Bloomfield. Dunedin Lunatic Asylum 1863-1876. BA 7. B.H. Craig. A Survey and Study of Hospital Records and thesis. University of Otago: 1979; C. Hubbard. Lunatic Asylums Record-Keeping in London (England) and Ontario (Canada) in Otago, 1882-1911. BA thesis. University of Otago: 1977; C. C.1850-C.1950 With Special Reference to Eight Institutions. Caldwell. Truby King and Seacliff Asylum, 1889-1907. BA thesis. London PhD thesis: 1988; p.237. University of Otago: 1984. 8. Maxwell-Stewart et al. 1993; p.14. 35. B. Brookes. Women and Madness: A Case-Study of the Seacliff 9. Preservation of Medical Records: A Memorandum by the British Asylum, 1890-1920. In B. Brookes, C. Macdonald & M. Tennant Records Association. The Lancet. 13 February 1960; pp.379-80. (eds.). Women in History 2: Essays on Women in New Zealand. 10. British Records Association. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Wellington: 1992; pp.129-47 & B.L. Brookes. Men and Madness Medical Records in the Library of the Royal College of in New Zealand, 1890-1916. In L. Bryder & D.A. Dow (eds.). Physicians of London. London: 1958; pp.5-6. New Countries and Old Medicine: Proceedings of an 11. On developments in Scotland see D.A. Dow. Greater Glasgow International Conference on the History of Medicine and Health Board Archives. In L. Jordanova (ed.). Medical Records Health. Auckland: 1995; pp.204-10. Newsletter. Wellcome Unit Research Publication No.IV. Oxford: 36. B. Labrum. Gender and Lunacy: A Study of Women Patients at 1980; pp.1-6, D.A. Dow. Medical Records and the Flistorian The the Auckland Lunatic Asylum 1870-1910. MA thesis. Massey Fundamental Question of Use. In D. Reeder (ed.). Archives and University: 1990 & B. Labrum. A Women's World in a Male the Historian. Leicester: 1989; pp.18-30 & S. Patterson. Finding Universe: Treatment and Rehabilitation at the Auckland Lunatic Fife's Medical Records. The Society for the Social Flistory of Asylum, 1870-1910. In L. Bryder & D.A. Dow (eds.). New Medicine Bulletin 38. June 1986; pp.92-7. Countries and Old Medicine: Proceedings of an International 12. Modern Public Records, Selection and Access, Report of a Conference on the History of Medicine and Health. Auckland: Committee Appointed by the Lord Chancellor. Cmnd 8531, 1995; pp.196-203. HMSO: 1981; paragraph 374. 37. Even on the most generous interpretation of 1,732 GGHB 13. Personal Communication from M.S. Moss, Archivist, University enquiries recorded between 1979 and June 1988, fewer than 3 of Glasgow, 24 August 1995. per cent related to historical use of clinical material. Updated 14. Ministry of Health. Making Regulations under the Health Act figures (another 576 enquiries) until my departure in March 1956 for the Retention and Disposal of Health and Disability 1990 reveal a marginal increase in this category. Information: A Discussion Paper: December 1993. 38. Risse. 1986; p.243. 15. Ibid. p.12. 39. R.E. Wright-St Clair. A History of the New Zealand Medical 16. Ibid. p.7. Association: The First 100 Years. Wellington: 1987; p.43. 17. Draft Proposal for the Retention and Disposal of Health and 40. National Archives. Health Authority Records (draft dated 18 Disability Information Policy for the Making of Regulations November 1993); p.4. Under Section 121A of the Health Act 1956. 18. National Archives. Health Authority Records (draft dated 18 November 1993), p.2. Continued on Page 10 7 Maori Concerns Regarding Retention of and Access to Health Information Susan Shingleton In May 1993 Te Puni Kokiri released He Taonga Te Matauranga A Draft Discussion Document on Maori issues concerning the 'Code o f Practice for Health Information' and continued to be actively involved in providing input into the Draft Health Information Privacy Code and also to the finalised Code.

ownership over their own taonga. In effect Maori will continue to be alienated by the law that professes to protect them.

Health is a taonga

Maori view their personal information as a taonga, something to be used and treated with respect. Personal information belongs to a person who is part of an iwi, hapu and whanau.1 Maori continue to identify with this information after it is collected, as it is the whakapapa of a person and their well-being. Maori health information, even if it is organised into statistics, is about grandparents, parents, uncles and aunties, brothers and sisters, cousins and the rest of the whanau. They are not unidentifiable individuals in the usual sense.2

Ownership of information

Therefore, the ownership of Maori health infor­ mation ultimately belongs to Maori individuals and Susan Shingleton - Te Puni Kokiri the wider group they identify with, such as whanau, hapu and iwi, and does not belong to agencies. Individuals should, therefore, have access to their Te Puni Kokiri also developed Te Ture Matatuakiri, information, and if other agencies request information Matatapu 1993 (The Privacy Act 1993) and Te on the individual then they must contact the individual Matatuakiri me te Matatapu o Nga Korero Hauora (Privacy directly to access the information. of Health Information) that clearly outlined the Code Health information and the collection and use of and the Privacy Act for Maori. It provided Maori information must therefore be undertaken with the translations to assist Maori to use the Code and Act. utmost respect for the sanctity of that information, as that information is part of a person's wairua (spirit). The Treaty of Waitangi Te Puni Kokiri Asset Development Branch has been extensively working on the development of a The Treaty of Waitangi is regarded by the Crown framework for Maori cultural and intellectual property, as the founding document of New Zealand and this due to the high level of concern expressed by Maori needs to be accepted by all health professionals and on the ongoing abuse, disregard and exploitation of agencies in the development of health policies and their property. Health agencies will need to become legislation. informed on this issue and its potential impact on Because Maori view health as a taonga the Treaty present health legislation. Since Maori consider their needs to be acknowledged by health purchasers and health information as a taonga, it is therefore providers, and included in all health legislation and conclusive to Maori that health information is part of regulations in order to reflect the Maori view. This their intellectual and cultural property rights. then accords Maori tino rangatiratanga over their own health, and identifies the right to be given the Legislation opportunity to participate in the development of all health policies that affect Maori. It is important that There is an inconsistency in health legislation non-Maori recognise and accept the relationship regarding the Treaty. Many diverse reasons are given between health as a taonga and the Treaty. for its exclusion; these reasons need to be logically If health legislation is developed that does not outlined to Maori, who find difficulty in understanding include the Treaty, Maori will always regard that that a document accepted by the Crown is legislation as not according Maori rights and unacceptable for inclusion within health legislation and regulations. by Maori and collectors of health information. Maori are also sceptical about legislation that seeks to accord rights and protect individuals, yet can be Minimum retention period overridden by other legislation, especially if Maori cannot identify a means of redress, ie the Treaty. Such Maori advocate that health information is kept for a mechanism can presently be identified in the Privacy a minimum period of at least fifteen years from the Act 1994 and the recently released Draft Code o f Rights individual's last visit. At the expiry of this period, the for Consumers of Health Services 1995. information should be returned to the individual or Te Puni Kokiri considers that all Acts and nominated advocate/ s. Regulations that are health related should be reviewed, Agencies should inform individuals, as part of the and changed where necessary, to protect both Treaty informed consent process, about the impending partners so that Maori too may be fully embraced by disposal of information. If individuals wish their the protection that the legal system offers the rest of personal information be destroyed, restored or referred New Zealand society. to whanau, a process should be in place for them to The Interim National Standard for Ethics Committees nominate their preferred option. May 19943 acknowledged the Treaty and stated: "The principles of the Treaty of Waitangi shall be Informed consent incorporated in the proceedings and processes of Ethics Committees, particularly the principles of equity and The Maori concern regarding informed consent is partnership. These principles of partnership and sharing, that the individual fully understands their rights about implicit in the Treaty of Waitangi, will be respected by all the information when that information is being parties involved in health and disability research and collected. Maori should be able to request the services service". of an interpreter if this assists in their understanding. There are more specific concerns expressed by It is also desirable that Maori can request their whanau Maori regarding retention of and access to health or nominated advocate to be present when information information. is being collected, especially if the information is seen as being sensitive to the individual and whanau. Confidentiality Information collection Maori view confidentiality as an important issue, involving all information on human and intellectual Information should only be collected if there is a property rights of the individual. Maori advocate that demonstrated need for it. Due to modem collection no information be shared with other agencies or methods large amounts of information can be accessed without the knowledge and consent of the gathered, yet it is important that a person's privacy is individual or advocate (whanau, hapu, iwi) nominated respected. Maori concerns regarding the extent of by the individual. This is especially important in health information requested has been adequately health areas such as mental health where information addressed in the Code. is especially sensitive. Maori have considerable scepticism and discomfort Information processes about the use of personal information, due to the way it has been used in the past. Generally, once The process of information collection should be information has been provided, Maori say that they respectful to the individual and should avoid have had very little control over it, and lacked embarrassment to the individual or their whanau. opportunity to manage the information. A criticism Collection of information must be performed in a often expressed is that Maori information is presented manner that is appropriate to the individual's culture, in a negative way. and sensitivity towards the person must be exercised. This is an issue that needs to be seriously Te Puni Kokiri again was pleased to see that this issue considered by health professionals and agencies, as the had been adequately discussed in the Code. quality of the collection of health information on Maori had concerns about the process of Maori cannot be fully ascertained, and therefore the information collection, what happens with that effectiveness of health policies and provision of information, where it is stored and who has access, services to Maori cannot be fully realised, until Maori and that explanations needed to be available to the are confident and clear about their role in the whole person when it was being collected. Again the process regarding health information. Maori need to concerns were addressed in the Code. manage Maori information, and until the Government Benefits from the use of health information should develops systems and processes that enables this to be made available to both Maori and non-Maori. occur, Maori may continue to maintain a sense of control by withholding health information. Disposal of information

Ethnicity identification Maori support health information being returned to the individual or nominated advocate/ s (whanau, Maori support ethnic identification for all health hapu, iwi) if the retention period has lapsed, or if the information to ensure that Maori are accorded their health business is sold, transferred or goes out of tangata whenua status under the Treaty of Waitangi, business (e.g. a practitioner dies). and the rights allowed under the Code are understood Health information should stipulate the individual's wishes as to the return or disposal at the Kaitiaki Committees end of the time period. It is important to have a declaration form of receipt of the information by In the Code 1994 it was stated that ‘agencies may be individual, advocate and agency, to protect them from assisted in the implementation o f the Code if they considered liability. the formation of kaitiaki committees . A useful Maori The process that is implemented for disposal or model for health agencies to refer to when considering transfer of information should preserve the privacy of kaitiaki committees is the current cervical screening the individual. As health information is a taonga there kaitiaki committee that has been established to protect should be agreement on ways to dispose of the information of Maori women. Kaitiaki committees information when the person dies or when the need would be favourably welcomed by Maori to ensure to retain the information has expired. the guardianship and protection of Maori health Individuals should be allowed to choose and select information.4 an alternative practitioner whom they wish their health information to be transferred to. Maori Commissioners/Advisors Practitioners should implement the return of health information as soon as possible and be required by a Health agencies and professionals need to visibly code of ethics to ensure that information is either demonstrate their responsiveness to Maori by returned to the individual, or advocate, or transferred recognising the importance of employing Maori within to an appropriate agency or practitioner as identified commissions and committees who are responsible for by the individual. the development of regulations that govern health information. Until this commitment is honoured, Holders of information Maori will still be invisible, and excluded from making decisions on health policies and regulations. Maori desire that everyone who retains health information should be covered by the regulations. Consultation

The Health Information Privacy Code 1994 Te Puni Kokiri supports the view that Maori have a right to participate in policy developments that will Te Puni Kokiri is encouraged by the degree of impact on Maori. Therefore consultation with Maori Maori input that has been included in the Health needs to occur, but I am reminded of a whakatauki I Information Privacy Code 1994. The Code referred heard at the Health Research Council Conference on to: Genetics this year, that went: • the special rights of whanau, culture and language How long do we have to sit speaking quietly into a • the need for collection of information on ethnicity wellspring of ignorance. • the development of special processes for Maori regarding the passing of records References • cultural sensitivity • acknowledged Maori issues regarding Maori health 1. He Taonga Te Matauranga, A Draft Discussion Document statistics 2. Te Ture Matatuakiri, Matatapu 1993. Even though the Treaty of Waitangi has not been 3. Ministry of Health. 4. He Taonga Te Matauranga, A Draft Discussion Document stated in the Code there is a high degree of acknowledgement of the rights of Maori and this will be greatly appreciated by Maori. Because the recognition of Maori is documented largely in the 'commentary' sections of the Code, Te Puni Kokiri would highly recommend that the commentary be Continued from page 7 maintained when or if the Code is reviewed, to ensure 'To file a few copies of these unique records": Should the recognition of Maori. we retain health information for historical purposes? Summary 41. S. Lock. A Question of Confidence: An Editor's View. British In summary I would like to provide the following Medical Journal. 14 January 1984; pp.123-5. advice that may assist health professionals and 42. I. Loudon. How It Strikes a Historian. British Medical Journal. agencies to address the concerns raised. 14 January 1984; pp.125-6. 43. J. Frame. An Angel at My Table: An Autobiography: Volume Two. Auckland: 1984 & The Envoy From Mirror City: An Interpreters Autobiography: Volume Three. Auckland: 1985. 44. I. Kearsey. Some Problems in Placing Modem Medical Records All health professionals and agencies should be in Public Archives. Archives & Manuscripts. Vol.17 No.2: November 1989; p.193. encouraged to identify and employ interpreters in each 45. Risse & Warner: 1992; p.189. region to ensure that Maori are able to access their 46. Ibid. services. A list of interpreters should be made available 47. Making Regulations: 1993; pp.25,20 to the public through all general practitioners, CHES, 48. P. Naime. Foreword. In L. Jordanova (ed.). Medical Records Newsletter. Wellcome Unit Research Publication No.IV. Oxford: health centres, health providers and agencies. Health 1980; p.vii. advocates should also be responsible for advising 49. Quoted in K. Cowan. The Measurement of Hospital Morbidity. Maori of this service. Scottish Medical Journal. Vol.6:1961; p.22. Managing The National Archives of New Zealand Into The Twenty-first Century Tom Wilsted

The McDermott Miller review of the National of the archival functions and the value of the latter in Archives, conducted between September and developing and maintaining a national identity and November 1994, represents a typical management culture. However, one of the striking points of the consultant approach toward reviewing a government report was how accurately archivists and their culture agency. A decade ago, its conclusions and were portrayed. The team reviewed archival efforts recommendations might well have been placed in the overseas and were able to juxtapose these situations bottom desk drawer and never again have seen the with those which they found in New Zealand. While light of day. However, much has changed in the past not perfect, the review appears to accurately reflect ten years, and archivists who ignore managerial current activities and the need for change within the concerns on how they carry out their business may National Archives. soon find themselves reporting to a non-archivist who The report is highly critical of the National Archives understands, accepts and acts upon these approaches. management structure and the staff's ability to manage Governments have been radically altered during a medium size government agency. Particular the past decade, and archivists must change too. North criticisms point to poor institutional planning, the American provincial, state, and national governments inability of the agency to monitor its activities through are seeking to cut costs while providing similar or adequate financial and operational statistics, and its improved services. Citizens feel that government has lack of responsiveness to its clientele. This situation gotten too large and that it does not respond to their reflects those in which librarians and doctors often find needs. Tax-payer revolts have resulted in caps on the themselves. Hospitals and libraries are most often amount of tax increase that state legislators can managed by doctors and librarians. These individuals approve, and, nationally, electors have voted into office are trained to carry out tasks and receive little governments that promise to cut the size of the managerial training. Those with leadership ability, bureaucracy. "Right-sizing" and "downsizing" are managerial skills, or ambition are the ones who take often the results. Both mean that cuts in personnel will on managerial responsibility. The individuals filling be made while the remaining staff are left to carry out these roles sometimes receive managerial training but the core business. Such cuts are made by encouraging the institutions are generally large enough to hire a early retirements or through forced redundancies. manager to handle administrative functions. New Zealand has been a leader in re-thinking how Archivists find themselves in a similar situation. government should operate and has been extremely Archival training tends to be task and skill oriented. creative in its approaches. It has shifted many services Until recently, few archival training programs had any to the private sector while attempting to put the component dealing with management. In North remaining government agencies on a more business­ America, there are workshops on planning and like footing. Clearly, such massive changes take time, management, but these are offered infrequently and require staff education, cause dislocation, and require do not generally draw a large number of participants. plans to overcome staff resistance. As government There is a manual on management published by the agencies move toward a market-driven and customer- Society of American Archivists but it has sold many oriented environment, the government should fewer copies than those dealing with arrangement and continue to commission reports similar to those description and conservation. Most archivists pursue provided by McDermott Miller Ltd., and they must degrees in individual subject specialties; few pursue a be read, considered, and acted upon by the agency and master's in business administration. its staff. Archivists' lack of managerial skills is not often Before reviewing the recommendations made by evident since most archival institutions are small. the McDermott Miller report, one must first decide Planning, financial reporting, personnel management, whether it is an accurate portrayal of the current and similar issues are dictated by the agency of which situation and whether the consultants developed a the archives is a part. In the case of the National clear understanding of what an archives is and what Archives, however, it has outgrown this role and must archivists do. Certainly the report's greatest strengths take on these responsibilities for itself. The basic are its review of management control, how the Internal structural change recommended by the McDermott Affairs Department and the National Archives develop Miller report is a sound solution. Employing a manager and maintain their budgets, the quality of their long- with strong administrative skills augmented by a range planning, and their ability to report results manager of support services with skills in personnel, through statistical measures. It also appears that the finance, and planning will allow the National Archives management team had a better understanding of the to add the needed expertise and develop a stronger Archives' records management functions than it did managerial structure. While it is hoped that the manager will also be a trained archivist, individuals care provided by state archives. Although these specific with skills and training in both areas are uncommon. measures are not directly comparable with New One of the most stinging criticisms in the report was Zealand, the statistical models could be developed to the inability of the National Archives to provide the compare the National Archives with other national consulting team with basic statistical data. While this archives. situation must be remedied, it reflects the archival The National Archives was criticized for its lack of profession's lack of concern with managerial matters. responsiveness to its customers. This came from Thus far, there are no standard methodologies for government departments concerned about developing measuring the cost of processing archival collections retention schedules and receiving records management nor even for gathering statistics on archival use. Each services as well as from researchers using the National archives is left to itself to devise measurements and Archives. The report presents a conflict between reports which meet its own need. This does not excuse Archives professionals who believe that their mission the present situation. Both government and citizens is providing good public service and end users who expect some measure of accountability, and this must feel that such service does not meet their need and be measured in numerical terms. expectation. Clearly this is a "wake-up call" which A few archivists have begun to develop forms of requires an active and coordinated response from the measure which are helpful statistical models. Paul National Archives. Conway developed a number of measures that were A first step in this process is for the staff to review used in a study of United States Presidential Libraries these concerns to discover if these perceptions are and were later used as part of the survey of Society of accurate. However, the perception and the reality of American Archivists' membership in 1985.1 These were poor service have a similar effect: researchers are later incorporated into the Society of American unhappy and tend to distrust the system. The batching Archivists' Self Study Guide.2 The statistics were system appears to be a major concern of many primarily developed to allow archival organizations researchers. Some alternatives need to be adopted to compare themselves with one another as well as to which result in more immediate retrieval of material. track their own development over time. One of Researchers are prepared to wait if they know that Conway's measures was intensity of use. This was a material is being paged. However, frustration rises ratio of the volume of the collection divided by the when there is a knowledge that it will be one or more number of annual research uses. The higher the hours before anyone will begin working on a number the more intensely the collection was being researcher order. used. Although the only statistics available on the The National Archives should become more pro­ National Archives were in the McDermott Miller active in dealing with criticisms. One solution might report, the following is a rough comparison of intensity be the appointment of an ombudsman who could of use between 1984 and 1994: receive criticisms of service in all areas, archives, retention schedules, and inactive records storage. This 1984 individual would have responsibility for looking into Volume of Collections 12,370(cu. metres) each complaint and responding in a forthright and Daily Researchers 3,700 expeditious manner to an individual or department. = 3.34 Intensity of Use A second possibility is to offer a suggestion box at the entrance to the Archives or to the reading room. 1994 Suggestions would be answered in writing and posted prominently so that the questioner and others could Volume of Collections 51,900(cu. metres) read both the question and the response. There are Daily Researchers 16,000 undoubtedly other alternatives but it is imperative that = 3.24 Intensity of Use an immediate and definitive response be made to such criticism. This comparison indicates that while there has been In developing retention schedules, efforts must a substantial increase of both collection volume and become more timely and responsive, and this may daily researchers, the intensity of research use has require more in-depth training for beginner archivists. increasing slightly over a ten year period. This statistic As the report suggests, it is possible for the Archives is also useful in comparing the National Archives with to transfer this responsibility to the private sector. other national archives around the world. However, this alternative requires that the Archives Useful statistics which might serve as a model are retain policy responsibility and set standards which being generated by United States Council of State private contractors must meet. This approach can be Historical Records Coordinators. This group of successful if staff are willing to make it succeed. What American state archivists recently commissioned a they will lose in "hands-on" control can be made up study by Victoria Irons Walch to update the status of by well developed standards, procedures, and state archives and to develop statistical measures guidelines. By doing so, they may receive much greater comparing state archives.3 This study created a number support from government agencies which now criticize of measures and then ranked the states. Some of the their performance. measures used are the ratio of overall state The storage of inactive records also poses some expenditures to those being made available for concerns for the Archives. However, this business archives and records management programs, the ratio provides significant income and should be carefully of total number of government employees to the reviewed. If there is improved planning and budgeting number of employees available for archives and within the organization so it can be made profitable records management programs, and the intensity of this operation should be retained. However, inactive community have already made strides toward records storage is less central to the National Archives' responding to this issue.8 The National Archives mission than either the maintenance of retention response of requesting departments to provide schedules or the preservation and accessibility of computer data in paper form does not address the issue archives. Its loss would not be irreparable. of interactive databases nor does it allow researchers The criticism of the basic functions of arrangement to use the databases in the forms in which they were and description and reference are very concerning. The originally created. In addition, the Archives cannot lack of development of computer finding aids leaves hope to provide computer equipment which can run the Archives in a very vulnerable position as it all of the varieties of software currently being used in competes with other agencies in providing information government departments. One possible alternative is services. There are alternatives, and the Archives must for these databases to be retained and maintained review them and adopt those which are appropriate within the departments in which they were created for New Zealand. In North America, archival agencies with the Archives having control over disposition and have modified and adopted descriptive standards allowing for user access through the agency. With the which allow them to describe and index archival rapid changes taking place in information technology, collections. Canadians have adopted Rules for Archival archives must develop new solutions even if it means Descrip tion (RAD), which allows archivists to describe that archives are no longer stored in the Archives. archival collections at multiple levels.4 In the United One of the surprising caveats in this report was that States, archivists use Archives, Personal Papers and the central government should not have responsibility Manuscripts(APPM) which has allowed many state for local government records. The report argued that archives to describe their collections down to the series there was no legal responsibility and that the state and folder level on national bibliographic databases.5 would take on an enormous financial responsibility if An effort is currently underway which will allow it were to care for these records. In both states and archives to scan their printed finding aids and to mark provinces in North America, local government records them so that they can be electronically indexed for have become the responsibility of central government computer searchability. units. This responsibility can range from oversight to The National Archives of Canada is currently providing advice and assistance to setting standards developing a computerized system to access both for microfilming and digitization to providing storage archives and manuscript collections. This system uses and access to records transferred to the state or GENCAT software developed by Eloquent Systems, provincial archives. Clearly local governments cannot which is already in use in a number of other archives. be left to fend for themselves. While GENCAT can be used primarily for its access to The New Zealand government must decide at what collections at different levels, it is an integrated system level it will take on responsibility for local government which allows an archives to gather and maintain data records. Certainly, cost will become an issue. One on collection and financial donors, researchers, and solution which has been adopted in many American location of archives in the facility and generate states is to put a tax on the document creator to help statistical reports.6 support the preservation of archival records. This There has been some statistical study of reference comes in the form of an additional filing fee for legal services including the article mentioned above by Paul and other documents. This fee is then used by the state Conway, an article by Mark Stevens, then of the archives for oversight of local government records, and National Archives of New Zealand, and an extensive in some cases competitive grants are provided to the survey done by Paul Conway of the National Archives local governments to improve their record keeping and of the United States.7 While Mark Stevens' article preservation ability. Such programs have developed appears to support the staff perceptions of researcher strong coalitions between archivists and local needs at the National Archives of New Zealand, government officials and raised interest in and concern Conway's report suggested major changes in the way for the preservation of this important resource. reference service should be provided at the National Finally, the many comparisons between the Archives of the United States. National Archives and the National Library in the The Conway report is particularly valuable in that McDermott Miller Report require some review and he interviewed staffers and researchers, observed the discussion. Clearly the National Library has made latter interacting with staff, and watched researchers enormous strides in access to its collections through seeking material through archival finding aids. the Tapuhi database. Much of this effort was supported Conway recommended that research become more by library efforts around the world. The archival self-directed and that reference services become self- community has been slower in using computer tools service oriented. He indicated this would require a but, as noted above, standards and software are greater emphasis on computer accessible finding aids. available, and it should be possible for the National Conway's work could again provide useful insights Archives to quickly catch up. and value for National Archives planning. One unfair criticism of the National Archives was Another important issue raised by the McDermott of its role in the preservation of local government Miller report is the National Archives' lack of response records. The management team felt that this was to the issue of electronically stored records. Certainly outside the Archives' role because of the potential high this is a difficult issue. However, governments are one cost to the central government. However, the report of the largest creators of such records, and provincial, did not discuss the issue of the Alexander Turnbull's state and national archives have a responsibility to role in collecting and preserving the papers of private address this issue. Certain segments of the archival individuals, institutions, and companies. Surely there is a similar cost involved, and one might well question References whether this is a government responsibility. This does raise again the issue of whether the National Archives' 1 Conway, Paul, "Research in Presidential Libraries: A User primary purpose is service to government agencies or Survey," The Midwestern Archivist, Vol. XI, No. 1(1986), pp. 35- 56 and "Perspectives on Archival Resources: The 1985 Census as a keeper of national culture. It would be well for of Archival Institutions," The American Archivist, Vol 50(Spring, the agency to decide which is more important and use 1987). pp. 174-191 . that argument to support future programs and 2 McCarthy, Paul, Archives Assessment and Planning Workbook, budgets. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1989, pp. 58-86. Clearly there are strong synergies between the 3 Walch, Victoria Irons, Recognizing Leadership and Partnership, A Report on the Condition of Historical Records in the States and Efforts National Archives and the National Library. Issues to Ensure Their Preservation and Use with a focus on State Historical such as training, standards and methods of access to Records Advisory Boards and State Archives and Records archives and manuscript collections, and common Management Programs, Iowa City(IA): Council of State Historical constituencies all would benefit from greater Records Coordinators, 1993, pp. 151-160. 4 Planning Committee on Descriptive Standards, Rules for cooperation and communication. However, the current Archival Description, Ottawa: Bureau of Canadian Archivists, suggestion of developing the National Archives as a 1990, passim. Crown Entity separate from both the National Library 5 Henson, Steven, L., Archives, Personal Papers and Manuscripts, A and the Department of Internal Affairs provides the Cataloging Manual for Archival Repositories, Historical Societies, best medium term solution to the Archives' future. It and Manuscript Libraries, Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1989, passim. can be argued that the National Archives, the National 6 Maftei, Nicholas, "Software Requirements for Multilevel Library, and the Museum of New Zealand might best Description and Context Presentation," Archivi & Computer, No. be served under a common cultural affairs department. 4(1994), pp. 324-339. However, until this becomes a reality, the Archives is 7 Stevens, Mark, "Measuring Reference Service Quality," New Zealand Archivist, Vol. V No. 2(Winter/June 1994), pp. 1-5. better served through independent crown status. Conway, Paul, Partners in Research: Improving Access to the This is a valuable report and hopefully will lead to Nation's Archives, User Studies at the National Archives and Records positive change within the National Archives. Administration, Pittsburgh: Archives & Museum Informatics, However, its value goes far beyond New Zealand's 1994, pp. 1-156. borders. Most archival institutions would find they are 8 New York State Archives, A Strategic Plan for Managing and Preserving Electronic Records in New York State Government: Final in a similar position of needing better planning, Report of the Special Media Records Project, Albany(NY): The State improved management skills, and sound statistical University of New York, 1988, passim. New York State Archives, reporting. Hopefully the report can be shared in the Managing Records in E-Mail Systems, Albany(NY): The State published arena, and at a suitable time, the National University of New York, 1995, passim. Archives can give archivists around the world an update on the response and results.

Australian Newsletter Mark Stevens PROWA Update

The Western Australian Commission on administrative practice" rather than by an appraisal Government has now delivered its report and process with the approval of the Archives. recommendations about the shape and powers of an The Commission has recommended that the chief independent Public Records Office for Western of the independent archives agency (they call the Australia, after hearing evidence from the Australian position "Commissioner for Public Records") be a Society of Archivists and other interested parties (see professional member of the Australian Society of story in the last Australian Newsletter). Archivists. The Commission adopted almost of the ASA The WA government has not yet officially submission. It has recommended a single agency responded to the Commission's report, and there is PROWA, rejecting the divided responsibility proposed no certainty that it will accept the recommendations. by the Minister for the Arts and also rejecting the view But now the government, and the State Library, will of the State Library that the function should remain have a harder time ignoring advice they might find there. This new agency, as proposed by the unpalatable. Commission, would combine traditional archival responsibilities for curating historical records with a Competency Standards pro-active records management role. The latter would emphasise setting records management standards and For the last couple of years the Australian Society advising agencies on compliance. of Archivists, Australian Council of Archives, Records The only point of any substance on which the Management Association of Australia, and other Commission departed from the ASA view, was in interested parties including the universities and some accepting the utility of legislating for government trades unions, have been participants in a major agencies to dispose of routine records by "normal Commonwealth government initiative about "competency standards" to define the skills and Graduate Department of Librarianship, Archives and knowledge needed by archivists and records Records at Monash University. managers, at any and all levels, to satisfactorily The revised profile statement, which is now being perform their jobs. The whole competency standards considered by the ABS, brings the concept of what an initiative has worked its way through blue collar trades archivist is, into line with the latest advances in over the past several years and is now beginning to thinking, especially what is beginning to emerge from tackle white collar occupations. the Records and Archives Competency Standards The purpose of the exercise is ultimately, to enable Project. the government to have a rational training and In line with this Project, and with the implications education policy for ensuring the Australian workforce of the "continuum" model for records and archives is efficient and effective. management which has pretty much superseded the Despite reservations about how the model would "life cycle" model in Australian discourse, the new apply to our profession, and on the academic basis for profile statement can be seen as a step towards a single acquiring theoretical knowledge, the ASA and allied "recordkeeping" profession, albeit with overlapping organisations decided to proceed, partly because of the rather than merged competencies. risk that if we did not define our own profession and The profile statement is reproduced on page 20 of its skills and attributes, some other organisation this issue. would. For example, a Clerical Trade Union, on the basis that many of its members did filing work, could Aboriginal tribal information claim the unoccupied ground and speak on behalf of ruled to be a fraud archivists and records managers! The National Training Board has now formally The latest round in a long-running Aboriginal accepted our proposal to establish aNational Records "sacred site" claim has resulted in a Royal Commission Competency Standards Steering Committee, and ruling that sacred tribal lore ("secret women's granted $A138,000 to fund it. The Steering Committee business"), invoked to prevent a bridge being has adopted IT 21 (Australian Standard for Records constructed to Hindmarsh Island in South Australia, Management) which Standards Australia will be was a deliberate fabrication put together to hinder the promulgating in a few weeks, as a working framework, development. and will be appointing a full-time Project Officer within This case was not a land claim, as the Aboriginal a couple of months. The Project Officer will be women's group did not assert ownership of the island, employed to collect information about competencies but rather that it was central to their spiritual beliefs in Australian recordkeeping, and develop draft and well-being. competency statements. The consensus is that this ruling will make it more difficult for other Aboriginal groups making land Occupation: Archivist claims under the Mabo legislation or asserting the significance or existence of sacred sites, to prove their The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) divides cases. In many ways the evolution of Native Title land the workforce into "occupational classifications", for claims here in Australia is taking a quite different each of which it has a profile statement. One of these course to what has happened in New Zealand, and classifications is "archivist". From time to time the ABS this includes the impact on and implications for requests the Australian Society of Archivists to assist archivists. A conference or forum to discuss the with updating the profile statement, and this exercise experience on each side of the Tasman would be a very has recently been completed in advance of the 1996 worthwhile event, perhaps under joint sponsorship of census. National Archives / Waitangi Tribunal in NZ and the This time, the profile statement received a thorough Australian Archives/Native Title Tribunal in Australia. overhaul by Barbara Reed and Sue McKemmish of the

News Items Surfing the Net For those members who are lucky enough to have magazine The Record is on-line and there is a wide access to the Internet, a whole new world of variety of useful information about accessing its information has become available. Sounds corny but services, including its fax-on-demand system. true. There is often no need to wait now for an Another posted message reprinted a section from institution's quarterly or six monthly journal to appear the New York Times, 1 October 1995, which suggested in print. It's on the Net. More current information is that some methods of information storage may not be available on the Net already and changed daily. The as permanent as archivists might hope. It was reported future has arrived with a perfect tool for archivists to that at NARA 'a 15 year-old electromagnetic tape exchange information. containing White House electronic messages began to Have a look at the US National Archives and melt as it ran on a machine that spins a reel 10 times Records Administration (http: www.nara.gov). Its new faster than earlier models'. Archivists have also 'discovered that some CD-ROM computer disks, whose laminated surfaces were supposed to seal Otago Settlers Museum information on the disk for a century, were beginning to decay after only 10 years'. These events 'raise gets upgrade serious questions about the growing reliance on It has been announced that the museum plans to technology to preserve history'. rehouse its archives in a climate-controlled storage area An archivist also reported that electronic laptops as part of stage two of its $4.4 million development. and notebooks could, after their internal workings Museum Director Elizabeth Hinds announced drat the have been removed, be used to smuggle items out of archives, which are currently stored all over the institutions. It sounds far-fetched but experience building would be relocated at the eastern end of the should tell us that determined thieves will try anything concourse at a cost of $450,000. 'It is a substantial sum when the stakes are high enough. but the archives are one of the most important parts of the museum', Mrs Hinds said. She added that Staff changes 'demand for the archives was always high and it was appropriate they occupied a prominent place in the Eamonn Bolger has left National Archives, museum'. The final plans for stage two are expected Wellington, to take up the position of Archivist at the to be ready early in 1996. Museum of New Zealand, Wellington. Otago Daily Times (1 Dec 1995) Claire Wood recently left National Archives, Dunedin, on leave of absence to travel overseas. Canterbury Museum's Wairarapa Archives at risk Twenty-two people had made submissions Library future in doubt objecting to a proposal in the Masterton District A working party was currently assessing the future Council's strategic plan to establish an archives of the library within the museum with a view to re­ building in 2004. They have asked that the date be allocating space in the building which is presently brought forward. Wairarapa Archival Society's under-going a major re-fit. Board member Colin spokesman Ralph Hopkins says that 'valuable Burrows argued that the library should remain open documents are stored in a building which is an as public funds had been used to buy much of its earthquake and fire risk'. material and maintain it. 'It does not compete with For the past six years the Wairarapa archives have the public library but is complimetary to it', he said. been housed on the top storey of the Masterton Trust It was felt that if public use was stopped, donated Lands Trust building in Queen Street, in what objectors materials and loans would have to be returned. have claimed are sub-standard conditions. Wairarapa The museum board quickly moved to reassure archivist Charmaine Maneana said at a recent hearing critics that 'only public access' to the library was under that the building had no room for expansion and she discussion and that there was no suggestion that the referred to the Local Government Act requirement that library would close. 'It was agreed by all that the every council should have proper arrangements for museum will continue to have a reference and research the custody of documents. 'There is no way we can library' the board's Deputy Chairman David Close wait to 2004', she said. declared. Press (24 & 25 Nov 1995) On a positive note, Masterton's Mayor, Bob Francis said every speaker at the hearing had highlighted the need for housing the archive collection in a purpose- built facility. "The sooner we move the better', he said. CRC's archives on display Evening Post (21 Dec 1995) An exhibition of Canterbury Regional Council archives is currently on display at the Christchurch Office of National Archives. In declaring the exhibition Bid to save Upper Hurt archives open, council Chairman Richard Johnson declared that it would show the public the extent of local-body Upper Hutt's archives, the future of which have resources available for research. He added that when been in doubt since a March 1995 council report (NZA the CRC was created in 1989, it took over the records June 1995) recommended its closure, could be saved if of 33 separate organisations. Artefacts and documents the council agrees to set up a heritage collection and on display date from 1869-1994. get funding from the Lottery Grants Board, a recent The Director and Chief Archivist of National report to the council's works and services committee Archives, Kathryn Patterson said the exhibition, which has recommended. The collection has continued to had everything from photographs of Scott and grow, along with requests to use it. Information Shackleton to the records of pest destruction boards, Librarian, Liz Allen said that for $29,000 a storage area showed why many were fascinated with local-body and workroom for the collection could be set aside in archives. the library and provide the salaries of a part-time The exhibition, at the National Archives office at archivist and assistant. A separate reading room could 90 Peterborough Street, Christchurch is on view until added later. The expected annual running costs were 1 March 1996. Press (16 Nov 1995) $29,000. The council's alternative apparently, is to close the archives down until library space is reviewed in 1997. Evening Post (29 Nov 1995) The Treaty of Waitangi - Its Preservation

Jonathan London

Introduction Following this fire, the Treaty documents were fastened together and deposited in a safe in the The Treaty of Waitangi holds pride of place in the Colonial Secretary's office in Auckland and later in Constitution Room at the National Archives in Wellington when the Capital was relocated. They Wellington. Though many are aware of the political appear to have remained untouched until 1865 when and social history of the Treaty through the publication a list of signatories was produced from the documents. of several books on the subject, surprisingly little has In 1877 the Government published the English been written about its physical state. What happened language rough draft of the Treaty prepared by to the Treaty after it was signed? Where was it kept Hobson, along with photolithographic facsimiles of the and how did it come to be damaged? This paper traces Treaty. The original documents were then returned to the preservation of the Treaty of Waitangi in the form storage. of a chronological account, showing what has happened to the documents over the last 150 years. Water and Rodent Damage The Treaty of Waitangi is not, as many believe, a single large sheet of paper with a few signatures on it. The Treaty remained in storage until 1908 when Dr. It is in fact a group of nine separate documents, seven Thomas Hocken "discovered" the Treaty in the of which are on paper and two on parchment. Each basement of the Government Buildings. It was found document has a title to assist with identification: to have been damaged by water and the two 1. Waitangi - parchment parchment sheets partially eaten by rodents. 2. Te Moana o Toi Te Huatahi / After this rather embarrassing discovery it was Bay of Plenty - paper - paper decided that proper action was needed to preserve the Treaty and in March 1913 the torn, water and rodent- 3. Te Manuao Herald / HMS Herald - parchment damaged documents were sent by the Department of 4. Raukawa Moana / Cook Strait - paper Internal Affairs (successor to the Colonial Secretary's 5. Tauranga - paper Office) to the Dominion Museum for repair by the 6. Waikato - paper Director, Mr Hamilton. While the records of this time 7. Te Tai Rawhiti / East Coast - paper are rather vague it would appear that the paper sheets 8. Manukau & Kawhia - paper were mounted onto paper and then linen whilst the 9. He rau kua ta tuhia / parchment sheets were mounted onto paper and then The Printed Sheet - paper canvas with what appears now (after subsequent treatment) to have been a starch paste. The Museum Each document except the Waikato sheet is written also supplied a metal cylinder in which to house the in Maori, translated from the English version which documents when they were returned to the was drafted by Captain Hobson. Department of Internal Affairs. In June 1913 the Treaty was again sent to the An Historic Treaty Dominion Museum to have the losses in the parchment sheets filled with new skin, but this was found to be On the 6th of February 1840, a Treaty was signed at impossible due to the difficulty in obtaining suitable Waitangi in the Bay of Islands by approximately 45 material. Maori chiefs, several British residents and Captain Two years later in March 1915 it was felt that further William Hobson on behalf of Her Majesty Queen "renovation" was required and the Treaty was once Victoria. again sent to the Museum. It is unknown exactly what Over the next few days the Waitangi document was the "renovation" consisted of, but it was returned "in then taken to other locations in Northland to gather a new tin case" for storage in the Internal Affairs further signatures. As well as this initial document, Department strong room. seven further documents were sent around the rest of In January 1927, a year after Dr. G.H. Scholefield the country for the collection of signatures. One copy, was appointed to the newly-created position of printed by the Church Missionary Society at Paihia, Controller of Dominion Archives, he suggested to the was also used for this purpose. These nine documents Secretary of Internal Affairs that the Treaty be became known as the Treaty of Waitangi, hereafter displayed at the Parliamentary Library. Cabinet was referred to as the "Treaty". not of the same opinion and decided the Treaty should In 1841, just one year after the signing, the Treaty stay where it was. narrowly escaped destruction by fire when the In March 1929, some old papers from the Mantell Government Offices in Auckland were burnt down. collections at the Alexander Turnbull Library were The Treaty documents were rescued by a government found to contain a blank piece of parchment said to clerk and taken to safety. come from the Waitangi sheet of the Treaty. Dr. Scholefield carried out an investigation and agreed that reached the newspapers, accusations of neglect were the piece did in fact belong to the Treaty, but he levelled at the Turnbull Library and National Archives. considered it to be of no intrinsic value and placed it Both institutions refuted any such suggestion and steps on the Internal Affairs file where it remains today. were taken to remedy deficiencies in the display Two years later, in March 1931, after the Napier conditions of the Treaty. earthquake, Dr. Scholefield wrote a memo to the • Originally the display case had "Colour 37" Secretary of Internal Affairs concerning the safety of fluorescent tubes. These had been replaced with the Treaty and other "State Papers" - ordinary tubes a few years after the display had The experience at Napier confirms that...when once opened. However, they were considered unsuitable a place is shattered by an earthquake fires almost and were removed leaving the case free of artificial invariably follow...[and] the fire fighting organisation light. fails. In these circumstances it is more than ever • Ultra Violet filters were to be placed on any new necessary that state papers should be stored as much fluorescent tubes purchased. as possible off the earthquake [fault] line. • Curtains were to be hung on the Treaty display case Unfortunately nothing seems to have come of the for further protection against fight damage when memo and the Treaty remained in the Government it was not being viewed. Buildings (a wooden building on reclaimed land). • It was also discovered that the originally specified glass (Colorex) had not been installed as it was Public Display thought that the "greenish" tint would interfere with viewing. The existing glass was not replaced. In February 1940, the Centenary of the signing of the Treaty, it was taken to Waitangi in the Bay of Islands The Turnbull Library moved from Turnbull House for display in the Treaty House during the celebrations. to temporary accommodation in the NAC Free Lance This occasion appears to have been the first time the Building on The Terrace in November 1972. The Treaty Treaty was on public view since its signing in 1840. remaining in their custody. Increasing public awareness of the Treaty prompted In 1976 the National Archives moved to temporary C.R.H. Taylor, the Turnbull Librarian, in 1949 to request accommodation in the NAC Building in Vivian Street that the Treaty be displayed in Turnbull House so it and allocated exhibition space in which to exhibit the would be available to the public. There was Treaty. Before any display of the Treaty could occur it considerable opposition to this idea from the was felt that proper assessment of the condition of the Department of Internal Affairs, due to the fact that the Treaty and any necessary conservation work should Treaty is a state document and there was considerable be carried out. concern that "exposure to natural or artificial light for prolonged periods causes the writing to fade". Mr Remedial Conservation Taylor countered with the suggestion that "yellow glass or cellophane could be used to obviate the effects In the years 1977/78 the Turnbull Library examined of U V and the fading effects of light." the Treaty and carried out extensive remedial It was not until 1956 that the Department of Internal treatment. The backings on the sheets comprising the Affairs finally recommended that the "Treaty of Treaty was found to have consisted of a strong paper Waitangi and allied documents be placed in the and then secondly, buckram. The buckram was custody of the Librarian, Turnbull Library, until such removed by peeling off in strips. Once this was time as the Archives Branch has its own room with completed the items were humidified to moisten the adequate protection facilities." By September 1956 a paste before the paper fining was carefully peeled display case had been designed though a final decision away. The paper sheets were immersed in water to on the display of the Treaty was postponed until after soften the remaining adhesive which was then the appointment of the Chief Archivist and removed. After drying and pressing, the documents establishment of the National Archives. This took were encapsulated between 'Melinex'. place following the passing of the Archives Act in During 1979 and 1980 correspondence took place October of that year. between the National Archives and Sydney Cockerell By January 1961 the display case was installed and (Bookbinder and book restorer) with regard to the the Treaty was opened to public viewing on the first further treatment of the Treaty in preparation for its Waitangi Day, the 6th of February - the first occasion display in a specially constructed room at the National since the Centenary in 1940. Archives building planned for May 1980. Mr. Cockerell In June 1966, following a request from the Turnbull advised at the time filling the losses in the parchment Library, the Auckland City Art Gallery Conservator, sheets "with hand-made paper rather than vellum or Leslie Lloyd, visited Wellington to advise on the parchment, as new skin would be apt to cause condition and preservation of the collections at the cockling." He advised against lining the documents. Turnbull Library. He was also invited to inspect and On Sydney Cockerell's advice, conservation report upon the condition of the Treaty and treatment was begun on the Treaty in January 1980. recommended that it "should be treated as of first • Traces of paste and paper remaining from previous importance in conservation as it is unevenly attached remedial treatment were removed with moistened to linen, is buckled and subjected to close fluorescent cotton wool and a scalpel. light and consequent fading." • The Waitangi and HMS Herald sheets (parchment) As a result of this report, which subsequently were relaxed between damp blotters. • Losses were filled with Bodleian paper overlapping Several years of planning culminated in the on the reverse by approximately 5-6mm using construction of a climate-controlled display facility wheat starch adhesive and the front filled with within the new National Archives headquarters in Bodleian paper "butting" the parchment edge. Mulgrave Street, Wellington. The Constitution Room, • The paper sheets had losses filled with either as it is known, was built to provide a high degree of Barcham Green India Office paper or Barcham security with intruder-resistant display cases, 24 hour Green Dover paper, backed with mulberry tissue - intruder alarms, close-circuit television monitoring fibres overlapping the back of the document. The and early-warning alarms for fire, moisture and patches were reinforced with heat-set mulberry unfavourable temperature and humidity levels. All tissue on both sides. alarms are monitored off-site as well as having a 24 With conservation work completed, the Treaty was hour security presence in the building. ready for display, but due to unforeseen structural The display was opened by the Prime Minister in problems in installing a new exhibition area, the start November 1990 as part of New Zealand's of construction was deferred until the New Year. Sesquicentennial celebrations. Over the next year during the continuing refurbishment of the new The Constitution Room National Archives building the Treaty display was temporarily closed and the Treaty removed once again to the Reserve Bank. Following the completion of the In 1981, growing public awareness of the Treaty and refurbishment in November 1991, the Treaty was the increasing political importance of the document returned for display in the Constitution Room were it led to the National Archives deciding that a higher remains today. degree of security was necessary for the protection of The environmental requirements for the display of the country's most important document. It was the documents were arrived at after examination of therefore decided to deposit the Treaty in a secure vault the material being exhibited. The temperature and at the Reserve Bank until such time as a suitable, secure humidity levels are 18 degrees C and 55% RH. The display facility was available at the National Archives. light levels within the display cases are at a maximum The Treaty remained in the Reserve Bank for the next of 50 lux to minimise damage to the light-sensitive six years. iron-based inks that were used on the Treaty In 1987 the National Archives Conservation Unit documents. As well as temperature and humidity completed a thorough condition report of the Treaty alarms, there are data-loggers monitoring the display and re-packaged the documents to minimise the risk conditions. This information is regularly down-loaded of physical damage. The documents were on to a computer to provide recorded data of the encapsulated in 'Melinex' and mounted into acid-free conditions within the display cases. rag board window mounts and placed in a specially The Treaty of Waitangi is now, after 150 years, made, lined wooden storage box to protect the items stored in a secure, stable environment, the centre piece during transit to and from the Reserve Bank. of the National Archives Constitution Room, In anticipation of a decision to exhibit the Treaty permanently accessible to the public and assured of during 1990, the Sesquicentennial of the signing, full the protection necessary to preserve it for future documentation and reproduction photography was generations. carried out using flat, oblique and transmitted light. First published in Bulletin Vol.20,no.l,1994

Government Restructuring and Cultural Revolution

History proves that change is not necessarily the discounting of the records of the past, as part of progress. We are blinkered and in danger if we try to the general attitude of despising the past. Thus records make a cultural revolution and break with the past, as have been destroyed or sent to National Archives in has been borne out by Judge Noble in his remarks on large quantities; thus they are not readily at hand to the Cave Creek disaster and the discounting of the past be consulted if there should be just one who and its records which might have prevented the remembered that there could be something useful in tragedy. them.

Numbers of articles have appeared in newspapers This very factor Judge Noble highlighted whilst and the NZ Listener in recent times bewailing the loss decrying the lack of any reference by the Department of the public service ethic, describing loss of morale of Conservation to what the New Zealand Forest and increased stress among public servants. Less Service might have done when building viewing publicised has been the downgrading and downsizing platforms. of records sections in government departments, and In This Issue About the Contributors

Rosemary Collier Access to Health Information Tom Wilsted is Acting Director and Archivist, American Heritage Center, Laramie, Wyoming, USA. Derek Dow He was the founding President of ARANZ during his "To file a few copies of these unique records": Should five years as Manuscripts Librarian, Alexander we retain health information for historical purposes? Turnbull Library, 1973-1978. Susan Shingleton Maori Concerns Regarding Retention of and Access Derek Dow holds degrees in history from the to Health Information University of Edinburgh, is a trained secondary teacher and former Archivist, Greater Glasgow Health Board. Tom Wilsted He is author, co-author or editor of numerous books Managing the National Archives of New Zealand into and papers on health care, including his latest, the the Twenty-first Century recently published history of the Health Department. He is currently a freelance historian and Honorary Australian Newsletter Mark Stevens Research Fellow in the Department of General Practice, School of Medicine, University of Auckland. News Media Surfing the Net, Staff Changes, Wairarapa Archives at Susan Shingleton is a Senior Policy Analyst in Te Risk, Bid to Save Upper Hutt Archives, Otago Settlers Puni Kokiri. She has worked in the health sector in Museum gets upgrade, Canterbury Museum's Library the Hutt Valley, and with Te Runanganui Taranaki future in doubt, CRC's Archives on Display. Whanui Ki Te Upoko O Te Ika a Maui in developing Rosemary Collier an iwi contract for marae-based health services. Government Restructuring and Cultural Revolution Jonathan London is a conservation unit staff Jonathan London member at the National Archives and belongs to the The Treaty of Waitangi - Its preservation New Zealand Professional Conservators Group.

Continued from page 15... OCCUPATIONAL DESCRIPTION FOR ARCHIVIST SE Occ Code: 2299-13 SE Principal Title: Archivist Alternative Titles: Major Group Class: 2 Skill Level Class: 1 Skill Level Description: Education - Degree, Higher Degree plus graduate or competency equivalents Competency: Approx equivalent ASF 7-8 Registration: Not required Lead statement: Enabler of access to essential evidence for personal, corporate and social memory Tasks: • Analyses the nature and relationships of organisations and individuals in the context of society, mandates and legal obligations; • Identifies functions, activities and transactions of organisations and individuals which create records to ensure continuing access for personal, corporate and social memory; • Ensures that legal responsibilities of organisations and individuals to account for transactions are documented over time; • Develops strategies to ensure that material required for retention is managed so as to maintain its evidential qualities; • Negotiates agreements with creators/owners of records to facilitate access to records or to physically store records, or both; • Develops and implements systems which facilitate the capture of records to ensure personal, corporate and social memory; • Develops implements and promotes systems which assist people to locate records which provide essential evidence of personal, corporate and social activities; • Devises mechanisms to protect the privacy of individuals and confidentiality of business transactions reflected in records; • Liaises with other professionals from a range of disciplines including lawyers, auditors, information technology specialists, researchers, librarians and conservators. Specialisations: Current recordkeeping Regulatory recordkeeping Historical recordkeeping Special media (eg sound, moving images) Personal papers or manuscripts

New Zealand Archivist (ISSN 0114-7676) is the quarterly journal of the New Zealand Society of Archivists Incorporated. It is published each year in: Autumn/March; Winter/June; Spring/September and Summer/ December. It is compiled by the Editorial Committee: Rosemary Collier, Hank Driessen, Michael Hodder and David Retter. The Australian correspondent is Mark Stevens. Copyright © NZSA and contributors, 1995. Views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the NZSA. The editorial address is PO Box 27-057, Wellington, NZ. All other correspondence to Secretary, NZSA, at the same address. Contributions for publications are invited. The journal is available through membership of the Society (personal $45.00 in NZ, $55.00 overseas, or institutional $100.00) or separately by subscription at the same rates. Overseas rates include airmail postage. All charges payable in New Zealand dollars only.