A CASE STUDY of TRAVEL ARCHIVES by LEROY JOE
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REFINING METADATA FOR GENRE ARCHIVES: A CASE STUDY OF TRAVEL ARCHIVES by LEROY JOE ARNOLD submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY in the subject INFORMATION SCIENCE at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROF T B VAN DER WALT NOVEMBER 2015 i Table of Contents Page Chapter 1: Introduction and Context 1.1 Background to the Study 1 1.1.1 Genre Archives 1 1.1.2 Travel Archives 2 1.1.3 Personal Papers and Special Collections 4 1.1.4 Travel and Memory 5 1.2 Context 6 1.2.1 Library of Congress Subject Headings 6 1.2.2 Initial Literature Review 7 1.2.3 Archival Description and Representation 8 1.3 Statement of the Problem 9 1.4 Purpose 9 1.5 Objectives 9 1.5.1 To Assess the Current State of Metadata Relating to Travel Archives 10 1.5.2 To Ascertain How Researchers Use Travel Collections 10 1.5.3 To Suggest How Travel Archives Can Be Better Described 10 1.5.4 To Propose These Remedies to Other Genre Collections 10 1.6 Research Questions 11 1.7 Methodology Summary 11 1.7.1 Research Approach 11 1.7.2 Research Method 12 1.7.3 Data Collection Methods 12 1.7.4 Data Analysis 14 1.7.5 Population 15 1.7.6 Sampling 15 1.8 Scope and Delimitations 16 1.9 Significance and Originality 17 1.10 Motivation 19 1.11 Definition of Terms 19 1.12 Ethical Considerations and Ethical Principles 21 1.13 Conclusion 22 Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Introduction 24 2.2 The Importance of Subject Access 26 2.3 The Role of MARC AMC 34 2.4 The Role of the Finding Aid 39 2.5 The Role of Full-text, EAD, DACS and FRBR 45 ii 2.6 Examining User Interface 48 2.7 Access to Genre Archives 51 2.8 The Culture of Collecting 55 2.9 Review Summary 58 2.10 Conclusion 59 Chapter 3: Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction 61 3.2 Research Approach 61 3.3 Research Method/Design 64 3.3.1 Survey 65 3.3.2 Case Study 65 3.4 Data Collection Methods 67 3.4.1 Bibliometric Analysis 67 3.4.2 Interviews 70 3.4.3 Questionnaires 71 3.5 Data Analysis 72 3.6 Data Population Sets 74 3.7 Sampling 75 3.8 Ethical Considerations and Ethical Principles 76 3.9 Conclusion 77 Chapter 4: Presentation of Data 4.1 Introduction 78 4.2 Online Computer Library Center 79 4.2.1 Library of Congress Subject Headings 79 4.2.2 Searching Strategy 81 4.2.3 Initial WorldCat Search 81 4.2.4 Secondary WorldCat Search 85 4.2.5 Tertiary WorldCat Search 90 4.2.6 Fourth WorldCat Search 91 4.2.7 Description and travel as a Subfield in WorldCat 93 4.2.8 Summary of WorldCat Searches 93 4.3 ArchiveGrid 94 4.3.1 Primary Travel Terms 94 4.3.2 Subfield Travel Terms 95 4.3.3 Summary of ArchiveGrid Searches 95 4.4 PACSCL 96 4.4.1 PACSCL Online Finding Aids 96 4.4.2 Summary of PACSCL 98 iii 4.5 American Philosophical Society 98 4.5.1 Catalog of Mss 99 4.5.2 APS 1969-1984 Manuscript Card 100 4.5.3 Subject Collections 101 4.5.4 New Guide 101 4.5.5 American Scientific Exploration 101 4.5.6 APS Online Catalogue 102 4.5.7 APS Subject Access Summary 103 4.6 Penn Museum 104 4.6.1 Guide to the University Museum Archives 105 4.6.2 University Museum Finding Aids 105 4.6.3 Penn Museum Subject Access Summary 105 4.7 Presbyterian Historical Society 106 4.7.1 PHS Card Catalogue 108 4.7.2 PHS Online Catalogue 108 4.7.3 PHS Guides to Archival Collections 108 4.7.4 Guide to the Manuscript Collections 109 4.7.5 Guide to Foreign Missionary Manuscripts 109 4.7.6 PHS Subject Access Summary 109 4.8 Historical Society of Pennsylvania 110 4.8.1 HSP Manuscript Card Catalogue 112 4.8.2 HSP Online Catalogue 113 4.8.3 HSP Guide to Manuscripts 113 4.8.4 HSP Subject Access Summary 114 4.9 Institutional Archivists 117 4.9.1 Interview Schedule 118 4.9.2 Summary of the Interviews 119 4.10 Users 130 4.10.1 Questionnaire 131 4.10.2 Summary of the Questionnaires 132 4.11 Conclusion 134 Chapter 5: Interpretation of the Data 5.1 Introduction 136 5.2 Quantitative Population Data Sets 137 5.2.1 WorldCat 138 5.2.2 ArchiveGrid 139 5.2.3 PACSCL 139 5.2.4 Repository Site Visits Summary 140 5.2.4.1 American Philosophical Society 142 iv 5.2.4.2 Penn Museum 142 5.2.4.3 Presbyterian Historical Society 142 5.2.4.4 Historical Society of Pennsylvania 143 5.2.5 Repository Comparisons 143 5.3 Qualitative Population Data Sets 144 5.3.1 Archival Staff Interview Schedules 144 5.3.2 User Questionnaires 150 5.3.3 Finding Aids 154 5.4 Summaries and Recommendations 155 5.4.1 Overall Summary of the Test Populations 155 5.4.1.1 Databases 156 5.4.1.2 Repositories 158 5.4.1.3 People (Archives and Users) 160 5.4.2 Recommendations 162 5.4.2.1 Description and travel 162 5.4.2.2 Voyages and travels 163 5.4.2.3 Genre/Form Primary Terms 166 5.4.2.4 Genre/Form Subfields 167 5.4.2.5 Keywords 167 5.4.2.6 Analogue Access Points 170 5.5 Conclusion 170 Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations 6.1 Introduction 173 6.2 Meeting the Objectives of the Thesis 176 6.2.1 Current State of Metadata 176 6.2.2 Researchers and Travel Archives 179 6.2.3 Describing Travel Archives Better 180 6.2.4 Other Genre Archives 180 6.3 Improving Access to Travel Archives 181 6.4 Application to Other Genre Archives 182 6.4.1 Standard Subject Terms 183 6.4.2 Genre/Form Primary Terms 186 6.4.3 Genre/Form Subfields 186 6.4.4 Topical Subfield Terms 187 6.5 Summary 188 6.6 Conclusion 191 v Bibliography 194 Appendix A Interview Schedule and Questionnaire 211 Appendix B Charts B1-B16 220 Appendix C Consent Forms and Travel Terms Lists 229 Appendix D Interview Schedule Responses 236 Appendix E Questionnaire Responses 261 Appendix F Acronyms 269 vi Chapter 1: Introduction and Context 1.1 Background to the Study Travel archives are perhaps one of the more unappreciated archival collections accumulated and kept, often coming only to a repository when the originator dies or is no longer able to enjoy its existence. These archives may be the notes and journals of travel writers, leisure world travellers, scientists on expedition or average people making momentous life relocations. These archives are not something usually passed down from one generation to the next. Family members of these deceased travellers may view keeping memorabilia of trips they have not taken, especially when that memorabilia is voluminous, as more a burden than an honour. However, these travel archives could prove a rich trove for researchers if publically accessible. That fact, however, does not deter the traveller from documenting a life of travel: saving itineraries, programmes, brochures, menus, post-cards, ephemera, trinkets and doodads. They may keep lists and tables. The traveller may also keep a journal or diary. They may write and publish about their sojourns at a later date. But a travel archive is much more than an accumulation of miscellanea. It is both a documentation of the world out there (one snapshot, diary entry, or preserved brochure at a time) and the character of the traveller who created the collection. These travellers may be bona fide travel writers, people of means who travel for leisure, scientists on expedition/missionaries on mission, or emigrants/migrants who are making a life-altering move from one land to another. Accessing travel archives, which are a subset of genre archives, is the crux of this thesis. 1.1.1 Genre Archives Just as there are categories in literature for genre fiction (such as mystery, romance or science fiction), this thesis begins with the construct that there also is something that may be termed genre archives. [The use of this new term, however, differs from the use of the term Genre when using a 655-tag in a machine readable record; see Section 1.11.] This thesis considers travel archives part of the larger category of genre archives. They share both rich research potential and inadequate access. Genre archival collections (or simply genre archives), for the purpose of this thesis, refer to collections which focus on the activities of one aspect of their creators’ lives. Researchers attempting to access genre archives are often stymied by insufficient metadata. They frequently overlook collections because a processing archivist may not have described those collections in a way which would have benefitted their research. For example, someone researching accounts of 19th century travel may find collections under the search term Travel, but may miss collections dealing with exploration or expeditions, if an archivist considered these collections more “scientific” than travel and did not provide access to them under Travel. This then necessitates the question: How can an archivist apply access points in a more effective way when describing genre archives? 1 Genre archives are most often personal archives, and travel archives are but one type of genre archives.