Lesson 12.

Archival science

Learning tasks: by completing this unit of study, the student will be able to: ¾ Define the object of study of Archival science . ¾ Identify the most important moments from the of . ¾ Retain some elementary notions of the archives administration.

I. The object of study of Archival science

Archival Science is the Auxiliary Science of History that deal with the study and organization of archives (storing, cataloguing and retrieving of documents). First attested in English in early 17th century, the word archiveis derived from the French archives (plural). This word come from Greek ἀρχεῖον (arkheion), which refers to the home or dwelling of the Archon. The term was picked up by Romans (archīum or archīvum) from where it spread to other nations. An is a collection of historical records or the physical place they are located. An archive keep documents relating to the history of a country, a city, an institution, a family or individuals, etc., which reflecting the relations between people and between them and the political and social organizations. A person who work in archives is called an . At the base of Archival science were instructions, regulations and statutes of various medieval institutions and corporations. It has grown especially when in archives appeared the German system of registry. In 1571, for the first time, Jacob von Rammingen (1510‐1582) established the theory and practice of registry, in his work entitled Von der Registratur. Then appeared numerous books. A satisfactory book, which embraces the field of this science, was Archivistica wrote by Eugenio Casanova (2nd edition, Siena, 1928), which with all its ponderous style remains valid for complex knowledge of Archival science. To these should be added subsequently acquired knowledge: Adolf Brennecke, Archivkunde, Leipzig, 1953; Th. R. Schellenberg, Moderne archives, Principles and Techniques, Melbourne, 1956, Jean Favier, Les archives, Paris, 1959; Gerhart Enders, Archiverwaltungslehre, Berlin, 1962, etc.

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II. From the history of archives

Archives were well developed by the ancient Chinese, the ancient Greeks, and ancient Romans. The Byzantine Empire has preserved rules inherited from the Romans. In the early Middle Ages there was a decline of Daniel Flaut, Introduction to the Auxiliary Sciences of History

archives. Medieval cities began to assume responsibility for archives. At the same time, there were private archives and archives of churches. Notaries archives wrote documents of private law and have kept copies of them. Papal archives were made up of documents of Saints, but have begun to add legal and diplomatic documents. Ecclesiastical archives have kept documents about the history of the Church, documents relating to their field and literary works. Imperial and royal archives were ”viatoria” (traveling), much later start to have a permanent establishment (”statoria”). Archives were constituted everywhere, but the access to them was difficult due to exceptional measures taken by kings and nobles. Archives start to be closed and becomes secrets. But were admitted and research in archives. In the sixteenth century there was a massive publication of sources. Humanists studied with much interest documents, giving birth to the critical using of documents. The modern era has brought with it the centralization of work in archives and created the network of archives. On 25 June 1794, in , the Convention has declared solemnly the opening of all deposits of archives. Were set general principles of archives. At Paris was realised the centralization of all deposits of archives from France. In 1810, Napoleon wanted to bring to Paris archives of the entire empire. After the French model were organized archives in Belgium, England, Spain, Hungary and Italy. The fate of archives would be different from now on. In the modern era the number of factors creators of archive increased significantly. *

III. Elementary notions of the archives administration

Archives must meet certain external and internal conditions. The building of archive must to be located on stable ground, isolated, well exposed to light and away from smoke emanations or water vapor. The archive must be built more in extension and in regions threatened by earthquakes should not have more floors. It is recommended that the roof to be constructed of galvanized sheet. The building of archive must have: special storage rooms, reading hall, conferences hall, work offices, halls of the inventories, secretariat, , laboratories and so on, which have a thermal and moisture control. Archival deposits, especially, must be equipped with air‐conditioning and appliances for measuring kept under constant surveillance to ensure temperature, humidity and air purity at parameters considered optimal for the preserving of documents. The organize of archives also include the storage and handling of archives funds. Documents from the archive are subject to a number of dangers. Their destruction is due to several causes, intentional or accidental. From the intentional causes we mention: the authority which wants to escape his own archive, the incompetence, poor training of , intentional alienation, intentional thefts. The chemical and biological destruction of documents from archive is caused by weather, earthquakes, fires, parasites of archives (the flora and the fauna of archives). The flora from the building of archives is determined by the moisture, poor ventilation, lack of light, etc. These make to appear a series of microorganisms that make up the vegetation of archives. This vegetation is dominated by fungi that feed with fiber paper, organic substances from leather and fat residues from parchment. As regards the fauna of archives, it is of a larger

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variety. There is a category of visible attackers and another category of invisible attackers. It was found that 1/3 from archives are destroyed because of the animal kingdom, which existed here: mice, insects, microorganisms, etc. Some of them eat the wood, others eat paper and glue. Against parasites of archives are uses mechanical, biological and chemical methods. For the preserve of documents, in optimal conditions, are regularly carried out activities to vent of deposits, avoiding the air which has over 60‐65% humidity. A very important activity of archives is restoring of damaged archival funds. It is done in laboratories of restoration through several methods. The adhesive method (bonding) is the oldest and best. The chemical method consists in the impregnation of the material of document with several substances. The physical method is better because it does not attack the substance with which it was written. Restoration of documents involves a series of steps: cleansing, smoothing and neutralizing.

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Homework Elaborate an essay with the title: and preservation in Archival science

References: ¾ Archival Science: Preservation, General Books LLC, 2010. ¾ Cloonan, Michèle V., Preserving Records of Enduring Value, in Eastwood, Terry, MacNeil, Heather (ed.), Currents of Archival Thinking, Santa Barbara, California, Unlimited, 2010, p. 69‐88. ¾ Adrian Cunningham, Archival Institutions, in McKemmish Sue et al. (ed.), Archives: Recordkeeping in Society, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Charles Sturt University, Centre for Information Studies, 2005. ¾ Cumming, Kate, Matters, in McLeod, Julie, Hare, Catherine (ed.), Managing Electronic Records, London, Facet Publishing, 2005, p. 34‐49. ¾ Jennifer Douglas, Origins: Evolving Ideas about the Principle of Provenance, in Eastwood, Terry, MacNeil, Heather (ed.), Currents of Archival Thinking, Santa Barbara, California, Libraries Unlimited, 2010, p. 23‐43. ¾ Duranti, Luciana, Heather MacNeil, The Protection of the Integrity of Electronic Records: An Overview of the UBC­MAS Research Project, in ”Archivaria”, 1 (42), January 1996, p. 46–67. ¾ Luke J. Gilliland‐Swetland, The Provenance of a Profession: The Permanence of the Public Archives and Historical Manuscripts Traditions in American Archival History, American, in ”Archivist”, 54, no. 2 , 1991, p. 160‐174.

Dear students, please send me your essay at e‐mail address: [email protected]

Bibliography

¾ Brennecke, Adolf, Archivkunde, Leipzig, 1953. ¾ Casanova, Eugenio, Archivistica, 2nd edition, Siena, 1928. ¾ Craven, Louise (ed.), What are Archives?: Cultural and Theoretical Perspectives: a Reader, Ashgate Publishing Limited, T.J. International Ltd. Padstow, Cornwall, 2008.

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¾ Enders, Gerhart, Archiverwaltungslehre, Berlin, 1962. ¾ Favier, Jean Les archives, Paris, 1959. ¾ Kumar, Sushil, Archives: Principles and Practices, New‐Delhi, 2011. ¾ Schellenberg, Th. R., Moderne archives, Principles and Techniques, Melbourne, 1956. ¾ The Earliest Predecessors of Archival Science: Jacob Von Rammingen's Two Manuals of Registry and Archival Management, Printed in 1571, Wallin & Dalholm, 2010.

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