DOCSLIB.ORG

Research Project: What Is Our Goal and What Will We Find Out?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Research Project: What Is Our Goal and What Will We Find Out? MISSISSIPPI ELECTRONIC RECORDS INITIATIVE A case study in state government electronic records Final Report Funded in part by National Historical Publications and Records Commission Patricia Galloway Project Supervisor Mississippi Department of Archives and History May 2000 Mississippi Electronic Records Initiative A case study in state government electronic records An NHPRC-supported research project,1996-1999 Patricia Galloway Project Supervisor “The long struggle to establish the authority of archives to determine the disposition of all public records has not been about custody but rather about preserving an authentic and adequate account of public actions in support of vital democratic virtue.” --Terry Eastwood 1996:260 A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts: "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?" The man below says: "Yes, you're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field." “You must work in Information Technology," says the balloonist. "I do," replies the man. "How did you know?" "Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but it's no use to anyone." The man below says: "You must be in upper management in some business." "I am," replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?" "Well," says the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you're going, but you expect me to be able to help. You're in the same position you were before we met, but now it's my fault." --Internet bon mot, 8/5/98 Mississippi Department of Archives and History project participants: Linda Culberson, Patricia Galloway, Hank Holmes, David Miller, David Pilcher, Anna Schwind, Patti Stodghill, Jenice Tate, David Tenpas 05/31/2000 page i 05/31/2000 page ii Table of Contents Executive summary ..................................................................................................................... v Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Recordkeeping and bureaucratic form ........................................................................................ 7 Silberman’s Cages of Reason and bureaucratization ................................................................ 15 State government rationalization: The Mississippi example ...................................................... 18 Reorganization efforts: Taft Commission, Brookings Institution ..................................... 18 Postwar reorganization: Hoover Commission ................................................................ 20 “Umbrella” movement in the 1960s and 1970s .............................................................. 23 More recent studies and reorganization efforts .............................................................. 24 Mississippi government rationalization and recordkeeping ............................................ 26 Archives’ role in the historical record of state government: The MDAH example ....................... 29 Dunbar Rowland: Laying the foundations, 1902-36 ....................................................... 29 William D. McCain: Modernization and order, 1937-43 .................................................. 35 Charlotte Capers: The home front, 1943-44 .................................................................. 35 William D. McCain: Maintaining traditionalism, 1945-55 ................................................ 36 Charlotte Capers: Buildings and programs, 1955-69 ..................................................... 37 Richard Aubrey McLemore: Construction and publication, 1969-74 .............................. 38 Elbert R. Hilliard: Expansion and professionalization, 1974-present .............................. 38 The Electronic environment changes everything--or does it? .................................................... 43 Electronic records preservation in the real world: The Mississippi environment ........................ 47 History of computerization in Mississippi state government ........................................... 47 Choice of a project partner ............................................................................................ 49 Project proposal ............................................................................................................ 49 Step one: Defining the scope of the task .................................................................................. 50 Survey of state agencies’ electronic records creation and maintenance policies ........... 50 Survey of computing project inventories ........................................................................ 52 Survey of existing state websites ................................................................................... 53 Records custody, security, and departmental income.................................................... 54 Step two: Discussing electronic records issues with other state agencies ................................. 55 Electronic Records Study Committee ............................................................................ 55 Electronic Records Advisory Panel ................................................................................ 56 Issues remaining to be discussed .................................................................................. 57 Step three: Testing specific strategies for the long-term preservation of electronic records ...... 59 Archives Administration project: COTS, automation, and metadata .............................. 59 Department of Health project: Immunization and territoriality ........................................ 65 Department of Health project: Information Systems Consultant and escrow archiving .. 66 Department of Health project: PIMS and conditional scheduling ................................... 67 Department of Health project: Other results .................................................................. 67 Other serendipitous efforts ............................................................................................ 67 Step four: Developing standards and guidelines for electronic records ..................................... 69 Findings and recommendations for continuation of the program ............................................... 71 Additional work to be done to complete ongoing projects .............................................. 71 Changes to be made within Archives and History .......................................................... 71 Cooperation with other infrastructure and regulatory agencies ...................................... 72 Suggested legislation .................................................................................................... 73 References ............................................................................................................................... 74 05/31/2000 page iii Mississippi Electronic Records Initiative A case study in state government electronic records Executive Summary The Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s NHPRC grant-funded electronic records project had four goals, aimed at laying the groundwork for the creation of an electronic records program for Mississippi state government based upon existing open computing standards and existing real-world systems. To define the scope of the task by surveying state agencies’ electronic records creation and maintenance policies. Project staff devised a questionnaire covering computing history and present computing environments in a sample of state agencies. Staff efforts succeeded in achieving a greater than 80% response to the questionnaire. The resulting analysis showed that information technology staffs are almost completely unaware of the necessity for archival concerns in the management of electronic records, but are nearly unanimous in their sense that records created on the desktop are already difficult or impossible to manage (see questionnaire and report at www.mdah.state.ms.us/arlib/ersurvey.html). To elicit discussion of the conceptual, economic, and technological restraints on electronic records preservation with other state agencies. Discussions were continued at the beginning of the project with an existing Electronic Records Study Committee (ERSC) formed by another agency, but when that committee was disbanded staff created a new committee entitled Electronic Records Advisory Panel, consisting of a core membership taken from the most active members of the old ERSC and representing the most powerful infrastructure agencies, including Finance and Administration, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Personnel Board, State Auditor, Mississippi Library Commission, and Information Technology Services. This committee has so far assisted us with preliminary reactions to our draft guidelines (see below), and will continue to advise us as we undertake to write additional guidelines. We hope that the committee will also assist us in promoting needed legislation. To cooperate with the Mississippi Department of Health (MDOH) to devise and test specific strategies for the long-term preservation of electronic records. During the grant period, we worked with the Mississippi Department of Health’s records officer and the staff of the Patient Information Management System (PIMS), the Immunization Division, and the Information Systems Consultant’s office to inventory records, understand the agency’s electronic records
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Voting Rights Act and Mississippi: 1965–2006
    THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT AND MISSISSIPPI: 1965–2006 ROBERT MCDUFF* INTRODUCTION Mississippi is the poorest state in the union. Its population is 36% black, the highest of any of the fifty states.1 Resistance to the civil rights movement was as bitter and violent there as anywhere. State and local of- ficials frequently erected obstacles to prevent black people from voting, and those obstacles were a centerpiece of the evidence presented to Con- gress to support passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.2 After the Act was passed, Mississippi’s government worked hard to undermine it. In its 1966 session, the state legislature changed a number of the voting laws to limit the influence of the newly enfranchised black voters, and Mississippi officials refused to submit those changes for preclearance as required by Section 5 of the Act.3 Black citizens filed a court challenge to several of those provisions, leading to the U.S. Supreme Court’s watershed 1969 de- cision in Allen v. State Board of Elections, which held that the state could not implement the provisions, unless they were approved under Section 5.4 Dramatic changes have occurred since then. Mississippi has the high- est number of black elected officials in the country. One of its four mem- bers in the U.S. House of Representatives is black. Twenty-seven percent of the members of the state legislature are black. Many of the local gov- ernmental bodies are integrated, and 31% of the members of the county governing boards, known as boards of supervisors, are black.5 * Civil rights and voting rights lawyer in Mississippi.
    [Show full text]
  • 2016 NMRLS Annual Report
    1966 - 2016 2016: A Commemorative Year in Review North Mississippi Rural Legal Services, Inc. A Message from the Executive Director and Board Chairman orth Mississippi Rural Legal Services, N Inc. (NMRLS) celebrated fiy years of providing legal assistance in 2016. The theme for the 50th Anniversary Celebraon was “NMRLS: The Quest for Jusce in Mississippi”. During the year, we presented special events to reflect on the Ben Thomas Cole, II, Esq. Willie J. Perkins, Sr., Esq. programs and significant ligaon which earned Executive Director Board Chairman us a renowned reputaon for aggressive legal advocacy in pursuit of remedies for the vulnerable populaon we served. Three special events were held during the year: The 50th Anniversary Kick‐Off, NMRLS Historic Ligaon Conference and the Quest for Jusce Gala. These events were designed to: Create awareness of NMRLS’ history and successes; Forge partnerships with businesses, corporaons, schools and friends; Raise funds to implement current and future programs for the commu- nies we serve; and Reconnect past and present NMRLS staff, board members, clients, aorneys and others. NMRLS achieved many successes and withstood many challenges over fiy years. The survival of our organizaon can be aributed to the vision and fortude of board members and staff who relied upon God to direct their efforts to improve the quality of life for their fellow Mississippians. Many of these heroes and others, who fought for equal jusce under the law, were recognized for their work during the Anni- versary’s special events. Some of their stories are also told in words and pictures throughout this annual report.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mississippi Plan": Dunbar Rowland and the Creation of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History
    Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists Volume 22 | Number 1 Article 5 January 2004 "The iM ssissippi Plan": Dunbar Rowland and the Creation of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Lisa Speer Southeast Missouri State University Heather Mitchell State University of New York Albany Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/provenance Part of the Archival Science Commons Recommended Citation Speer, Lisa and Mitchell, Heather, ""The iM ssissippi Plan": Dunbar Rowland and the Creation of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History," Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists 22 no. 1 (2004) . Available at: https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/provenance/vol22/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 51 "The Mississippi Plan": Dunbar Rowland and the Creation of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Lisa Speer and Heather Mitchell · The establishment of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) was a cultural milestone for a state that some regarded as backward in the latter decades of the twenti­ eth century. Alabama and Mississippi emerged as pioneers in the founding of state archives in 1901 and 1902 respectively, representing a growing awareness of the importance of pre­ serving historical records. American historians trained in Ger­ many had recently introduced the United States to the applica­ tion of scientific method to history.
    [Show full text]
  • Section 7. Elections
    Section 7 Elections This section relates primarily to presiden- 1964. In 1971, as a result of the 26th tial, congressional, and gubernatorial Amendment, eligibility to vote in national elections. Also presented are summary elections was extended to all citizens, tables on congressional legislation; state 18 years old and over. legislatures; Black, Hispanic, and female officeholders; population of voting age; Presidential election—The Constitution voter participation; and campaign specifies how the President and Vice finances. President are selected. Each state elects, by popular vote, a group of electors equal Official statistics on federal elections, col- in number to its total of members of Con- lected by the Clerk of the House, are pub- gress. The 23d Amendment, adopted in lished biennially in Statistics of the Presi- 1961, grants the District of Columbia dential and Congressional Election and three presidential electors, a number Statistics of the Congressional Election. equal to that of the least populous state. Federal and state elections data appear also in America Votes, a biennial volume Subsequent to the election, the electors published by Congressional Quarterly, meet in their respective states to vote for Inc., Washington, DC. Federal elections President and Vice President. Usually, data also appear in the U.S. Congress, each elector votes for the candidate Congressional Directory, and in official receiving the most popular votes in his or state documents. Data on reported regis- her state. A majority vote of all electors is tration and voting for social and eco- necessary to elect the President and Vice nomic groups are obtained by the U.S. President.
    [Show full text]
  • 2014 Historical-Statistical Info.Indd
    SOS6889 Divider Pages.indd 15 12/10/12 11:32 AM HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL INFORMATION HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL INFORMATION Mississippi History Timeline . 743 Historical Roster of Statewide Elected Officials . 750 Historical Roster of Legislative Officers . 753 Mississippi Legislative Session Dates . 755. Mississippi Historical Populations . 757 Mississippi State Holidays . 758 Mississippi Climate Information . 760 2010 U.S. Census – Mississippi Statistics . 761 Mississippi Firsts . 774 742 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL INFORMATION MISSISSIPPI HISTORY TIMELINE 1541: Hernando De Soto, Spanish explorer, discovers the Mississippi River. 1673: Father Jacques Marquette, a French missionary, and fur trapper Louis Joliet begin exploration of the Mississippi River on May 17. 1699: First European settlement in Mississippi is established at Fort Maurepas, in present-day Ocean Springs, by Frenchmen Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville and his brother, Jean Baptiste de Bienville. 1716: Bienville establishes Fort Rosalie on the site of present-day Natchez. 1718: Enslaved Africans are brought to Mississippi by the Company of the West. 1719: Capital of the Louisiana colony moves from Mobile to New Biloxi, present-day Biloxi. 1729: The Natchez massacre French settlers at Fort Rosalie in an effort to drive out Europeans. Hundreds of slaves were set free. 1754: French and Indian War begins. 1763: Treaty of Paris ends the French and Indian War with France giving up land east of the Mississippi, except for New Orleans, to England. 1775: The American Revolution begins with many loyalists fleeing to British West Florida, which included the southern half of present-day Mississippi. 1779- 1797: Period of Spanish Dominion with Manuel Gayosa de Lemos chosen governor of the Natchez region.
    [Show full text]
  • To Mississippi, Alone, Can They Look for Assistance:” Confederate Welfare in Mississippi
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Aquila Digital Community The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Master's Theses Summer 8-2017 "To Mississippi, Alone, Can They Look For Assistance:” Confederate Welfare In Mississippi Lisa Carol Foster University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses Recommended Citation Foster, Lisa Carol, ""To Mississippi, Alone, Can They Look For Assistance:” Confederate Welfare In Mississippi" (2017). Master's Theses. 310. https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/310 This Masters Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “TO MISSISSIPPI, ALONE, CAN THEY LOOK FOR ASSISTANCE:” CONFEDERATE WELFARE IN MISSISSIPPI by Lisa Carol Foster A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate School, the College of Arts and Letters, and the Department of History at The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts August 2017 “TO MISSISSIPPI, ALONE, CAN THEY LOOK FOR ASSISTANCE:” CONFEDERATE WELFARE IN MISSISSIPPI by Lisa Carol Foster August 2017 Approved by: _________________________________________ Dr. Susannah Ural, Committee Chair Professor, History _________________________________________ Dr. Chester Morgan, Committee
    [Show full text]
  • Dunbar Rowland and the Creation of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History
    Ouachita Baptist University Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita Articles Faculty Publications 1-2004 "The Mississippi Plan": Dunbar Rowland and the Creation of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Lisa K. Speer Heather Mitchell Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/articles Part of the Public History Commons "The Mississippi Plan": Dunbar Rowland and the Creation of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Lisa Speer and Heather Mitchell The establishment of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) was a cultural milestone for a state that some regarded as backward in the latter decades of the twenti­ eth century. Alabama and Mississippi emerged as pioneers in the founding of state archives in 1901 and 1902 respectively, representing a growing awareness of the importance of pre­ serving historical records. American historians trained in Ger­ many had recently introduced the United States to the applica­ tion of scientific method to history. The method involved care­ ful inspection of primary documents and writings to produce objective answers to large historical questions.' The challenges involved in ferreting out primary docu­ ments, however, often frustrated the research efforts of histo­ rians. Some states, like Massachusetts, had well-established historical societies that functionedas primary source reposito­ ries. In other states individuals held historical records in pri­ vate libraries, and public records were scattered among the ' Peter Novick, The Noble Dream: The "Objectivity Question" and the American Historical Profession (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 37-40. PROVENANCE, vol. XXII, 2004 PROVENANCE 2004 _ c:reating agencies.2 In the 1880s the American Historical =�-iau:·on (AHA) sponsored the first organized national ef­ .
    [Show full text]
  • To View the Complete Study As an Adobe Acrobat PDF
    American Enterprise Institute The Project on Fair Representation Edward Blum Visiting Fellow American Enterprise Institute 1150 Seventeenth St. NW Washington, DC 20036 202.862.5800 An Assessment of Voting Rights Progress in Mississippi Executive Summary By Edward Blum Of all the states of the South and all of the states subject to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Mississippi has had the longest journey from out of the darkness of segregation and racial subjugation. Early in the 1960s Mississippi had the lowest rates of black voter registration and participation maintained by the most unabashedly violent and vehement efforts to deny black suffrage. By the beginning of the 21st century, proportionally more blacks than whites were registered to vote in Mississippi, and for two decades Mississippi blacks have registered to vote at higher rates than African-Americans outside the South. Until recently Mississippi whites voted at higher rates than blacks, though the difference between the races has largely been eliminated as of 1998. Mississippi blacks often turn out at rates higher than blacks in the rest of the country. 1 Mississippi has the highest proportion black population of the United States, though the state has fewer African Americans than in New York City. With approximately 900 officials, blacks hold more public office in the Magnolia State than elsewhere, and a black person is more likely to be represented by or to get to vote for a black officeholder in Mississippi than anywhere else in the US. Since 1987, an African-American has represented the majority-black Delta congressional district. Black representation is approaching proportionality in the state House of Representatives, though the black proportion in the state Senate still lags.
    [Show full text]
  • Statement on the National Emergency with Respect to the Taliban July 6
    Administration of William J. Clinton, 1999 / July 6 1285 Statement on the National [Laughter] So I feel right at home. [Laugh- Emergency With Respect ter] I don't know whether Bob Koerber and to the Taliban the people at Waterfield are insured against July 6, 1999 heatstroke by strangers happening in along the way, but let me say that I am delighted I have signed an Executive order imposing to be here today. I've had a good day already. financial and other commercial sanctions on And I've got a large group with me, and the Afghan Taliban for its support of Usama I can't mention them all, but I'd like to men- bin Ladin and his terrorist network. The tion a few of them. First I want to thank Taliban has allowed the territory under its Secretary Slater, who is, as all of you know, control to be used as a safe haven and base also from Arkansas and worked with me on of operations for Usama bin Ladin and the the Delta commission. I want to thank our al-Qaida organization, who were responsible Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman; our for the bombings of our embassies in Secretary of Labor, Alexis Herman, who is Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tan- here with me; our SBA Administrator Aida zania, last year, murdering 12 Americans, Alvarez. Reverend Jackson, thank you for nearly 300 Kenyans and Tanzanians, and being here. wounding another 5,000. To this day, bin I'd like to thank David Bronczek from Ladin and his network continue to plan new FedEx; Jack Haugsland from Greyhound.
    [Show full text]
  • Racial Reconciliation in Mississippi: an Evaluation of the Proposal to Establish a Mississippi Truth and Reconciliation Commission
    \\jciprod01\productn\H\HBK\27-1\HBK105.txt unknown Seq: 1 19-JUL-11 14:26 RACIAL RECONCILIATION IN MISSISSIPPI: AN EVALUATION OF THE PROPOSAL TO ESTABLISH A MISSISSIPPI TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION Patryk Labuda1 I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. —Martin Luther King, Jr., August 28, 19632 I. INTRODUCTION When Martin Luther King, Jr. made his famous “I have a dream” speech over forty-five years ago, racial segregation in Mississippi was still legally mandated by the state government and federally sanctioned by the United States Supreme Court.3 Though much has changed since those days, the brutal legacy of the Jim Crow era remains palpably noticeable in the “Magnolia State”. African Americans continue to suffer dispropor- tionately from lower quality education, persistent segregation in housing, 1. Patryk I. Labuda, Adam Mickiewicz Law School, M.A. 2006, B.A. History 2007, Co- lumbia Law School, LLM 2009. This article was initially a seminar paper for Profes- sor Graeme Simpson’s seminar on transitional justice at Columbia Law School (Fall 2008). I would like to thank Graeme Simpson and Lisa Magarrell of the Interna- tional Center for Transitional Justice, as well as Susan Glisson and Patrick Weems of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation for their comments and suggestions. 2. Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have a Dream Speech, Washington D.C. (Aug. 28, 1963), reprinted in JAMES M.
    [Show full text]
  • *Ss02/R1204* Mississippi Legislature Regular Session
    MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2003 By: Senator(s) Little, Browning, Burton, To: Rules Canon, Carmichael, Chaney, Dawkins, Frazier, Furniss, Gollott, Harvey, Huggins, Jackson, King, Kirby, Mettetal, Michel, Moffatt, Nunnelee, Robertson, Ross, Smith, Stogner, Thames, Tollison, Walls, White, Williamson, Bryan SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 104 1 A RESOLUTION COMMENDING THE LONGTIME CAPITOL CORRESPONDENT 2 AND EDITORIAL CAREER OF JACK M. ELLIOTT, JR., ON THE OCCASION OF 3 HIS RETIREMENT AFTER 25 YEARS COVERING THE MISSISSIPPI 4 LEGISLATURE. 5 WHEREAS, Associated Press Reporter Jack M. Elliott, Jr., has 6 covered the Mississippi Legislature as Capitol Correspondent for 7 25 years; and 8 WHEREAS, Jack began reporting events at the Mississippi 9 Legislature in 1974, working for various regional newspapers, 10 including The Alabama Journal, The Meridian Star and The 11 Clarion-Ledger, and was Correspondent for United Press 12 International serving as Jackson Bureau Manager; he then became 13 Press Aide to U.S. Congressman David Bowen; he started with The 14 Associated Press in Oklahoma City in 1984, transferred back to the 15 AP staff in Jackson, Mississippi, in July 1988 and again covered 16 the Legislature beginning in 1989; and 17 WHEREAS, Jack has covered the administrations of Governors 18 Bill Waller, Cliff Finch, William Winter, Bill Allain, Ray Mabus, 19 Kirk Fordice and Ronnie Musgrove; and 20 WHEREAS, Jack has covered the administrations of Lieutenant 21 Governors William Winter, Evelyn Gandy, Brad Dye, Eddie Briggs, 22 Ronnie Musgrove and Amy Tuck; and 23 WHEREAS, Jack has covered the administrations of House 24 Speakers John Junkin, Buddie Newman and Tim Ford; and 25 WHEREAS, one of Jack's favorite political stories took place 26 during the Waller administration, when the Governor was having a 27 photo made on the Capitol steps with a group of school children; 28 when the children became rowdy, Governor Waller told them they S.
    [Show full text]
  • Dunbar Rowland and the Beginning of the State Archives of Mississippi
    SOAA_SP07 23/5/06 3:31 PM Page 79 T HE A MERICAN A RCHIVIST Archives, Power, and History: Dunbar Rowland and the Beginning of the State Archives Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/69/1/79/2749597/aarc_69_1_m462n0564g87jqm0.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 of Mississippi (1902–1936) Patricia Galloway Abstract The histories of archives are especially significant because their collecting practices affect the writing of the history going on beyond their walls. This essay explores the early history of the Mississippi State Archives through the activities and practices of its first archivist, Dunbar Rowland. Rowland was not only a member of the first generation of southern state archivists, but was also a member of the Mississippi planter elite and an aspirant to partici- pating both in the wider world of archival practice and thought and in the post- Reconstruction interpretation of southern history. This investigation divides Rowland’s work into three periods: foundation, collection, and publication, and argues that Rowland’s example shows how archival practice itself can reflect the stance of its times toward the construction of public memory. Introduction he academic history profession has now achieved enough maturity to reflect upon the implications of its origins in the German historical tradition and its own cultural and political contexts and their effects over T1 time. Historians have had little to say, however, about the intellectual histories of the archival institutions whose creation they encouraged and on which they 1 Peter Novick, That Noble Dream: The “Objectivity Question” and the American Historical Profession (Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press, 1988) provides a fine outline of the intellectual history of modernist historical practice and its origins in document-based research in the German “scientific” tradition.
    [Show full text]