Please let us know the name of the person/s from your archive or archival working group giving the presentation by e-mailing karin.kiisk@gmail.com by the 3rd of June.
This year’s summer school will focus on collecting. When working with archives, you will come across contradictory claims. At times you’ll hear that it is hopelessly too late for any collecting work – archives of important people and organisations have already been lost. At the same time you’ll also hear that archives are being offered more material than they are able to receive or are able to/consider necessary to preserve and arrange. The choices we make when collecting archival material today have direct impact on what tomorrow’s historians will write, what kind of exhibitions will be displayed in memory institutions, etc.
We would like to hear all archival institutions’ and archival working groups’ opinions and discussions on the following topics:
# According to which principles is material selected? Have these principles changed over time? Why? When?
# Who decides the principles? Who are the decision-makers?
# Is archive material offered, or must you look for it yourself?
# If you search for it yourselves: what are your selection criteria?
# How active are you in asking for material from relatives of the departed?
# How do you find archives belonging to organisations that are no longer active? Where (as in what country or archive) do these archives belong according to you?
# Do you have to make a choice between personal and organisational archives? Do you prefer one over the other? Why?
# How do you reach agreements with the depositor(s) of archive material? What conditions are presented to the local archive/archival group? What do you recommend the depositors in terms of place for preservation, conditions of use, etc? Do you make any recommendations?
# Do you prefer to receive all archival material ‘as is’, or do you prefer that the depositor makes a selection?
# What do you do with archival material (records, books, newspapers, objects, etc.) that has ended up in your archive but doesn’t conform to your collection principles?
We welcome presentations of up to 20 minutes from all archives and/or archival working groups. Discuss between yourselves and write your thoughts down – they will form the base for our joint discussions. Case studies are welcome.