ARCHIVES
There is considerable confusion surrounding the
concept of archives, and even professional archi-
vists exacerbate the problem by employing the
word in several ways. The words ‘‘archive’’ and
‘‘archives’’ are used in several different contexts,
especially with regard to photographs. ‘‘An
archive’’ is classically defined by archivists as the
records of a governmental organization or institu-
tion, and such a file of records frequently contains
photographs. However, by extension the term cov-
ers other kinds of collections, including business
records, personal papers, and other archival col-
lections. A long, rich tradition governs the manner
in which such archives are processed, catalogued
and described, stored, and made available for
research. Archivists are professional staff respon-
sible for the care of archival collections. The pro-
fession is well developed and is represented by a
number of organizations in the United States and
other countries, such as the Society of American
Archivists, formed in 1936. Archival training is
offered at various universities, often in history
departments and library schools.
Archival, Library, and Museum Traditions
Because this entry concerns photographs in archives
and archival collections, it is necessary to compare
how photographs are managed in three basic types
of repositories. Photographs are found in libraries,
museums, and archives. Each type of organization
has a distinctive tradition and methodology, al-
though in practice they overlap considerably, with
frequent exceptions to general rules. Libraries tend
to be item-oriented: the bound book is the unit to be
catalogued and tracked, from its shelf location to its
circulation to patrons. By extension, the individual
photograph in a library file cabinet is analogous to
the book as a research or study unit; in practice it
may not be individually catalogued—although it
presumably would be if time and resources per-
mitted. When possible, libraries may mark each
photograph with a code or number which facilitates
refiling it in its proper location. In a museum collec-
tion, the individual photograph is also the unit to be
catalogued, typically according to aesthetic or tech-
nological criteria, rather than subject content. In an
art museum, emphasis is usually placed upon the
photographer, and works by identified artists are
stored by the artists’ names in alphabetical order.
Exceptions may be made for special formats, espe-
cially unidentified or unattributed items. Anon-
ymous daguerreotypes, for example, may be stored
together. Accepted museum practice requires that
each photograph, regardless of its precise storage
location, be marked with a unique catalogue number
to link it to its individual catalogue record, whether
manual or electronic, which will also identify its
provenance.
In archives and archival collections, the basic
unit to be identified, catalogued, and tracked is a
container, such as an approved, acid-free box, and
its contents. The container may be filled with doz-
ens or even hundreds of sheets of paper, including
materials such as correspondence, financial docu-
ments, or photographs, neatly organized in labeled
folders. To draw a parallel between library and
archival practice, one might think of a box of
paper documents in folders as rather like an
unbound book Typically, however, the archival
document box and its contents will be described
in a ‘‘finding aid’’ or ‘‘container list’’ rather than
in separate manual catalogue cards or entries in an
electronic database.
Archival theory and tradition assume that true
archives and most ‘‘archival collections,’’ that is,
organically created and assembled business and
personal papers as well as ‘‘artificial’’ collections
of papers and photographs (usually collected from
external sources selectively) whether carefully or
chaotically, will be processed and handled at the
group level, both for theoretical and practical rea-
sons. An archival collection such as the records of a
governmental unit is usually retained in its original
order, if that order was meaningful. Respect for
original order derives from the fact that, in organi-
cally formed document collections, the existing
order reflects the history and activities of the orga-
nization and the arrangement in itself provides
information, which might be lost if that order
were disrupted or destroyed. Implicit in the rule
of retaining original order within a particular
group of documents, regardless of the medium or
form of the documents (e.g., manuscripts, type-ARCHIVES