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Appendix I
History of SAA
INTRODUCTION
To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always
a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the
life of our ancestors by the records of history? —Cicero
History is not what happened in the past. It is, as the word itself suggests,
a story, written by subsequent generations. The veracity and accuracy
of the account, however, is totally dependent upon the surviving record at
hand—documents, manuscripts, letters, publications, photos, and memorabilia
from which the story must often be pieced together and reconstructed, item
by item, clue by clue. This is true whether the work is medical research
done by scientists, or a family genealogy sought by a curious individual.
From students to scholars, business professionals to creative artists, we
are all in constant need of access to information, not only from the past,
but of the present. With the rapid increase in high-tech communications—satellite
links, computer modems, e-mail, and the like—Marshall McLuhan's view
of the world as a global village has shrunk to that of a single, multilingual,
multicultural neighborhood.
As a result we are bombarded with information from around the world every
day, buried under an avalanche of paper, inundated with electronic messages.
As individuals, we frequently choose what we need to use at a particular
moment, and discard the rest. But everything we create in the act of communication,
formal or informal—every memo, snapshot, blueprint, magazine article,
cartoon, videotape, radio and television broadcast, or CD-ROM—is part
of a gigantic jigsaw puzzle, forming a picture of our civilization that changes
according to one's perspective and potential use. How much of that picture
will be available for future generations to know us and learn from us—just
as we attempt to reconstruct a picture of the past for our own enlightenment?
Each piece of the puzzle becomes invaluable, and what is not saved is lost,
possibly forever. To whom do we trust the care and safekeeping of this treasure?
Archivists have accepted the challenge, and the responsibility, to collect,
preserve, and protect this fragile, constantly changing record of who we
are and what we do. From the smallest shoe box stored in a hall closet to
the voluminous National Archives, documents and memorabilia require special
handling and an awareness of the material's particular value and possible
use. Archivists are trained and experienced to deal with the various questions
and problems which arise in the preservation of such material. They are able
to bring a specialized perspective and an informed interpretation to decisions
concerning the material's worth and usefulness. They are familiar with the
nature and characteristics of all types of human documentation—from
ancient Egyptian papyrus to contemporary computer e-mail. And archivists
understand that within each document is a drama, behind each letter or photograph
is a person. They are safe-guarding not the residue of our culture, but the
immediate and permanent resources which will define who we are and explain
what we did, for posterity.
To accomplish this job an archivist must be part doctor, part scientist.
He or she must keep the body of information healthy and in a functional capacity,
while determining how to best draw out and maximize its inherent qualities.
In order to do this the archivist must first identify and appraise the value
of the material, deciding what to keep and what to dispose of. The criteria
used in this regard is a combination of the material's uniqueness, usability,
and importance. All of these characteristics are variable, since a document's
importance or potential usefulness may not be revealed for an extended period
of time, and as time passes new uses for old records may emerge. Then the
archivist is responsible for preserving the physical integrity of the material;
that is, protecting it from loss, deterioration, or unauthorized disposal.
The next step is organizing the collected material(s) in a coherent and systematic
way. This, in turn, insures its accessibility to researchers, compilers,
analysts, information services, and other potential users. Finally, the archivist
must provide for outreach opportunities that give the material an ongoing
life outside of its safe storage—publications, exhibits, and other visible
displays and applications.
Today, records and relevant materials are created not only from official
governmental management, but as the result of all manner of personal, social,
economic, functional, and symbolic activities of individuals, organizations,
and institutions. These records are used daily in the valuable research done
on behalf of scientific, medical, cultural, scholarly, legal, and even commercial
interests. The development of particular subject areas and special interest
groups—from Civil War buffs to religious convents, gay and lesbian coalitions
to sports statisticians—demand complete, available records with which
to work and to document their purpose. Crucial information resides in contracts,
minutes of meetings, maps, diaries, account ledgers, and artworks—for
example, court transcripts may explain aspects of our social relationships
as well as legal ones, or a tapestry may illustrate an event otherwise unknown.
For these reasons, archives are vital to maintain the specific detailed information
that would otherwise disappear or be forgotten.
In all of these ways, archivists are able to help us forge a better and
more useful individual and collective memory. To tell the story of our lives
and those of our ancestors in a full, truthful, and unbiased manner, we need
to not only ask "What did we do?" and "How did we do it?," but
also "Why did we do it?" and "What were our thoughts and motivation
as we did it?" The answers to such questions are necessary to give depth
and texture to the dry details of existence and fill in the gaps between
the known and the speculative. Though such answers may have their genesis
in the past, the insight they offer is crucial to give meaning and direction
to our future. These answers survive in our archives.
HISTORY
From the earliest annals of recorded civilization, archives have served
both personal and public, practical and symbolic, uses. According to the
type, value, and significance of the documents, the responsibility of maintenance
might fall to scholars, religious figures, or minor government administrators.
In Europe during the Middle Ages, as feudal kingdoms consolidated into nations
and laws began to be codified, precise record keeping became increasingly
necessary and prevalent. Gradually, the changing circumstances of European
society and governments effected the manner in which records were used and
preserved. By the time of the French Revolution it was widely accepted that
records were critical because they protected the rights of the people, and
that such records must be available for public scrutiny and use.
The first settlers in America brought with them the knowledge and practice
of precise record-keeping. Records of marriages, births, and baptisms were
saved by the Church, and often by individual families as well. Hunters and
trappers listed their business transactions, merchants kept track of sales,
homemakers and famous figures alike wrote letters, diaries, and memoirs,
land titles were recorded and filed away for safe-keeping, and as settlements
grew into towns and territories, civic documents increased. After the Revolutionary
War, the first Continental Congress acknowledged that it was expected to
keep official records on behalf of all citizens, and followed the practices
they had learned in Europe. In 1791, the Massachusetts Historical Society,
the first of its kind, was formed to "...preserve the manuscripts of
the present day to the remotest ages of posterity." Similar local and
national organizations soon followed, many concerned with collecting the
private papers and memorabilia of famous individuals in addition to official
documents.
Slowly, as more independent historical societies and archival repositories
were created, they began to be even more concerned with the most efficient
ways of preserving their materials. By the early 1800s one Ohio society developed
a manner of protecting its holding in "...air-tight metallic cases,
regularly numbered and indexed, so that it may be known what is in each case
without opening it." But each archive had its own system of organization
and storage, with varying degrees of success. It wasn't until the end of
the nineteenth century that common archival theories and practices were shared
among many separate societies and associations, ultimately leading to the
formation of a distinct archival profession in the United States. The American
Historical Association, created in 1884, took as its major focus the development
of standardized systems of archival organization, by helping to foster interaction
between the various independent archives. The AHA spawned several subgroups
such as the Historical Manuscripts Commission, the Public Archives Commission
and, in 1909, a Conference of Archivists. This latter group met annually
and worked to establish new archives and promote and improve those already
in existence. During the 1930s President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Progress
Administration created the Historical Records Survey and the Survey of Federal
Archives, and then, in 1934, Congress established the National Archives as
an independent federal agency.
THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN ARCHIVISTS
Perhaps inevitably, as a result of the greater governmental recognition
and support which archival activity was receiving at this time, the members
of the Conference of Archivists realized that a distinction needed to be
made between historians and scholars, who used the archival materials,
and archivists, who were responsible for the material's care, organization,
and management. They believed that their field was a particular science for
which a professional association was needed, in order to continue the growth
and advancement of the profession. The Society of American Archivists (SAA)
was founded in December of 1936, "...to promote sound principles of
archival economy and to facilitate cooperation among archivists and archival
agencies." A more democratic body than its predecessor, it opened its
ranks not just to directors of large archival institutions, but to all "...who
are or have been engaged in the custody or administration of archives or
historical manuscripts." This included archives of all sizes and orientations,
from small private and business archives to large historical collections.
Once born, the SAA acted quickly. A president, A.R. Newsome, and a board
of directors were elected by its initial 124 individual and four institutional
members. In its first full year membership increased to 243 archivists and
institutions, and the SAA began the practice of holding an annual convention,
at which professional papers were delivered, information was exchanged, and
philosophies of archival organization discussed. At this June 1937 convention,
President Newsome outlined a course for the SAA which has been followed to
the present day: "...to become the practical self-help agency of archivists
for the solution of their complex problems" and "to strive to nationalize
archival information and technique;" to seek "the solution of archival
problems involving external relations with all archival agencies, with learned
societies, and with the public;" and "to encourage the development
of a genuine archival profession in the United States" in which the
SAA would "set training standards and advance archival administration
through its meetings and publications." Primary among these publications
was the Society's official journal, The American Archivist, whose
premiere issue appeared in January 1938.
Volunteer members ran the SAA under a tight economy during the final years
of the Great Depression and the period of World War II. At war's end, the
SAA supported the formation of the International Council on Archives in order
to encourage and facilitate exchanges between foreign and domestic archives.
By the 1950s, the SAA focused even greater attention upon the necessity for
common archival techniques and methods of organization and indexing. As the
number of repositories and archives grew steadily, it became more and more
important that systematic and consistent practices be widely adopted. These
included criteria for identifying and prioritizing records (the SAA formed
a Committee on the Reduction of Archival Material in order to find ways to
reduce the bulk of redundant or unnecessary material without jeopardizing
the quality of information), sharing the most advanced techniques
of document preservation, and standardizing the method of indexing and cataloguing
records.
As time passed, developments in technology offered some solutions to the
problems of archival standardization, but also created even more complex
issues. Improved or expanded technologies have been a vital concern of the
SAA throughout its history. In the pages of The American Archivist there
are references to or articles on photostatting important and perishable documents
(1939), the use of microfilm (1940), photocopying (1951), computers (1963),
and automated information handling (1966). To solve problems of inter-institutional
cooperation in automated formats, the SAA in 1977 formed the National Information
Systems Task Force, which explored common ground among archives of all sizes,
subjects, and formats, and that same year created the Archival and Manuscripts
Control format of the United States Machine Readable Cataloguing system,
to assure that everyone was "speaking the same language." In 1994
another task force was created to investigate the increasingly complex state
of electronic records strategies and issues.
Concurrent with this effort from the 1950s through the 1970s was the SAA's
involvement in improving the standards of the profession itself. Before the
advent of institutional archives, records were in the hands of clerks, secretaries,
public officials, and others who had little or no training in their care
and maintenance. Though the archival profession flourished after World War
II, there were few schools which offered courses in archival theory and practice,
and no set professional guidelines. Archivists require specific knowledge
and skills, but how does one obtain them? The SAA has been a hardworking
advocate for the education and certification of archivists, through both
formal academic courses and independent studies. In 1977, the SAA formalized
graduate education guidelines for university training of archivists, began
offering continuing education workshops on specific techniques and issues,
and also published the first of several Basic Manuals covering archival procedures.
In 1974, Ann Morgan Campbell was hired as the first Executive Director of
the SAA, and its National Office was established on the Chicago campus of
the University of Illinois. A new strategic plan, "Leadership and Service
in the 1990s" was implemented in 1993. Under its current Executive Director,
Susan Fox, the SAA presently numbers approximately 3,800 individual and 400
institutional members, and maintains offices at 600 S. Federal Street in
Chicago, where it continues to energize and bring together otherwise distinct
factions in the archival field, enhance cooperation and common values, educate
and advise archivists in order to improve professional standards and working
conditions, and raise public awareness, appreciation, understanding, and
support of archival work of all types.
POLICIES
With its 1993 Strategic Plan, "Leadership and Service in the 1990s," the
SAA created a statement which defines the organization's direction and purpose
for the present as well as the immediate future.
MISSION: The Society of American Archivists serves the educational and
informational needs of its members and provides leadership to help ensure
the identification, preservation, and use of the nation's historical record.
To fulfill this mission the Society of American Archivists will:
GOAL 1: Exert active leadership on significant archival issues by shaping
policies and standards, building effective coalitions, and improving public
awareness of the value of archives.
GOAL 2: Provide opportunities for continuing professional growth and promote
high quality in archival education programs offered by SAA and other organizations
and institutions.
GOAL 3: Position SAA to lead the archival profession in advancing electronic
records issues and represent the interests of the profession in shaping
policies and accepting practices for identifying, preserving, and using
electronic records.
GOAL 4: Increase SAA's overall effectiveness as an organization by improving
its structure, methods of communication, and financial base to accomplish
the Society's mission and to achieve its strategic goals and objectives.
SERVICES
Foremost among the SAA's many activities are the services which it provides
its members. These include helping to improve the environment and conditions
under which archivists work through employment opportunities and career development,
salary and benefit surveys, networking strategies and a membership directory;
providing ongoing educational support through its various publications and
training manuals, technical assistance referral system, continuing education
workshops, directory of consultants, and mentor programs; and by acting as
an advocate—in both governmental and public opinion forums—on behalf
of archivists in such key issues as Intellectual Property, Copyright and
Fair Use, the declassification or destruction of Federal records, abuses
of privacy and confidentiality, the Freedom of Information Act, and others
which effect their ability to function in a fair, professional, and successful
manner.
The core of the SAA's service component is divided into three parts: Sections,
Standing Committees, and Roundtables. The Sections reflect particular areas
of interest and expertise for SAA members, and they include Acquisitions & Appraisal,
Archivists of Religious Collections, Business Archives, College & University
Archives, Description, Electronic Records, Government Records, Manuscript
Repositories, Museum Archives, Oral History, Preservation, Reference, Access & Outreach,
and Visual Materials. Each Section publishes its own newsletter and offers
meetings, seminars, and an exchange of relevant information and ideas.
Standing Committees offer assistance and support in areas of organizational
activity and special interest, such as Archival Information Exchange, Awards,
Selection of SAA Fellows, Education & Professional Development, Ethics & Professional
Conduct, Annual Meeting Hosts, Institutional Evaluation & Development,
International Archival Affairs, Legal & Legislative Affairs, Membership,
Nominations, Annual Meeting Programs, Public Information, and Status of Women.
Roundtables are groups which address diverse areas of concern and serve
members in a more informal capacity, for example, Archivists & Archives
of Color, Architectural Records, Archival Educators, Archival History, Archives
Management, Art & Architecture Thesaurus, Congressional Papers, Labor
Archives, Lesbian & Gay Archives, Local Government Records, Visual Materials
Cataloging & Access, On-Line Computer Library Center (OCLC) Users, Performing
Arts, Privacy & Confidentiality, Recorded Sound, Records Management,
Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN) Users, Science, Technology & Health
Care, Women's Collections, and Women's Religious Archives.
EDUCATION
The SAA is proud of its efforts to improve and facilitate the training of
future archivists as well as provide continuing education opportunities to
those currently engaged in the profession. In 1994 they established standards
and curriculum guidelines for archival education in graduate school programs,
including a Masters Degree in Archival Studies (MAS), where no such programs
had previously existed. Overview committees constantly monitor the educational
programs and support materials the SAA offers in order to ensure their quality
and effectiveness. Workshops, ranging from beginning level to advanced courses,
are presented at various sites around the country, including such topics
as "Sound and Light: Administration of Sound Recording and Moving Image
Materials in Archives," "Digital Imaging Technology," and "Cyberspace
for Archivists." The SAA's annual meeting alone typically presents more
than 85 such educational sessions, seminars, and topical workshops. And the
SAA acts as a distributor for more than 120 quality books and publications
of specific interest to archivists, as well as publishing its own valuable
series of books, pamphlets, and manuals.
Moreover, as new interactive technologies continue to expand the nature
and scope of communication and the exchange of information, the SAA is poised
at the forefront of the electronic frontier, helping to establish the new
criteria and methodology necessary for the creation, retrieval, preservation,
and accessibility of computer records and less formal documents alike. With
the advent of CD-ROM storage and distribution of records, plus on-line libraries
and archival collections exemplified by the Library of Congress' National
Digital Library website on the Internet, there is a greater opportunity for
public and private use of archival material than ever before. The SAA, independent
of government ties and commercial constraints, is in position to represent
the best interests of both the caretakers of such material, the archivists,
and those who stand to benefit most from its availability, the public. To
promote increased public access and accommodate its members' needs, the SAA
has developed its own web page on the Internet, and its work with libraries,
organizations, and institutions to explore and expand the potential for all
types of electronic archives will continue well on into the 21st century.
PUBLICATIONS
The SAA has published numerous books and pamphlets on various archival topics,
most importantly, the Archival Fundamental Series—seven titles which
provide a foundation for modern archival theory and practice. These volumes
are intended to strengthen and augment the knowledge and skills of archivists,
general practitioners, and specialists, who are performing a wide range of
duties in all types of archival and manuscript repositories. This series,
along with other SAA-produced publications and over 100 related titles from
other publishers, is available through the SAA, and listed in their annual Professional
Resources catalogue.
In addition, the SAA regularly publishes several periodicals to keep their
members informed on topics of vital concern. They are:
The American Archivist
As journal of record for the SAA, The American Archivist provides
a forum for North American archival professionals to discuss trends and
issues in archival theory and practice both in the United States and
abroad through essays, case studies, in-depth perspectives, and reviews
of recent books.
Archival Outlook
The SAA's bi-monthly newsletter/magazine updates members on SAA business
and the work of its Council, committees, and task forces. It also reports
on national, regional, and international news about individual members
and the archival profession.
Various Sectional Newsletters
These newsletters update and report upon the work of the separate SAA
Sections.
SAA Directory of Individual Members
The listing of names, institutional affiliations, telephone, fax, and
e-mail numbers of SAA members. Geographic listings and an index of members
by employment as well as a membership roster for SAA Sections are included.
SAA Directory of Archival Education
A bi-annual listing of graduate and continuing archival education in
the U.S. and Canada.
SAA Employment Bulletin
Keeps members abreast of employment opportunities nationwide.
THE FUTURE
Time present and time past
are both perhaps present in time future.
And time future contained in time past.
—T.S. Eliot
The course of life does not change arbitrarily, it evolves. Innovations
do not occur in a vacuum, but are informed by an awareness of the past and
inspired by a vision of the future. The role of the archivist has evolved
dramatically during the 20th century, due to an expanded awareness of the
value of documents and materials, a growth in the diversification of subjects
requiring archival administration, advances in technologies, and an ever-increasing
demand for information of all kinds. Along the way, new categories of data
and types of storage offer new problems to be solved, questions to be answered.
If the majority of mankind's collective knowledge is to become computerized—or
eventually redefined by some technology not yet known—how will this
effect our access to and understanding of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle
that forms the complete picture of our civilization? After all, aren't computers
merely another kind of storage container for documents, in some sense no
different from those "air-tight metallic containers" used in Ohio
in the early 1800s? Or do they offer a fundamental challenge to the way we
work, think, and relate to one another?
In 1950, Waldo Gifford Leland wrote in The American Archivist, "The
ultimate purpose of the preservation and efficient administration of public
records goes far beyond the improvement of administrative processes and the
facilitation of the public business. The ultimate purpose is to make it possible
for our present generation to have enduring and dependable knowledge of its
past, and for future generations to have such knowledge of their past, of
which our present is a part... It is in the high ideals and purposes of scholarship
and in its concern for the public good that the archivist must find...motives
and seek...inspiration."
The Society of American Archivists
17 North State Street, Suite 1425
Chicago IL 60602-3315
tel 312/606-0722
fax 312/606-0728
toll-free 866/SAA-7858
info [at] archivists.org
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