ARST 515

ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION OF ARCHIVES

PREREQUISITES:

MAS and Dual students take this as part of the MAS core.

Core courses in the MAS program can only be taken by students registered in the MAS program.

GOAL: the goal of this course is to provide students with the fundamental theoretical and methodological knowledge needed for the arrangement and description of archival documents.

OBJECTIVES:

Upon completion of this course students will be able to:

• Demonstrate understanding of the characteristics of aggregations of archival documents and their interrelationships. [1.2, 2.1 5.1]*
• Demonstrate understanding of the principles underlying the arrangement of archival documents and their historical evolution. [1.2, 2.1, 5.1]*
• Undertake the systematic identification and critical evaluation of an archival aggregation and its parts. [1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 5.1]*
• Demonstrate understanding of the principles and methods of archival description, and apply these according to standards adopted by the archival community. [1.1., 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 5.1]*
• Demonstrate understanding of the principles and methods of establishing name access points to archival descriptions according to standards adopted by the archival community. [1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 5.1]*

* Course objectives are stated in terms of student learning outcomes and reference the iSchool Statement on Graduate Competencies.

CONTENT:

• The nature of archival aggregations.
• The principles of provenance, respect des fonds and respect for original order.
• The concept of fonds, series, file, and item.
• The analysis of the internal and external structure of a fonds.
• Types of finding aids.
• Principles and assumptions underlying the development of archival descriptive standards.
• The structure, content and application of the Association of the Bureau of Canadian Archivists’ Rules for Archival Description, Parts I and II