3. Archival Materials: A Practical Definition
Archival materials are information objects that serve as evidence of past events. They act as a memory aid or as a proxy for those events by recording information about them which can be recalled at some point in the future. The archival materials are used to re-experience those events or to re-communicate information about them.
Note that the archival materials themselves are not memories but instead aid in the recall of past experiences or communications. Archives do not store memory. But they offer the possibility to create memory. Their function is that of amnesia prevention. Also, archival materials can only act as a memory aid for a person that was present or participating in the past event, by providing information that allows them to remember it. If the person was not present, archival materials can act as a proxy for the event by communicating information which allows the person to experience specific details or characteristics of the event. Proxy is the power or agency to act as a substitute or replacement for someone or something.
For example, a person may not have been present at U2’s live performance of ‘Gloria’ at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on June 5, 1983 or the 1988 European Championship Final between The Netherlands and The Soviet Union in Munich, Germany. However, they are able to access and use recordings (i.e. archival materials) as a proxy that allows them to experience those events, as if they were there. As explained further below, the fact that these recordings may have been copied, published and sold for wider distribution does not exclude them from the broad category of archival materials as defined here.
Of course, the proxy is only able to communicate a limited set of details and characteristics about the event. It is not the event itself. By listening to an audio recording of ’Gloria’ I can hear the music that was played on that day in the Colorado amphitheatre but I cannot see the expression on the band members face or feel the sway of the crowd as it moves masse to beat of the music. In fact, even for someone present at that concert, listening to a recording at a later time will never replace the actual event. The archival materials can only act as a memory aid or as a proxy for the event.
Perhaps one exception to this rule is what Diplomatic calls ‘dispositive documents’ where the moment of an action and the moment of its documentation are “simultaneous and indistinguishable other than conceptually (for example, a sale takes place when and only when a contract of sale is completed), to the point that, in positive law, dispositive documents are actually called ‘acts’.” In this example the document and a very specific juridical act are one and the same. However, the actual event of drafting and signing the sale contract happened in a particular place, at a particular time. The participants in that event will have memories of the details and characteristics of that particular place and time which are far richer than the content, structure or context of the sale contract document can reveal.
Therefore, the term event is used broadly here to mean any type of activity or occurrence, including the signing of sale contract, performance of a song, or the playing of a soccer match. An event can range from a single transaction (e.g. the purchase of a magazine at a bookstore) to any number of inter-related acts (e.g. all the steps involved in ordering, paying, packaging and shipping magazines to a bookstore). It may include a grand and long event such as a war, an election or an opera performance. It can include structured events such as a purchase invoicing procedure, a driver’s license application or a school exam. It may also include unstructured, isolated acts such as a spontaneous dance move or the unsolicited expression of an abstract idea.
Although archival materials deal predominantly with human activity, they can also include information related to natural events, such as video footage of a volcano eruption or a biologist’s field notes detailing the behaviour of a group of animals. In the end, the primary purpose is still to communicate information about the event back to oneself or to other humans. At least one human has to be engaged in information processing for interactivity [i.e. an internal process of deriving meaning from information] to take place…Any number of other agents [e.g. archival materials] also can be part of the process and may speak from both temporal and physical distance.
Archival materials are the basis for organizational knowledge, legal evidence, historical research, as well as personal and collective memory. Archival materials can include a spreadsheet illustrating monthly sales, a contract that is introduced in a court proceeding, the correspondence of a famous author, family photograph albums, or an audio recording of someone’s first violin recital. Other common terms in the English language that are used for archival materials include historical documents, archives, or records.
Most academic and professional definitions of records and archives focus primarily on their relationship to business processes or transactions and their subsequent role as evidence of those events. See, for example, the following representative examples:
“A record is recorded information produced or received in the initiation, conduct or completion of an institutional or individual activity and that comprises content, context and structure sufficient to provide evidence of the activity.” – ICA Committee on Electronic Records
“Record – information created, received, and maintained as evidence and information by an organization or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the transaction of business.” – ISO 15489-1 Records Management
“A document created or received by a physical or juridical person in the course of a practical activity.” – Diplomatic: New Uses for an Old Science
“Archives are process-bound information, that is to say: information that is generated by and bound to work processes.” – Even Korte Introductive in de Archivist
These definitions typically differentiate between those documents that are strongly bound to business processes and those that are merely considered to be drafts, supporting documents, or incidental information. However, a broader, more inclusive definition is needed to account for the wide variety of otherwise non-record materials that end up, quite regularly, in archival collections, whether for traditional record-keeping purposes or because archivists, donors or researchers have found the materials to be useful, interesting or otherwise worthy of preserving.
Archival materials are therefore defined broadly here as objects in any form that record information which is preserved for future access and use as a memory aid or proxy for a past event. Where this definition differs from more traditional ones is that the focus is not on the process or transaction that created the information object but rather on the fact that it is intentionally being preserved to be accessed and used at some point in the future. In short, this definition is access-based rather than evidence-based, saying that the use of archives is the only reason for their existence.
For this reason, the more generic term ‘materials’ is used here instead of ‘records’ or ‘archives’, thereby intentionally avoiding some of the theoretical baggage that these latter terms carry. Interestingly, the term ‘archival materials’ is used throughout the International Council on Archives’ International Standard Archival Description (General) to identify the object of archival description. However, it is not actually defined in the accompanying glossary while ‘document’ and ‘record’ are.
‘Materials’ can be defined as
“1. the elements, constituents, or substances of which something is composed or can be made
2. matter that has qualities which give it individuality and by which it may be categorized.
In this case, it is the matter or elements of which archival information objects are composed.
In turn, ‘archival’ is used in this definition as an adjective that simply implies storage and preservation for future access. As is understood, for example, in the concept of the ‘archival function’ which is defined by the International Council on Archives as “that group of related activities contributing to, and necessary for accomplishing the goals of, identifying, safeguarding and preserving archival records, and ensuring that such records are accessible and understandable.”
The intentional preservation of the information object is an important part of this definition. It implies that the long-term value of the information object has been recognized and that steps, however minimal, have been taken to maintain and protect it. This is typically done by collecting and grouping related information objects together into an archival collection that is stored for safe-keeping in a designated storage container and repository, regardless of whether that is a photo album on a bookshelf in the family study or acid-free boxes in a climate-controlled vault. When something is preserved, intentional action is taken to protect and maintain it over the long-term.
Note that ‘Long-term’ is an approximate concept and can be a relatively short period of time, particularly in the preservation of digital information objects. For example, when dealing with the concept of long-term for the purpose of digital preservation, the ISO Open Archival Information System (OAIS) defines it as “a period of time long enough for there to be concern about the impacts of changing technologies, including support for new media and data formats, and of a changing user community, on the information being held in a repository. This period extends into the indefinite future.” Most generations of information technologies have a maximum lifespan of five years; therefore, this length of time is typically used as a baseline in the field of digital preservation. Due to the complexity of preserving digital information, this has also led to the oft-quoted, cynical observation that “digital information lasts forever—or five years, whichever comes first.”
The other critical criteria in the definition for archival materials that is presented here is the intention to provide access to the archival materials at some point in the future. Putting pictures into a shoebox and throwing it into some dark corner of the attic may, in some very minimal way, preserve them over time. However, there is no obvious intention to provide access to the photographs as might be the case if they were inserted chronologically into photo albums and put on an easily accessible bookshelf somewhere in the home. Therefore, access is defined as “the ability to identify relevant archival materials and locate them for retrieval.”
Therefore, the baseline criteria to determine if something qualifies as archival materials according to the definition presented here is:
· It is an object that records information.
· It can be used at some point in the future as a memory aid or proxy for an event.
· It is preserved.
· It is made available for future access.
Furthermore, the definition provided here does not recognize the traditional distinction between information objects that have been published (such as books, audio recordings, video recordings, etc.) and unpublished records or archives (such as the drafts and notes used by the author to write a book). The definition of archival materials provided here is focused primarily on the ability of information to serve as a memory aid or proxy and not specifically as authentic evidence of a transaction or business process. It is also not concerned with the number of copies or manifestations of the information which may have been created and distributed. Likewise, it is not concerned with determining if the creator of the information intended to keep it private or public. All of these assumptions serve to establish archival materials as a broad super-set of information objects which may include both records and published materials as sub-sets. For example, this argument implies that a ‘library’ is a type of archival collection that consists of predominately published materials.
The rationale is to provide a practical, inclusive definition that reflects the reality of current archives systems that provide access, for example, to collections of published and mass-produced newspapers, pamphlets, programmes, brochures, postcards and posters alongside collections of personal papers and business records.