This in-person course provides an in-depth exploration of the archival principles of Appraisal, Arrangement, and Access. The key principles of this course represent the hierarchy of archival practice: access to archives is dependent on the description of archives, which in turn is dependent on the arrangement of archives. Before arrangement is archival appraisal, which represents the archivist’s foundational intervention into the process of records management and disposition. The nature of the archival record is shaped by these processes, and by extension, our relationship with history and the past. We will look closely at this process of shaping the archival record that takes place in the archive.

Within a practical and theoretical framework students will consider how recent advances in technology provide opportunities for more dynamic and interactive tools for archival access. Key concepts covered will include: the construction of archival finding aids, including content standards; the emergence of digital archives, including open-source software and metadata schemes; and modes of digital description, access, and repository management.

I’m Caitlin Colban-Waldron (she/her), please call me Caitlin! I’m an archivist at Queens College and an archives instructor in the Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies.