Modern Literary Fonds: Split by Principle

Pavia Workshop 28 February 2013 Michael Forstrom Manuscript Unit, Beinecke Library

Principles

The principle of respect des fonds is the basis of archival arrangement and description (Describing Archives: A Content Standard, 2004): "The records created, assembled, accumulated, and/or maintained and used by an organization or individual must be kept together... in their original order, if such order exists or has been maintained... This dictum is the natural and logical consequence of the organic nature of archival materials" (DACS, xii).

History

• Early formulation of respect des fonds, Natalis de Wailly, "Circulaire du 16 April 1841" • • Refinement of the principle by German archivists (1881) Dutch Manual of Arrangement and Description of Archives • (1898) International congress of librarians and archivists in Brussels in 1910 • • Dissemination of Dutch Manual through translation Developments in the U.S.

• Rediscovery of idea of fonds in 1970s-80s

Challenges

• Defining the fonds in modern archives • • Provenance versus original order Applying original order to the fonds of individuals and to • • electronic/digital records Principles or methodologies?

Alternatives to the fonds: record groups, archival groups, collections, etc.

Types of split fonds

• Split between different collecting repositories • • Split between fonds and what survives Split by collecting strategy or agreement • • • Split between early portion of papers and creator Split by relocation and change in custody Split between portion of papers and component in private hands • Split by provenance: papers versus artificial collection

Types of split fonds (continued)

• Split by accession(s) • • Split within institutions Split between personal, professional, and family papers • • • Split between papers and media Split between papers and born-digital Split by reproduction • Split between collection(s) and national interest

Description Standards

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Data content: DACS RAD2 ISAD(G) ISAAR(CPF)

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Data structure EAD EAC(CPF)

Associated Materials

Printed material received with the collection was removed for separate cataloging and can be accessed by searching the library's online catalog. The Lockwood Memorial Library at the State University of New York at Buffalo also houses Williams papers.

Associated Materials (continued)

Yale University's Beinecke Library holds a major deposit of William Carlos Williams' papers. Among its ninety-four-box Williams collection are three boxes of John Thirlwall's research materials for The Selected Letters of William Carlos Williams. A second major collection of Williams' manuscripts and correspondence is housed in the Poetry Collection at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. Drafts of Williams' Paterson are split between these two collections, with materials for Books I and II at Buffalo, and materials for Books III-V at Yale. Smaller Williams collections are held at the University of Delaware, the University of Virginia, and Indiana University's Lilly Library.

Discovery

• Description Local/institutional finding aid databases Regional databases ArchiveGrid Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC) • Projects Location registers Digitization Digital Humanities projects Scholarly editing projects

References

• Becker, Devin and Collier Nogues. "Saving-Over, Over-Saving, and the Future Mess of Writers' Digital Archives..." American • Archivist 75 (Fall/Winter 2012) Cook, Terry. "The Concept of the Archival Fonds: Theory, • Description and Provenance in the Post-Custodial Era," in Terry Eastwood (eds.) The Archival Fonds (1992) Duchein, Michel. "Theoretical Principles and Practical Problems • of Respect des Fonds in Archival Science." Archivaria 16 (Summer 1983) Horsman, Peter. "The Last Dance of the Phoenix, or the Re Discovery of the Archival Fonds." Archivaria 54 (Fall 2002)

References (continued)

• Lee, Cal. "Collecting the Externalized Me: Appraisal of Materials in the Social Web," in Cal Lee (ed.) I, Digital (2011) • Millar, Laura. "The Death of the Fonds and the Resurrection of Provenance: Archival Context in Space and Time." Archivaria 53 • (Spring 2002) Schellenberg, Theodore. Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques (1956) • Yeo, Geoffrey. "The Conceptual Fonds and the Physical Collection," Archivaria 73 (Spring 2012) • Yeo, Geoffrey. "Bringing This Together: Aggregate Records in a Digital Age," Archivaria 74 (Fall 2012)