Archival Principles of Arrangement

Abstract

ALL classification or arrangement work involves a breakdown /-k of a whole into its parts.This can easily be illustrated bylooking at what is done while classifying in the physical sciences.In biology, for example, a specimen is dissected in order to classify it; in chemistry a compound substance is separated into its constituents in order to identify it; and the same method is followed in all other physical sciences.The very process of analysis is one of separating anything, whether an object of the senses or of the intellect, into its parts.By this process it is possible to distinguish each of the parts, separately, and to understand their relation to each other and to the whole.The same is also true in the social sciences and in the professions dealing with the materials of social sciences.In arranging a group or collection an archivist should obtain a general knowledge of its meaning or essential nature and its structure before proceeding to deal with its parts.The arrangement, in a word, should proceed from an understanding of the whole group or collection; it should not be separated on a piecemeal basis.This fact has been ably stressed by Ellen Jackson in an excellent article on "Manuscript Collections in the General Library" in the April 1942 issue of the Library Quarterly:It is worse than useless-it is extremely dangerous-to try to arrange any portion of a collection without a considerable familiarity with the whole.Even if the papers appear to be completely disordered, breaking up an old file may destroy a clue vital to the nature and original condition of the whole collection.The librarian or assistant who is to handle it can do no better at the start of work than to sit down and begin exploring, like an archaeologist digging in a prehistoric rubbish heap, not looking for anything in particular, but alert for *The author of Modern Archives; Principles and Techniques (Chicago, 1956), is well known to our readers.Dr. Schellenberg, a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists, is Assistant Archivist of the United States for the National Archives.

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