The Archival Back Burner: Manuscript Collections and the National Archives
Title:
The Archival Back Burner: Manuscript Collections and the National Archives
Author:
Purcell, Aaron D.
Appeared in:
Journal of archival organization
Paging:
Volume 2 (2005) nr. 4 pages 53-66
Year:
2005-05-27
Contents:
Greater access to archival materials remains a significant challenge to archivists, librarians, and researchers. In addition to official records documenting governmental activities and agencies, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has significant collections of donated personal papers. Some are processed, some are in the backlog, but nearly all of the non-Presidential Library manuscript collections are inaccessible. This essay reviews the history and some of the contents of the former Record Group 200: Records of the National Archives Gift Collection, as an example of the importance of hidden material at NARA. After a contextual history of the agency and the creation of this forgotten record group, this article describes ten manuscript collections from the former RG 200 to demonstrate not only the research potential of each but show the varied nature of these materials. This study reveals the importance of access, description, and reevaluation when archivists deal with back burner collections.
Journal description