J. L. Cranston, Esq.
Cranston, Cranston, Jones, and Cranston Legal Associates
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Dear Sir/Ms.,

        I regret to inform you that your Great Aunt Nellie passed away several weeks ago while on a skiing excursion in Colorado.  She was 91 years old - and probably shouldn't have been skiing, considering her bad eyesight and her drinking habit.
        In any case, it appears from conversations with other family members that Nellie was not particularly liked, that she may have been abit insane, and that, for whatever reason, you were her favorite niece/nephew.  This last supposition seems borne out by the fact that you are the only person named in her will.  She did not have a dime to hername at the time of her death, nor did she have any insurance.  In other words, her estate consisted of personal belongings only.  Most of these have been sold, on the authority of the attorney who was named executor of the estate, in order to cover her debts.  What you are left with as sole beneficiary are several boxes of Nellie's personal papers and memorabilia. I would like to hear from you how you would like these materials organized before we pack them up and ship them to your home.  Please advise.

       These papers, etc., consist of the following:

01) bank statements, dated 1937-99
02) Birthday cards, undated
03) cable bills, dated 1997-99
04) canceled checks, dated 1937-99
05) Christmas cards, undated
06) collection of porcelain figurines (39)
07) decks of cards (23)
08) diaries (18), dated 1940-1957
09) drawings, all still-lifes in charcoal, signed by Nellie but undated10) electric bills, dated 1972-99
11) last will and testament of George, dated 1943
12) last will and testament of Clyde, dated 1972
13) last will and testament of Robert, dated 1954
14) legal papers (re: divorce from Richard), dated 1961
15) letters from Richard, third husband, dated 1958-9
16) letters from George, first husband, dated 1942-3
17) letters from Robert, second husband, dated 1949-50
18) lottery tickets (5 boxes), dated 1972-99
19) newsletters from the local Women's Auxiliary, dated 1973-99
20) phone bills, dated 1972-99
21) photo album, dated 1956-78
22) photo album, dated 1941-55
23) photographs (2 boxes), loose, unlabeled and undated
24) postcards (173), unaddressed and undated
25) postcards from Robert (after he was sent to prison), dated 1951-4
26) scrapbook of newspaper clippings, dated 1963-75
27) scrapbooks of personal items, unlabeled and undated
28) telegram from US government (re: George killed in combat), dated 1943
29) telegrams from Richard (asking for money while on a trip with poker buddies), dated 1961
30) wedding photo album, dated 1940

From: President of the Company

To: Company Lackey #2

Re: New Job Assignment

As I am totally ignorant about what your purpose is with this company, and as I have some new ideas for the company but no money with which to implement them, I have decided to name you as my first volunteer to undertake a project of my own design for which you will be minimally
compensated, at best.  No matter what it was you used to do for this company, I fell certain you will not be missed.  I think you will findyour new project to be rather simple and straightforward.  I would like you to organize the company's records, a task which has never been attempted in our entire history.
Company Lackey #1 has been to our records storage facility and compiled a list of the boxes of materials found there.  You are charged with organizing these materials in a professional, yet cost-effective, manner which will be coherent and comprehensible to all other employees of the company.  Enjoy your new assignment.

As inventoried by Company Lackey #1, these are the materials you are to
organize:

01 - ashtrays with the company logo (2 boxes), undated
02 - blueprints for manufacturing facility (17 large rolls), dated 1926 (7) and 1957 (10)
03 - deeds (8) for lands purchased for the company (folded and stored in 2 large boxes), 1925-53
04 - employee accident insurance policies (9 boxes), 1957-86
05 - financial ledgers (109 bound volumes), 1927-8406 - hiring records (7 boxes), 1942-97
07 - letters to the President of the company (3 boxes), 1926-92
08 - letters from the President of the company to sales executives (1 box), 1957-1993
09 - marketing reports (2 boxes), 1957-88
10 - memos from the President to the Chief Financial Officer (1 box), 1961-92
11 - memos from the Vice-President for Marketing to the President of the company(1 box), 1958-77
12 - menus from the company cafeteria (2 boxes), undated
13 - minutes of the President's Committee on Company Advancement (25 boxes), 1977-93
14 - notebooks titled "Research for Product Design Improvements" (732 bound volumes), 1931-78
15 - orders for raw materials from the Manufacturing Division (14 boxes), 1957-89
16 - payment vouchers (10 boxes), 1929-78
17 - photographs of company picnic, taken by the secretary to the President (1 small box), 1989
18 - product distribution reports (2 boxes), 1956-91
19 - external orders for various company products (4 boxes), 1965-1982
20 - receipts (9 boxes), 1955-78
21 - records of employee disciplinary proceedings (6 boxes), 1929-84
22 - reports from the Head of the Manufacturing Division (2 boxes), 1957-90
23 - reports from the Research and Development Division (16 boxes), 1936-79
24 - salary records (4 boxes), 1929-86
25 - sales reports (3 boxes), 1956-91
26 - scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings of advertisements (5 bound volumes), 1947-82
27 - scrapbooks containing magazine clippings of advertisements (2 bound volumes), 1953-80
28 - T-shirts with the company logo (3 boxes), undated
29 - video of the company picnic (1 VHS tape), 1989
30 - videos of television commercial advertisements (3 VHS tapes), 1984-95

Ham, F. Gerald, et al.
"Is the Past Still Prologue?: History and Archival Education," American Archivist 56 (1993): 718-729.

I. Trend in recent decades of archivists having less historical training and background

        A. More archivists are trained in library schools and receive MLS

        B. More technological knowledge is needed to perform the job of archivist

        C. Changing expectations of employers regarding what archivist should know

        D. Narrowing definition of the profession, increasingly distinct from librarians and historians

II. Archivist and the unique skills needed to perform archival work

        A. Knowledge of record creators

        B. Knowledge of record content

        C. Knowledge of record users and uses

        D. Knowledge of archival theory and practice

III. Archivist and the historical methods skills which enhance the ability to perform archival work

        A. Ability to frame historical questions

        B. Ability to identify valuable sources

        C. Ability to evaluate sources

        D. Ability to apply historiographical context

IV. Archivist and the historical knowledge which is valuable to perform archival work

        A. Core historical knowledge

                1. Broad based knowledge, national and/or international

                2. Specific knowledge relating to repository holdings

        B. Interdisciplinary understanding of human culture

                1. Organizational structures and their development

                2. Technology and recordkeeping

I. Reasons for cooperation between archivists and historians

        A. Shared past - linked development in the early 20th century

        B. Common challenges regarding a redefinition of the pursuit of history
                1. New opinions regarding what is important to study
                2. Greater care taken with the evaluation of sources
                3. New forms of record media being utilized as sources
                4. Greater volume of sources
                5. Greater specialization, and thus professional isolation

II. Challenges to the current teaching of research skills

        A. Core understanding of basic needs requires reexamination and redefinition

        B. Need to involve information professionals in the teaching process

III. Necessary research skills for historians (to be taught, in part, by archivists)

        A. Developing a research strategy

        B. Understanding the basic archival principles and practices

        C. Understanding the value of archival principles when locating evidence

        D. Understanding the nature and uses of archival evidence

IV. Strategies for developing research skills are currently varied

V. Means of professional cooperation

        A. Joint ventures in educating and training new professionals of both fields

        B. Joint efforts to preserve endangered records

        C. Joint efforts to make records more accessible

        D. Joint efforts to establish formal organizations to support  interaction and cooperation

I. Manuscript collection types

        A. "Archives" of a person, family, or organization

        B. Artificial collections gathered on a subject without regard for the origins of the records

        C. Individual manuscripts acquired to support other collections or particular research

II. Manuscript collections

        A. Representative of collecting interests of repository

        B. Require "initial control" (i.e. accessioning, inventorying, "preserving")

        C. Require processing

                1. Arrangement - to provide rational ordering

                        a. Five levels of ordering

                                 i. Repository
                                 ii. Collection
                                 iii. Series
                                iv. File unit
                                 v. Document

                        b. Divisions of ordering

                                i. Type of material (generic grouping)
                                ii. Chronologically
                               iii. Alphabetically
                                iv. Blend of any of the above

                2. Preservation - to secure condition of materials for posterity

                3. Screening - to comply with donor wishes to restrict sensitive materials

                4.Description - to establish intellectual control through finding aids

                        a. Necessary for easier access
                        b. Necessary at different levels of detail depending on value and expected use

Thibodeau, Sharon Gibbs.
"Archival Arrangement and Description." In Managing Archives and Archival Institutions, ed. James Gregory Bradsher, 67-77.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Paperback, 1991.

I. Arrangement - necessary for ease of access and to preserve record context

        A. Provenance - respect des fonds

                1. Preserve the integrity ("wholeness") of the source of a body of records

                2. Preserve the identity (or identities) of the source of a body of records

        B. Original Order - respect pour l'ordre primitif

                1. Preserve original filing scheme

                        a. more efficient for creators - know their own system

                        b. more efficient for archivists - need not spend time to create new system

                        c. better for researchers - "evidence" as well as "information" revealed

II. Description - necessary for ease of access and to aid reference

        A. Describe to the level necessary for effective research use

        B. Basic information to include as aids to researchers

                1. Title phrase

                2. Dates (bulk or inclusive)

                3. Quantity/volume of records

                4. Physical arrangement of records

                5. Summary of content of records

III. Access tools

        A. Inventory - used at record group level

        B. Guide - subject-oriented "pointer"

        C. List - pre-gathered information ("leads") on a chosen subject

        D. Index - used independently, or in conjunction with any of the above