Archiwistyka, archiwa i archiwalia w wybranych współczesnych podręcznikach do nauczania historii

Abstract

The article aims to determine whether content related to archives, archival records and archival science appears in history textbooks. The author was analysing the textbooks for primary, lower-secondary and secondary schools included in the list of the Ministry of Education of 2012. Archives appear occasionally in the narrative part of history textbooks. They are relatively common in publications addressed to primary schools. Nine out of eleven analysed textbooks for primary schools included such information. Archives and archival content are found almost exclusively in the textbooks for four-grade classes in the chapters about history as a science and historical source and relics. There, archives are presented as institutions collecting and storing historical sources. The functions of arranging records and enabling access to them were few and far between. It is striking that all textbooks emphasize the role of museums, open-air museums, archeological excavations and oral history for historical research. If archives appear in history textbooks, they are presented rather in the background. The authors of several textbooks took care to provide information on ancillary historical disciplines, always excluding archival science. In nine analysed textbooks for lower-secondary schools, archives are completely absent. When discussing historical sources, textbooks for the first grades emphasize the role of archeology and museum relics. Authors omitted archival science during describing the ancillary historical disciplines. Only one textbook for secondary schools included information about archives and highlighted their role in historical research.