Abstract
Institutional archives with community documentation missions face problems of limited resources and community resistance in developing collections. Inspired by field experience and archival literature, the authors propose one possible solution that can be a stand-alone project or an adjunct to traditional collection development. Their distributed archives model envisions one-on-one partnerships between institutional archives and community partners to share authority over appraisal and selection while leaving custody of community collections with their creators. Institutional partners provide leadership, mentoring, and support, while community partners appraise, select, process, arrange, and describe. This article describes the distributed archives model, examines its advantages and disadvantages, and discusses it in relationship with an increased awareness of social justice concerns in archives, postcustodialism, and shared authority over appraisal between community collection creators and archivists.
Highlights
Archives that serve institutions like colleges, universities, and historical societies frequently develop and acquire collections from their local communities; even those with a strong community collecting mission encounter problems
Because some community members may be reluctant to entrust their historical materials to institutional archives, their collections are potentially lost to future researchers
Dothan has a number of entities and individuals who collect their own records and historical materials from the community, the closest professionally staffed archives are in Thomasville, Georgia (93 miles away); Tallahassee, Florida (104 miles); and Montgomery, Alabama (107 miles)
Summary
Archives that serve institutions like colleges, universities, and historical societies frequently develop and acquire collections from their local communities; even those with a strong community collecting mission encounter problems. Because some community members may be reluctant to entrust their historical materials to institutional archives, their collections are potentially lost to future researchers Some solutions to these two problems lead to a third problem concerning how archivists conceive of their profession. The goal of the distributed archives model is to identify, preserve, and make available community collections that might otherwise remain unknown and to overcome community reluctance to work with institutional archives. It is designed for small institutional repositories that have little support or funding for outreach. Though still speculative and only partially tested, the distributed archives model offers one way for small institutional archives to more thoroughly and equitably document the communities they serve
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
