Archival Resources Research Articles

Finding Lily F. Whaite: Exploring Victorian Women Artists’ Experiences through Practice-Led Research

Henry Clarence Whaite (1828-1912) was an English artist, drawn to North Wales by his desire to paint the landscape, becoming part of a burgeoning arts scene based around Betws-y-Coed. Lily F. Whaite (1876-1959), his daughter, was an artist in her own right and one of the founding members of the first women's arts group in Wales, the Gwynedd Ladies’ Arts Society. The archive of H. Clarence and Lily F. Whaite, located at the National Library of Wales, is extensive in nature and includes a number of photographs, sketches, personal papers, and, crucially, personal letters among father, daughter, and Jane Alice Whaite (1836-1906), Lily's mother. Of particular interest for this examination are Lily Whaite's letters, spanning her preteens until her 30s, which pay heed to the life of a female artist in Wales. The letters (and the wider archive) form an impression of the life of a woman artist active in both local and national artist circles, her experiences living in Wales and other parts of the United Kingdom, and her relationships with family and other artists, and in this regard, the archive represents a key uncovering. In this article, I explore the opportunities presented by existing archival resources related to established and renowned men to shed light on underrepresented voices: those of Victorian women artists, including Lily F. Whaite.

Unreliable Accounts: How Regulators Fabricate Conceptual Narratives to Diffuse Criticism

In 2010, the U.S. accounting rulemaker (FASB) updated its longstanding constitution to eliminate “reliability” as a fundamental accounting property. FASB argued that “reliability” was misunderstood in practice and that this amendment clarified its original intent. Drawing on primary archival resources and field interviews with regulators, I provide evidence that the change also sought to legitimize the rise of fair-value accounting. By eliminating the need for accounting to be “reliable,” the change attempted to neutralize concerns about the subjectivity in fair-value estimates. Such subjectivity can facilitate accounting manipulation, and some fair-value rules can be attributed to lobbying by managers who stand to benefit. The change illustrates “conceptual veiling,” wherein regulators, seeking to diffuse criticism, including suspicions of capture, manufacture costly conceptual narratives for their actions.

Alfred J. Kohlberg and the Chaoshan embroidered handkerchief industry, 1922-1957

PurposeThis scholarly work aims to investigate the business career of Alfred J. Kohlberg, an American importer of hand-embroidered handkerchiefs in 1922-1957.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses archival resources from the National Archives, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, the Hoover Institution Archives, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Custom Courts records, Japanese Government records and other government documents.FindingsScholars have focused on how Kohlberg’s political activities paved the way for McCarthyism. The sources of his vast wealth have not received attention. Kohlberg parlayed a 1922 trip to Asia into a highly lucrative importing business specializing in Chinese napery. By 1930, he mostly imported hand-embroidered handkerchiefs for sale in upscale American department stores. He employed as many 12,000 people in his Shantou godown and contracted for the employment of at least 100,000 embroiderers and perhaps many hundreds of thousands more. Despite American Government policy and the wishes of other importers, Japanese occupation authority documents show that Kohlberg negotiated a bribe to keep the port open. This paper concludes that Kohlberg’s business reflected traditional Chinese business organization. While he stressed his patriotic activities during the Second World War, Kohlberg promoted his business interest over the national interest. Finally, the Chaoshan Region prospered by providing the modern world with traditional hand-produced goods.Research limitations/implicationsThis work explains how the Chaoshan Region functioned in the global economy. It calls for a deeper examination of this entire industry in China and around the world.Originality/valueThis work uses documents from multiple archives, including Japan and the USA. It also includes declassified documents from the Federal Bureau Investigation. This work constitutes a template for international business history.

From Myth to Reality: Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac and Serbian Church Music

In this paper, we will focus on the historical reconstruction of Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac’s work in the field of melography and pedagogy of Serbian church chant. Since the prestigious status he reached among his contemporaries, as well as musicologists and music historians of the recent past, both as a melographer and expert in Serbian church chant of his time, has rarely been questioned or objectively approached, we decided to reconsider some of the dominant interpretations of his activities in this domain. For that purpose, we conducted a thorough research of archival resources and press material from the late 19th century onward aiming at a critical examination of Mokranjac’s role in the popularization of concepts of the Karlovac and Belgrade church chant styles, his undertakings in the documentation of monophonic church chants, and, finally, his approach to the teaching of chant singing in Saint Sava’s Seminary. We will underline the discrepancy between the created image of Mokranjac as an indisputable authority in the field and historical data, which point to the significance of his symbolic (and social) capital in the process of gaining broader recognition.

Spuścizna pojezuicka w zasobach Centralnego Państwowego Archiwum Historycznego we Lwowie

W zasobach Państwowego Archiwum Historycznego Ukrainy we Lwowie źródła odnoszące się do jezuitów dotyczą różnych części Galicji, a w niektórych przypadkach także terenów poza jej granicami. Większość jednostek archiwalnych zawierających dokumenty z okresu kasat zakonu nie jest powszechnie znana, a niektóre z nich prawdopodobnie nigdy nie były wykorzystywane. Zaprezentowane w artykule dokumenty mogą zainteresować historyków sztuki, a także historyków kultury materialnej lub historyków medycyny. Część z nich może okazać się przydatna także w badaniach nad przed- i pokasatowym stanem posiadania jezuitów w zaborze austriackim i poza jego granicami. Szeroki zakres chronologiczny i bogactwo tego materiału prowadzą do wniosku, że dobrze odzwierciedla on kolejne etapy historii jezuickiej po rozwiązaniu zakonu w 1773 r. Wiele dokumentów dotyczy też okresu po jego przywróceniu w 1814 r. Jego delegalizacja w 1848 r. i droga do zniesienia jezuitów w 1853 r. są dobrze udokumentowane. Zachowane zasoby nie muszą być oczywiście w pełni niezawodne. Mogą również nie odzwierciedlać faktycznego stanu posiadania w okresie przed rozwiązaniem. Ważne jest to, że pozwalają przynajmniej na częściową rekonstrukcję wyposażenia kościołów, kolegiów, aptek lub klasztorów. Dokumenty te zawierają również listy mnichów i dyskusję na temat zapewnienia im środków utrzymania. Dzięki nim otrzymujemy także przestrzenny obraz ewolucji działek pojezuickich, stopniowo łączących się z modernizowanym w XIX w. organizmem miejskim.

Irish Catholics in Early Twentieth Century Ireland: The Case of the Macardle Brothers

Irish Catholics in Early Twentieth Century Ireland: The Case of the Macardle Brothers Desmond Gibney Introduction This article uses archival resources to recount the lives of two brothers from a prominent and wealthy Catholic family, the Macardles of Dundalk, during the first quarter of the twentieth century.1 This time span includes the First World War, the fight for Irish independence and the establishment of the Irish Free State. Sir Thomas Callan Macardle KBE (1856–1925) was a prominent businessman and played a leading role in civic life, during which he demonstrated his loyalty to the British crown. His younger brother Andrew Macardle SJ (1863–1942) was a Jesuit priest. The tradition of loyalty by Irish Catholics to the crown is an under-researched aspect of the social and political history of modern Ireland. One of the few examples is a study by Richard Keogh and James McConnel of the Esmondes, a prominent Catholic family in Wexford.2 A study by Fergus Campbell of what has been termed the ‘Irish establishment’ between the Land War and the First World War periods divided the establishment into six categories, including politics, business and the church.3 Using Campbell’s criteria, the Macardles could be regarded as part of that establishment. Context The prominence of the Macardle family centres on their ownership of a Dundalk brewery, Macardle Moore and Company, one of the few Irish breweries that has not of yet been the subject of an extensive published history. Macardles was regarded as one of Dundalk’s ‘oldest and most progressive industries’.4 Macardle’s Ale was first brewed in Dundalk in 1863 and continues to be produced by Diageo Ireland. Macardles brewery demonstrated strong family and business support for the First World War, and the firm’s letterhead described the company as ‘Irish Army Brewers, Contractors to H.M. Forces’. Macardles ‘did a very big trade in supplying Studies • volume 107 • number 426 199 ale to the British army […] and also exported to the troops in Liverpool and in the Mediterranean, and for this the brewery received wide recognition’.5 The contrasting paths taken by the two brothers, Thomas the brewer and his younger brother Andrew the Jesuit priest, whereby one became a wealthy businessman and the other took a vow of poverty as part of his priestly vocation, are illustrated by the value of their respective estates at time of death. Using Central Statistics Office (CSO) data,6 these amounts have been rebased to current (i.e. December 2017) values. When Thomas died in December 1925, his estate was worth approximately €2 million in current values; by contrast, when Andrew died in December 1942, his estate was worth approximately €200.7 Sir Thomas Callan Macardle KBE Thomas was director and chairman of the family brewery, Macardle Moore and Company. According to his entry in Who Was Who,8 he was also, among other roles, chairman of Dundalk and Newry Steampacket Company Limited, chairman of Dundalk Race Company Limited and president of Dundalk Chamber of Commerce. He also occupied three roles which were abolished on the creation of the Irish Free State: Deputy Lieutenant for Louth, High Sheriff for the county for 1917 and Justice of the Peace.9 In 1888, he married Minnie Lucy Ross, an Anglican who had converted to Catholicism before her marriage and whose father was a colonel in the Scots Guards. Thomas and Minnie had five children: sons Kenneth, John and Donald, and daughters Dorothy and Mona. Dorothy became a well-known writer and historian, bestknown for her The Irish Republic, first published in 1937.10 The five children grew up against a background of wealth and privilege, with the sons educated at boarding school in England (including the Jesuit-run Stonyhurst College) and the daughters at Alexandra College in Dublin.11 Further evidence of the standard of living in the Macardle family is provided by the 1901 census, when the household consisted of Thomas and Minnie and their five children, along with four domestic staff: a governess, a nurse, a maid and a servant.12 By the time of the 1911 census, Minnie had permanently relocated to London, while Thomas remained living in Dundalk and retained...

Options to Apply the IGSN Model to Biodiversity Data

For more than a decade, the biodiversity informatics community has recognised the importance of stable resolvable identifiers to enable unambiguous references to data objects and the associated concepts and entities, including museum/herbarium specimens and, more broadly, all records serving as evidence of species occurrence in time and space. Early efforts built on the Darwin Core institutionCode, collectionCode and catalogueNumber terms, treated as a triple and expected to uniquely to identify a specimen. Following review of current technologies for globally unique identifiers, TDWG adopted Life Science Identifiers (LSIDs) (Pereira et al. 2009). Unfortunately, the key stakeholders in the LSID consortium soon withdrew support for the technology, leaving TDWG committed to a moribund technology. Subsequently, publishers of biodiversity data have adopted a range of technologies to provide unique identifiers, including (among others) HTTP Universal Resource Identifiers (URIs), Universal Unique Identifiers (UUIDs), Archival Resource Keys (ARKs), and Handles. Each of these technologies has merit but they do not provide consistent guarantees of persistence or resolvability. More importantly, the heterogeneity of these solutions hampers delivery of services that can treat all of these data objects as part of a consistent linked-open-data domain. The geoscience community has established the System for Earth Sample Registration (SESAR) that enables collections to publish standard metadata records for their samples and for each of these to be associated with an International Geo Sample Number (IGSN http://www.geosamples.org/igsnabout). IGSNs follow a standard format, distribute responsibility for uniqueness between SESAR and the publishing collections, and support resolution via HTTP URI or Handles. Each IGSN resolves to a standard metadata page, roughly equivalent in detail to a Darwin Core specimen record. The standardisation of identifiers has allowed the community to secure support from some journal publishers for promotion and use of IGSNs within articles. The biodiversity informatics community encompasses a much larger number of publishers and greater pre-existing variation in identifier formats. Nevertheless, it would be possible to deliver a shared global identifier scheme with the same features as IGSNs by building off the aggregation services offered by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The GBIF data index includes normalised Darwin Core metadata for all data records from registered data sources and could serve as a platform for resolution of HTTP URIs and/or Handles for all specimens and for all occurrence records. The most significant trade-off requiring consideration would be between autonomy for collections and other publishers in how they format identifiers within their own data and the benefits that may arise from greater consistency and predictability in the form of resolvable identifiers.

Editor's Note

Editor's Note

National, Catholic, and Ecumenical

The Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) is one of the most remarkable churches in the Philippines, yet, its history is largely underresearched. This paper uses newly researched archival resources from the archives of this church and of partner churches to explore the way in which this “revolutionary church” came to be accepted as part of the broader ecumenical movement. Special attention is given to two of the most prominent full communion partners of this church, the Episcopal Church and the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht. In this way, it is also clear that the IFI came to be recognized as a fully catholic church by other catholic churches, moving beyond any doubt of lingering Unitarianism (as it was part of the later theology of Gregorio Aglipay). The study also shows how various national, even nationalist churches were able to enter into international and intercultural relations with each other, thus creating a fellowship that spans the globe.

Discussion on Aircraft Technology and It's Impact on Architecture in the Architectural History of 1903-1940

Having been invented at the beginning of 20th century, aircraft is the concrete success of human being related to flying fantasy, which has been existing for centuries. The centuries-old studies accelerated in the 19th century and it has been finally succeeded to take off under Wright Brothers in 1903 together with scientific and technologic processes. A creative energy boosted at the beginning of 20th century and a new age, ”age of aviation and aircraft” emerged. The politic a atmosphere in the world was considerably tense at the beginning of 20th century. World War I and World War II were experienced. War Effort was directly effective in the development of aircraft and aviation architecture. In terms of aviation architecture, aircraft hangars, aircraft factories, wind tunnels, runways and airports can be considered. Birth and development of aircraft industry are in parallel with birth and development of modern architecture (and organic architecture). The period between 1918-1939 is characterized as “Golden Age” of aviation in the West (particularly in the U.S). The literature and archive resources have been reviewed in the Republic of Turkey simultaneously. In this article, interactions between aircraft technology and aviation architecture are discussed.

Developing a Digital Archive for Symbolic Resources in Urban Environments - the Latina Project

The project described in this paper was funded to establish the foundation for a digital archival resource for researchers interested in the way people interact with urban environments through graphic communications. The research was internally funded by Loughborough University as part of its Research Challenge Programme and involved two members of academic staff and two library staff.[1] Two PhD students also participated.
 The archive consists of a small number of images and will act as a proof of concept, not only for this project but also for current and future funding applications. It is hoped that an extended archive will be useful not only to visual communication researchers, but also historians, architects, town planners and others. This paper will describe the data collection process, the challenges facing the project team in data curation and data documentation, and the creation of the pilot archive.
 The creation of the archive posed challenges for both the researchers and Library staff. For the researchers:
 
 
 Choosing a small number of images as a discrete collection but which also demonstrated the utility of the project to other disciplinary areas;
 
 
 Acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills to enable good curation and usability of the digital objects, e.g. file formats, metadata creation;
 
 
 Understanding what the technical solution enabled and where compromises would have to be made.
 
 
 For library staff:
 
 
 Demonstrating the utility of the Data Repository;
 
 
 Understanding the intellectual background to the project and the purpose of the Data Archive within the project;
 
 
 Clearly explaining the purpose of metadata and documentation.
 
 
 The Latina Project has demonstrated the value of a true partnership between the academic community and the professional services. All parties involved have learnt from the creation of the pilot archive and their practices have evolved. For example, it has made the researchers think more carefully about data curation questions and the professional services staff identify more closely with the research purposes for data creation. By working together so closely and sharing ideas from our different perspectives we have also identified potential technical developments which could be explored in future projects. All members of the group hope that the relationships built during this project will continue through other projects. [1] Academic staff: Drs Harland and Liguori. Library staff: Gareth Cole and Barbara Whetnall.

RCSB Protein Data Bank: Sustaining A Living Digital Data Resource That Enables Breakthroughs In Scientific Research And Biomedical Education

The Protein Data Bank (PDB) is one of two archival resources for experimental data central to biomedical research and education worldwide (the other key Primary Data Archive in biology being the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration). The PDB currently houses >134,000 atomic level biomolecular structures determined by crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, and 3D electron microscopy. It was established in 1971 as the first open-access, digital-data resource in biology, and is managed by the Worldwide Protein Data Bank partnership (wwPDB; wwpdb.org). US PDB operations are conducted by the RCSB Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB; RCSB.org; Rutgers University and UC San Diego) and funded by NSF, NIH, and DoE. The RCSB PDB serves as the global Archive Keeper for the wwPDB. During calendar 2016, >591 million structure data files were downloaded from the PDB by Data Consumers working in every sovereign nation recognized by the United Nations. During this same period, the RCSB PDB processed >5300 new atomic level biomolecular structures plus experimental data and metadata coming into the archive from Data Depositors working in the Americas and Oceania. In addition, RCSB PDB served >1 million RCSB.org users worldwide with PDB data integrated with ∼40 external data resources providing rich structural views of fundamental biology, biomedicine, and energy sciences, and >600,000 PDB101.rcsb.org educational website users around the globe. RCSB PDB resources are described in detail together with metrics documenting the impact of access to PDB data on basic and applied research, clinical medicine, education, and the economy.

In search of Soviet wartime interpreters

This paper demonstrates the methodological stages of searching for Soviet wartime interpreters of Finnish in the digital archival resource of the Russian Ministry of Defence called Pamyat Naroda (Memory of the People) 1941–1945. Since wartime interpreters do not have their own search category in the archive, other means are needed to detect them. The main argument of this paper is that conventional manual work must be done and some preliminary information obtained before entering the digital archive, especially when dealing with a marginal subject such as wartime interpreters.

The chronology of community participation in Indian forest management

The paper discusses the chronological changes in Indian participatory forest management from the perspectives of forest conservation and the impact of participatory forest management approach in the context of socio-economic issues of native dwellers, using archival resources, secondary information and previous academic and non-academic materials. The idea of participatory forest management in India can be traced back to the British colonial period. However, this idea was revitalized in the 1980s. Historically, it was hard to protect entire forest areas by the Forest Department because the forests had been part of local peoples' day-to-day life. Therefore, native peoples' participation in forest management along with their socio-economic improvement has been required to protect forests. Throughout the history of community participation, villagers have been involved in forest management schemes through a give-and-take symbiotic relationship. Community participation in forest management from the standpoint of forest conservation in India has shown that it is an evolving process, embedded within local socioecological systems and negotiated between the state and local communities.

Recent trends in the Historiography of the Ottoman Empire in the World War I

In contrast with most European countries, in Turkey historiography of the First World War remained underdeveloped for a very long time. The war of 14-18 was overshadowed by the national independence struggle and the establishment of the new republic that followed it. It was only in the 2000s that interest in the Ottoman part in World War I really took off. It is now a flourishing field, in which - due to the increasing use of Ottoman archival resources - the recently appeared studies share one important characteristic: they hand back agency to the Ottomans themselves, who are no longer seen as puppets of the Great Powers.

THE ROLE OF POPULARISATION OF DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE OF THE GABROVO STATE ARCHIVE IN BUILDING THE PUBLIC IMAGE OF THE INSTITUTION

Archives and the documents collected in them are popularised by organising informative events and communication activities, and their target audience is individuals, public, state and municipal institutions. The research problem defines the need for more active examination of the diverse experience of foreign archives for the purpose of adopting the most efficient forms of work, introducing new initiatives, arousing public interest in the national documentary heritage, which is preserved and available in these institutions. The attempt to describe and analyse the peculiarities of activity of the Bulgarian State Archives, using a particular structural unit (the Gabrovo State Archive), whose experience can be generalised, considering the specifics of the existent legislation, determines the novelty of the research. The objective of the research is to describe the best practices of popularising the national documentary heritage at the Gabrovo State Archive, emphasizing the interdisciplinary aspects of building the public image and educating the public. The research methods: the theoretical and methodological literature review, a situative research method.The public image of an archive should always be viewed as a complex system, with one of its component parts, along with the indicators of recognisability, being its reputation. If it is possible to facilitate to its recognisability, using some publicity tools, the reputation usually develops over the course of time and it requires targeted, thought–out and systemic action. Visitor satisfaction about the received service, repeated interest, good word of mouth and written reviews, the responsiveness and activity of other institutions and persons cooperating in concrete projects, the desire to use the archive resources to fulfil their personal and public objectives, etc. can serve as the proof of a positive public image. There are various techniques how an archive can position its identity (deliberately developed external communication through the use of particular symbols) in communication: their own logotype, press releases, document forms, posters made in the particular style, representation items, publications and the homepage design, etc. A resultative form of work for popularisation of documents is personal contacts, which are maintained by the members of staff of the archive visiting particular events, providing explanatory information to journalists during press conferences, to a circle of particular specialists in discussions and reports, opening documentary exhibitions, conducting classes and interest education circles in archives, organising excursions, questionnaires, thematic evenings, etc. So we can conclude that the popularisation of archive materials or documentary heritage is one of the main forms of activity of archives. The access to documents (both direct and remote) and its diverse use provide a link between an archive and the public, broadening their views on the collected documentary heritage and the importance of the archive activity, and strengthening the reputation of archives to the public.

The Industrialist and the Artist: László Moholy-Nagy, Walter Paepcke, and the New Bauhaus in Chicago, 1918–46

Abstract In 1937, a group of businessmen organized as the Association of Arts and Industries, on the recommendation of German Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, invited the Hungarian artist and designer László Moholy-Nagy to Chicago to reestablish the Bauhaus school of design, which the Nazis had shut down in 1933. Moholy-Nagy, who was exiled in England at the time, had been a prominent member of the Bauhaus faculty. Although the New Bauhaus was forced to close in 1938 after less than a year in operation owing to the association's withdrawal of financial support, Container Corporation president Walter Paepcke helped Moholy establish the School of Design in Chicago in 1939, which retained the Bauhaus pedagogy and several members of its faculty. Moholy led the design school, which changed its name to the Institute of Design in 1944, until his death in 1946. Drawing on archival resources at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois, Chicago, this essay looks at Moholy's immigration to the United States and his close relationship with Paepcke, an arts patron who created jobs for other Bauhaus designers including Herbert Bayer. Moholy and Paepcke attempted to incorporate the socialistic Bauhaus pedagogy with the practical demands of capitalistic American business. Their close personal and professional relationship reveals the limits and possibilities of such a cultural and economic fusion.

Of Plans and Plants

The article contrasts efforts by Soviet scientists and engineers in the 1950s and 1960s, who successfully persuaded planners to support expensive, still unproven nuclear technologies, and to establish a nuclear industry from scratch, with contemporary efforts by nuclear energy advocates to maintain at least a sliver of relevance for nuclear power in the carbon-friendly energy mix of the 21st century - efforts that have proven very challenging. Nuclear power not only promised to facilitate modernization, it also offered a solution to the imbalance in resource and demand distribution. Despite its cost, creating a nuclear industry made sense to many nations in the 1950s and 1960s. Today, the picture is more fragmented, and different criteria are being used to evaluate the benefits of nuclear energy, including the possibility of severe accidents, and the still unresolved waste management issue. Some countries with nuclear industries have decided to phase out nuclear, while others are engaging in aggressive new build, with most others ambivalent. Relying on archival resources and contemporary policy documents, this essay takes a big-picture view of Soviet energy policy. It examines the shifting criteria for evaluating the potential of nuclear energy in the Soviet and post-Soviet context, with a particular focus on the role of scientific authority, and of institutional inertia, for dealing with the fundamental challenges posed by the Chernobyl accident and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The essay concludes that the notion of viability (technical or economical) is negotiable, and will always remain tied up with dreams of and hopes for a better future.

The Rebel in the Red Jeep: Ken Hechler's Life in West Virginia Politics by Carter Taylor Seaton

Reviewed by: The Rebel in the Red Jeep: Ken Hechler's Life in West Virginia Politics by Carter Taylor Seaton Mark Myers The Rebel in the Red Jeep: Ken Hechler's Life in West Virginia Politics. By Carter Taylor Seaton. (Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press, 2017. Pp. xi, 427.) In her fascinating work, The Rebel in the Red Jeep, Carter Taylor Seaton recounts the life and times of Ken Hechler, former West Virginia congressman and secretary of state. Seaton begins her work by placing Hechler within the context of "great man" theory, which argues that specific people influenced [End Page 133] the course of history. Seaton recognizes that historians have largely discounted this theory, yet does argue that Hechler is a "great man" in the history of the country, even if specific events did influence the course of his career (1). The major themes of the biography are rebellion and the importance of personal politics throughout his career. Seaton approaches Hechler's life both chronologically and thematically, examining his early life chronologically, while dealing with his career in Congress issue by issue. This approach provides a logical cohesiveness to the biography. In the chapters on Hechler's formative years, Seaton does an excellent job in connecting his upbringing and education to his future political style. Hechler's parents taught him lessons of responsibility and frugality, while also contributing to his low self-esteem, which only improved as he entered college and graduate school, ultimately earning a PhD from Columbia. It was also at Swarthmore, where Hechler attended as an undergraduate, that he became especially interested in politicians who put the public interest before personal gain. The lessons he learned from his upbringing and education clearly influenced the trajectory of his political career. Seaton also does an excellent job in explaining how important Hechler's work in the Truman White House was to his future political career. Hechler served as a researcher and speech writer for Truman and took away the importance of personal politics from his time working for the president. This connection can be clearly seen in his various campaigns, but especially his first campaign for Congress in 1958. As a candidate who would not toe the party line, Hechler had to find a way to overcome the Democratic party machine and a popular Republican congressman in West Virginia. He did so through this form of personal politics learned during his service under President Truman, as especially shown by his efforts to connect with voters through his use of his personal vehicle, eventually a red jeep, as his campaign office, which allowed him to stay on the trail consistently. This effort to get to know the electorate paid off in his ultimate successful election to Congress. Seaton points out that Hechler was particularly successful in reaching voters who normally did not vote. The two strongest aspects of the biography are the thematic second half of the book and the sources Seaton used in the book. Seaton does an outstanding job of approaching Hechler's career in Congress thematically by separating the chapters by issue. Throughout this section of the work, Seaton effectively uses Hechler's position on the different issues to illustrate both his progressive ideals and his willingness to be a maverick in Congress. The most effective chapter is the one on Civil Rights. Not only was Hechler supportive of Civil Rights legislation in Congress, he was also the only member of Congress to attend the Selma to Montgomery march in support of the Voting [End Page 134] Rights Act of 1965. Hechler's willingness to do what he felt was right, despite the political risks, was one key characteristic of his political career. Seaton also used excellent sources. She had unprecedented access to Hechler and his papers, and made good use of other archival resources, including collections at the Truman library. Although there are some concerns about the use of great-man theory in the work, Seaton has provided an excellent biography of one of West Virginia's most interesting and influential politicians. Anyone interested in the political history of West Virginia would benefit from reading this well-done biography. Mark Myers Indiana Academy, Ball State...

Services provided by the National Archives in Paris (Pierreffite-sur-Seine) and the demands of XXI century

The aim of the article is the analysis of the services provided by the contemporary archival institution taking as an example the National Archives in Paris. This institution could be considered exemplary for archives in Poland. The article enumerate the main available archival services which are essentials for consultation and elaboration of the archival resources, quicker access to them, public availability and other facilities like the possibility of making specialized reprographics.