Archival Collections Research Articles

Perancangan Sistem Manajemen Surat Berbasis Web Pada Kantor Camat Tano Tombangan Angkola

In the process of administrative modernization, it is necessary to implement an information system that can support all administrative activities in an institution, institution or company. At the Tano Tombangan Angkola District sub-district office, South Tapanuli, there is still a conventional letter archive management method where archive recording is still done using books and stationery. This often causes many problems, such as lost documents, damage or unrecorded documents. In this research, the authors try to develop an application that can record all archives in the agency. Then it will be stored in the database and can be accessed anytime and anywhere. As a result, many benefits are provided to agencies, such as more structured and neat archival data collection. The management system created in this paper is Web-based using PHP.

Documents of monasteries of the Kyiv Metropolis synodal period in Ukrainian archives

The investigation of this topic is relevant as the documents of the monasteries of the Kyiv Metropolis Synodal period contain important evidence of religious life, social customs, and economic relations in the historical context of Ukraine, which allows for a better understanding of the dynamics of the development of church institutions and their influence on society. The purpose of the study was to analyse the documentary base of the monasteries of the Kyiv Metropolis Synodal period in Ukrainian archives, its scope, and main content. The methodological basis of the research was the principles of logic and objectivity, as well as methods of classification, generalisation, structural and functional analysis, statistical and historical-comparative methods. The archival funds of Ukraine were examined for the presence of documents from the monasteries of the Kyiv Metropolis Synodal period. It was established that the documents of the monasteries of the Kyiv Metropolis during the Synod period constitute an important archival fund in Ukraine, containing valuable information about the activities of church institutions, as well as about the economic, social, cultural, and political aspects of that time. The main places of their preservation were identified – in the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Kyiv, the State Archives of Cherkasy Region, and the Manuscript Institute of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. It was determined that the peculiarity of monastery funds should be considered in accordance with the peculiarities of the existence of the monasteries themselves within the Kyiv Metropolis, which is due to the heterogeneity of the historical process of the formation of monasteries, as a result of which two groups can be distinguished within the metropolis – Kyivan and southern groups. The available archival collections were analysed, and it was found that the largest complex of archival documents that has survived belongs to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra; at the same time, it was noted that archival documents in Ukrainian institutions are unevenly distributed. The practical value of the work lies in the possibility of further in-depth study of issues related to the study of archival funds of Ukraine, as well as in improving their organisation

Predicting Atrophy of the Cochlear Stria Vascularis from the Shape of the Threshold Audiogram.

Several lines of evidence have suggested that steeply sloping audiometric losses are caused by hair cell degeneration, while flat audiometric losses are caused by strial atrophy, but this concept has never been rigorously tested in human specimens. Here, we systematically compare audiograms and cochlear histopathology in 160 human cases from the archival collection of celloidin-embedded temporal bones at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear. The dataset included 106 cases from a prior study of normal-aging ears, and an additional 54 cases selected by combing the database for flat audiograms. Audiogram shapes were classified algorithmically into five groups according to the relation between flatness (i.e., SD of hearing levels across all frequencies) and low-frequency pure-tone average (i.e., mean at 0.25, 0.5, and 1.0 kHz). Outer and inner hair cell losses, neural degeneration, and strial atrophy were all quantified as a function of cochlear location in each case. Results showed that strial atrophy was worse in the apical than the basal half of the cochlea and was worse in females than in males. The degree of strial atrophy was uncorrelated with audiogram flatness. Apical atrophy was correlated with low-frequency thresholds and basal atrophy with high-frequency thresholds, and the former correlation was higher. However, a multivariable regression with all histopathological measures as predictors and audiometric thresholds as the outcome showed that strial atrophy was a significant predictor of threshold shift only in the low-frequency region, and, even there, the contribution of outer hair cell damage was larger.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Cochlear pathology can only be assessed postmortem; thus, human cochlear histopathology is critical to our understanding of the mechanisms of hearing loss. Dogma holds that relative damage to sensory cells, which transduce mechanical vibration into electrical signals, versus the stria vascularis, the cellular battery that powers transduction, can be inferred by the shape of the audiogram, that is, down-sloping (hair cell damage) versus flat (strial atrophy). Here we quantified hair cell and strial atrophy in 160 human specimens to show that it is the degree of low-frequency hearing loss, rather than the audiogram slope, that predicts strial atrophy. Results are critical to the design of clinical trials for hearing-loss therapeutics, as current drugs target only hair cell, not strial, regeneration.

Archival Silences within the National Archival Documentary Heritage Institutions of Botswana

The study is an interpretive qualitative multiple case study, which examined archival representation of social groups in five selected heritage institutions in Botswana. Purposive sampling was used to select study participants. Data collection for the study was through semistructured interviews, non-participatory observations and document analysis. The findings indicate that archival representation of social groups is still at infancy stage in Botswana, as a result of poor interpretation and implementation of the National Archives and Records Services of 1978, (amended in 2007); lack of updated policies that inform practice and limited resources to do archival processes. The contents of the archival collection revealed a male, ethnic based, linguistic oriented and ruling party inclined image with underrepresented groups consisting of people with disabilities, the poor and women. For under-documented groups, the LGBTQ+ community, people living along borderlines and refugees come out. The causes for silences in the archival collections is attributed to discriminatory sections of the constitution, lack of reflexivity on the part of the archival institutions, mistrust of mainstream heritage institutions by communities and failure to survive time by indigenous culture which is mainly oral to name but a few. Consequently, the study recommends an acquisition and management model based on stewardship and a national archival system, that can ensure the documentation of a socially representative archival heritage.

The Archived Child: Strategies for Amplifying Children’s Contributions to History

Using examples drawn from letters written by rural youth from the western Canadian province of British Columbia during the interwar period, I explore three interrelated interpretive strategies or dispositions for amplifying young peoples’ contributions to history: empathic inference, relational agency, and the axiom that children are heirs to the future. The letters are part of a larger archival collection of the province’s Elementary Correspondence School, the first of its kind in Canada, and provide historians with uniquely valuable child and youth focused perspectives on schooling, family, work, and other aspects of their lives. Supported by examples from the letters, I argue that young peoples’ contributions to historical change are most clearly legible when interpretive strategies, including the historical methods and methodological dispositions historians adopt, reject traditional conceptions of history as exclusively or mainly adult driven.

Eight Months in the Cook Islands

ABSTRACT Tim Jones spent eight months working as a digital librarian and archivist at the University of the South Pacific (USP) Cook Islands Campus. He describes the work he did there on the USP’s archival collections and a forum he organized that brought together people working with Cook Islands collections.

Population Control and Eugenics: Dhanvanthi Rama Rau and Margaret Sanger in the Making of India’s Family Planning Programme, 1930s–1960s

This article explores the contribution of two pioneering women, Dhanvanthi Rama Rau and Margaret Sanger in shaping the official Family Planning Programme (FPP) of India. Rau, popularly known as the ‘Mother of India’s Family Planning’, was at the forefront of the debates on birth control. From the early twentieth century, Rau was in correspondence with Margaret Sanger—eugenist and the messiah of medicalised birth control from the United States of America (USA). Based on archival collections from various libraries in India and the USA, this article attempts to explore the concerns of Rau and Sanger in raising questions about population control 1 and family planning in India. The concern of improving the health of mothers and children was, for them, a scaffolding on which to build the agenda of population control. As their advocacy of contraception was shaped by eugenic 2 and neo-Malthusian ideas, they were successful in institutionalising a programme of family planning that called for an immediate reduction in the birth rate. This was to be achieved through gendered population control policies and practices.

Challenges and Opportunities behind the Use of Herbaria in Paleogenomics Studies.

Paleogenomics focuses on the recovery, manipulation, and analysis of ancient DNA (aDNA) from historical or long-dead organisms to reconstruct and analyze their genomes. The aDNA is commonly obtained from remains found in paleontological and archaeological sites, conserved in museums, and in other archival collections. Herbarium collections represent a great source of phenotypic and genotypic information, and their exploitation has allowed for inference and clarification of previously unsolved taxonomic and systematic relationships. Moreover, herbarium specimens offered a new source for studying phenological traits in plants and for disentangling biogeography and evolutionary scenarios of species. More recently, advances in molecular technologies went in parallel with the decreasing costs of next-generation sequencing (NGS) approaches, which paved the way to the utilization of aDNA for whole-genome studies. Although many studies have been carried out combining modern analytic techniques and ancient samples, such as herbarium specimens, this research field is still relatively unexplored due to the need for improving strategies for aDNA manipulation and exploitation from ancient samples. The higher susceptibility of aDNA to degradation and contamination during herbarium conservation and manipulation and the occurrence of biochemical postmortem damage can result in a more challenging reconstruction of the original DNA sequence. Here, we review the methodological approaches that have been developed for the exploitation of historical herbarium plant materials, such as best practices for aDNA extraction, amplification, and genotyping. We also focus on some strategies to overcome the main problems related to the utilization of herbarium specimens for their exploitation in plant evolutionary studies.

The Power of Personal Archives in Witnessing, Teaching, and Visual Storytelling: The Armenian Memory Project

Abstract The Armenian Memory Project (AMP) is a collaborative effort designed to harness the energy and resources of the University of Connecticut and the New England Armenian community for the goal of fostering greater understanding of the region’s Armenian cultural heritage and the impact human rights crimes had on the Armenian community. In 2019, students and faculty from the university worked with Armenian American institutions and individuals on an initial component of the AMP, employing digital media technology to tell the story of one immigrant Armenian family, the Dildilians. A unique course was created to produce a documentary film centring around this family’s experiences in Ottoman Turkey before, during, and after the Armenian Genocide. Designed and taught by a documentary filmmaker with support from a family archivist/historian, the course brought students together in a collaborative learning experience. By immersing themselves in the family’s extensive photograph archive, these students came to understand the important role that the past continues to play in the lives of present-day Armenians. Furthermore, by taking on the responsibility as storytellers of the Dildilian narrative, students developed a deeper identification with this distant history and, in a wider sense, an appreciation for the ethical value of memory in bearing witness to the past. This collaborative and participatory framework for teaching using archival collections can serve as a model for creating a transformative learning experience in the study of human rights, war, and genocide.

Mariaż Marii z Grocholskich z Witoldem Czartoryskim w świetle nowo odkrytych źródeł archiwalnych

The marriage of Maria née Grocholska and Witold Czartoryski in the light of newly discovered archival sources The aim of this article was to verify the image of the betrothal and wedding of Maria Cecylia Grocholska and Witold Czartoryski, as well as the repercussions associated with it, in the light of the unknown historiographical archival sources on this subject and by analyzing previously known sources in the context of new facts about the entering into this marriage established on their basis. In the sources describing the circumstances of the marriage of Maria née Grocholska and Witold Czartoryski, I find several repeated events and facts, on the basis of which the chronology of those days is reconstructed. The first is a letter that Ksawera Grocholska sent to Emperor Nicholas I indirectly regarding the arrival of her future son-in-law to Podolia in order to meet her fiancée’s immediate family and obtain the blessing of the bride’s grandfather, Karol Brzozowski. Another theme is the decision to marry off the daughter to the son of a political criminal, thus condemning her to a life away from her relatives living in the Russian Empire. Next, it is necessary to look at the course of the ceremony to be able to consider whether the controversy surrounding this marriage will be reflected in the ceremony itself and the reception that followed it. Finally, fragments of Ksawera Grocholska’s diary and family correspondence discovered in the collections of the State Archives of the Vinnytsia Oblast in Ukraine were analyzed, which allowed to achieve the main goal of the article.

Methods of the “New Division of the Empire”: The Reforms of Administrative Division in Vyatka Rеgion from Catherine the Great to Paul I

This article examines the territorial transformations carried out in Vyatka Region in the 1780s–1810s. As is known, before the last quarter of the eighteenth century, the system of administrative-territorial division of the country was based on the historically established system of uyezds. However, in 1775–1802, two major reforms were carried out, which rebuilt the administrative-territorial division following qualitatively new principles – approximate equality of the population of provinces and uyezds and transport accessibility of administrative centres for the population. These changes largely determined the outlines of the social structure of the Russian Empire over the next century, and changes in the management system and social structure naturally attract researchers’ attention today. With the help of a detailed reconstruction (based on maps of the time, both printed, from national atlases of 1792 and 1800, and handprinted, from the collections of several archives) and comparison of the boundaries of provinces in the middle of the eighteenth century, in 1792, in 1792, 1800 and 1805–1806, the author reveals the redistribution of territories between urban centres. It transpires that the system of territorial relations in this region during the reform of Catherine II changed more decisively than in the central regions of the country, and the new borders were initially drawn without a survey of the situation on the ground, in some cases – in the form of straight lines on the map. The correction of inconveniences caused by such a manner of reform was delayed and was completed already during the administrative reforms of Paul I, which, unlike most regions, were not cancelled there in the first decade of the nineteenth century.

O źródłach inspiracji archiwistyką w książce, która nie stała się podręcznikiem. Refleksje na marginesie publikacji W. Chorążyczewskiego Zachęta do archiwistyki, Wydawnictwo Naukowe UMK, Toruń 2022, ss. 360

The reviewed paper is a unique position in the literary works of the Polish archives of the last three decades, since it presents the three perspectives of the archival field: its theoretical basis, standpoint of the archival practice, and praise of amateurishness as an inducement to undertake any archival activities. Not only did the author discuss the current achievements of the archival science and explain its scientific character, scope, internal division and terminology used by the archivists, but he also presented an innovative concept, a reflection on seeking new ideas in the archival science and their practical applications, as befits a monograph. In the book, this pioneering role is played by the passages concerning the redefinition and restoration of the process model of forming archival collection, as well as theory of collections, the essence of which is the principle of respecting the entirety, created naturally by creators, systemically separated from each other, which comprises not only archives, but also library and museum objects

Pioneers in Maltese archives and libraries: people, contexts and institutions in 20th-century Malta

ABSTRACT This contribution shares the first findings and methodological approaches emerging from a research project aiming at exploring how 20th-century archives and libraries in Malta were perceived and in turn shaped by people who engaged and dedicated their lives to their mission. The project also intends to reconstruct the early embryonic development of the profession in Malta, provide a better understanding of the custodial history of archival and library collections on the island, and contribute to the recent local development of university-level archival and library education. To retrace the steps of this pathway through the lens of the changes that are currently happening in Maltese holding institutions, extensive archival research and semi-structured interviews are held in collaboration with the community archive project Memorja (National Archives of Malta). The project will also lay the foundations to trace back the history of Maltese archives and libraries through the 19th century.

The women of Miranda House: Building archival collections, digital humanities and feminist digital history

ABSTRACT These notes are based on an ongoing project for building an archive of a premier women’s college, Miranda House (established 1948), University of Delhi. We begin with a brief overview of the processes and methodologies involved in identifying materials to shape our collection, discuss processes of cataloguing, digitization, planning digital collections and a website. Our collection lies at the cusp of being an institutional archive, women’s archive, archive of college women as well as an archive for doing public history. Despite the challenges of infrastructure, trained staff, technological expertise, digital humanities offer us immensely exciting possibilities. We use social media to reach out to alumni to build our collections, social media presence to showcase our materials, digital tools to widen access, share skills and create awareness regarding the significance of archiving the history of college women. Our attempts at DH have been quite successful. However, as DH opens up a plethora of opportunities, doing digital history also has its methodological challenges as well as conceptual and financial concerns for feminist projects like ours.

Nasel'nicy Rozhdestvenskogo monastyrya g. Rostova Yaroslavskoj gubernii vo vtoroj polovine XIX – nachale XX v.: dinamika chislennosti, social'no-demograficheskie harakteristiki

The article examines the features of the social development of the Rostov Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Monastery at the second half of the 19th early 20th centuries. The source base was the statements about the monastery from the collection of the state archive of the Yaroslavl region. The article shows the dynamics of the change in the population of the monastery; the factors that influenced this change, the social origin of the inhabitants, age, level of education.

The Binding Fragments of Xavier University (Cincinnati, Ohio)

Abstract: This article provides an overview of the medieval manuscript items found in University Archives and Special Collections at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. After describing the history of the Xavier University collection, it offers descriptions of nineteen binding fragments recently found within twelve early print volumes and includes provenance information for those volumes when possible. The article ends by reflecting on the benefits of participation in the Peripheral Manuscripts Project and sharing how project outcomes are influencing Special Collections work at Xavier.

Access Amplified

This article focuses on a 1968 documentary radio series titled Seeds of Discontent and a recently established archival collection that centers on it. Created by Hartford Smith Jr., a Black social worker and professor in Detroit, and distributed by the National Educational Radio Network, Seeds of Discontent started with his concern over mass media’s coverage of riots and the social problems that caused them. Through interviews with college student activists, families living in poverty, teachers frustrated by the failings of the education system, middle-class workers, incarcerated youth, and many others, Smith used the series to explore the roots of social problems facing the United States, with frequent attention to the challenges and experiences of Black people living in Detroit, as well as possible solutions. By speaking to the people affected by social problems instead of the experts usually consulted in mass media, Smith’s ethos of access emphasizes the idea that the distance between media organizations and media professionals and the public whose circumstances and histories are being mediated is limiting, exacerbating the impact of the already-sown seeds of discontent at the core of societal structural issues. More than 50 years later, this commitment to access continued as Smith requested that the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research (WCFTR) make his collection broadly accessible. This article outlines Smith’s approach in Seeds of Discontent and the story of the collection as a case study on the possibilities and challenges of access in contemporary archives.

The position of the Entente States on the idea of Armenia’s independence (1917 and early 1918)

The article highlights the emergence of the idea of Armenia’s independence at the end of the First World War. The Russian revolutions and the position of the United States brought new ideas to the problems of colonization and self-determination of nations. In the autumn of 1917, representatives of the great powers began to speak positively about the independence of Armenia. This eventually led to the declaration of independence of Armenia on May 28, 1918. The article is based on archival materials and collections of documents. Many archival sources are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The analyzes were presented based on verified facts. The study was conducted by the historicalcomparative method, according to the principle of historicity. An attempt has been made to present the problem in its entirety. In this article, we have revealed the position of Great Britain, France and the United States on the issue of the formation of an independent Armenian state.

Who was the author of the map of the Khotyn fortress siege of 1788?

Two maps documenting the capture of Khotyn, which took place during the Russian-Turkish war fought in 1787-1792, have been preserved in Polish archival collections. One was made by Adam Dłuski, the other is anonymous. A comparison of the details of the two maps and the plan of the Kamianets-Podilskyi fortress made by Jan Bakałowicz shows that the author of the anonymous map was the commanding officer of the Kamianets-Podilskyi fortress – Józef de Witte. Due to the fact that his wife, Zofia, maintained too close relationships with General Saltykov, who commanded the Russian army, he was accused of treason. Probably in order to regain the favor of the Polish King Stanisław August Poniatowski, Józef de Witte made a map of the siege of Khotyn.

The State Railway of Siam and the origin of tourism public relations in Thailand (1917–1941)

PurposeThis research aims to explore the origin of tourism public relations (PR) in Thailand as practiced by the State Railway of Siam (SRS) prior to the Second World War when rail travel was still a new form of transportation in the country.Design/methodology/approachThe study approach is documentary research involving an in-depth examination of both published and unpublished documents of a special collection of the SRS archives conducted in a fact-based and descriptive manner.FindingsIn the first half of the 20th century, a period of global economic uncertainty, the SRS performed the role of the government's PR division, with one of its important tasks being to promote travel and tourism in the country among both Thais and foreigners. The SRS incorporated the use of PR materials including advertisements, films, guidebooks, speeches, events, pre-arranged press activities and sales promotions in its activities. The current study explores the SRS's strategies employed in the creation of integrated and place communication campaigns to promote its train service and tourism throughout Thailand via its railway network.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of the study reveal the PR efforts carried out by the SRS, which utilized a variety of communication tools in tourism promotion. This can lead to a better understanding of global tourism PR history and more specifically the development of tourism PR in Thailand and throughout South-East Asia.Practical implicationsThe results add to the body of knowledge of how integrated marketing communication, place branding and professional PR activities evolved in Thailand.Originality/valueThe research fills a gap in the history of tourism PR and its relation to broader social and economic structures in Siam prior to the 21st century. It also reveals the little explored topic of how the railway engaged in historical path of PR practices and how they relate to a country's specific PR development outside of the highly researched U.S. context.