Ongoing Project: A Case for Preservation  The
collection's strength lay in the fact that local history and knowledge
of ones community does have importance; historical self-understanding
is valuable. Advocates of local heritage argue that connection to ones
cultural past can bring a sense of belongingness in society. Preservation and conservation studies lecturer Paul N. Banks regards an archive as a place where records of long-term, or enduring value are preserved in order to ensure the availability and usability of such records. A primary goal of archives is seen as providing access to its holdings, this being dependent upon comprehensive and systematic preservation planning, or access to holdings will be limited or impossible for conducting research. Our collection contains information that supports historical, social and personal research purposes and because many of our records are unique, some being one of a kind, they must be maintained both physically and intellectually as the original material and the information contained within the items can never be replaced if it were damaged or lost. Usability of records for future research is therefore dependent upon preservation. Our Hopkinton records have value in very few examples for the uniqueness of the physical item itself, but in more instances for the information that it contains. Again Banks sees the role of archives as “ providing for support, long term maintenance and usability for records in its custody.” (Banks, 2000, p. 47). This perspective differs from an earlier time period when preserving archival materials can be more accurately described as simply collecting such materials and keeping them away from the public and consequent handling. Modern preservation management strategies view preservation actions as protecting and preserving an item so that it may be used. This requires cataloging, the creating of standardized bibliographic records, as the ability to locate an item is of absolute importance. Simply put, if a researcher can’t find it to use it, then the entire preservation process of the item is a waste of time and resources. Usability must however be balanced with consideration of physically protecting the original material and or information and such priorities set by the archivist as to which items may be handled by researchers at a given time. Getting Started During the summer of 2007 the library director Rownak Hussain and myself, a Simmons College Library Information Science student concentrating in Archival Management, recognized that the collection needed immediate attention; the materials were not adequately accessible to current or potential researchers and many of the unique items were in immediate need of re-housing in order to stabilize them to prevent further physical deterioration. Archivist Nancy Heywood of The Massachusetts Historical Society was then hired to examine the archival and historical materials, create an inventory of them and to make recommendations about the arrangement, re-housing and storage of the collection.  A finding aid will be created with descriptive notes about the materials, including format, date range, and storage location and will allow the staff and public to know the extent of the collection and therefore aid researchers in their selection of materials. Prior to this time researchers were allowed to examine any and all items within the Treasure Room, which meant unnecessary handling of materials as a means to locate items relevant to the researchers quest for specific information. Security, an issue for preservationists, was nonexistent. |