Archivaria - the journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA)

Metadata for Digital Collections: A How-To-Do-It Manual. STEVEN J. MILLER. New York: Neal-Schuman, 2011. xxiii, 343 p. ISBN 978-1-55570-746-0

Whitlock, Jennifer

STEVEN J. MILLER, Metadata for Digital Collections: A How-To-Do-It Manual

Controlling the Past: Documenting Society and Institutions: Essays in Honor of Helen Willa Samuels. TERRY COOK, ed. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2011. 434 p. ISBN 978-1-931666-36-

Dodge, Bernadine

TERRY COOK, ed., Controlling the Past: Documenting Society and Institutions: Essays in Honor of Helen Willa Samuels

., .

Our Contributors

Avis aux auteurs

Inside Covers

Eastwood, Terry

From the Guest Editor:
Arrangement and Description  
of Archives
TERRY EASTWOOD
It might be argued that arrangement and description is something of a poor 
child in the competition for attention in these pages. Although the journal has 
published several articles on arrangement and description over the years, this 
issue is the first one to be wholly devoted to the subject. There have been two 
special issues on electronic records. Other issues in recent years have paid 
particular attention to such subjects as the history of records and archives, 
archives and culture, archives and photography, queer archives, archives and 
the law, and archives: space and power. The archival function of appraisal, 
which one suspects is widely regarded (falsely, I think) as more intellectually 
challenging than the function of identifying and representing archives, has 
regularly been the subject of articles in recent years. This relative neglect of 
arrangement and description is unfortunate, for many of the threads of think-
ing about archives in the digital age and about connecting archival science 
with wider currents of thought in other disciplines ought to be brought to bear 
on consideration of arrangement and description, which is what this issue 
aims to do. 
We open with Richard Dancy’s searching examination of the birth, life, 
and shortcomings of the Canadian Rules for Archival Description (RAD). 
He begins with the history of the making of RAD and efforts to reform it, all 
in the light of international developments. He then judiciously and persua-
sively presents the case that the existing structure of RAD inhibits making 
necessary reforms, offers a wide-ranging analysis of where rules are lack-
ing, and canvasses three possible ways to make needed improvements. In his 
conclusion, he observes that “more than anything else, what is needed now 
is a period of debate in which the Canadian archival community begins to 
look critically at its standard. Part of the difficulty RAD2 faced was that it 
provided answers to questions very few Canadian archivists were asking. 
RAD is a community standard: it does not need fixing if the community does 
not perceive anything wrong with it.” It is difficult to believe that discerning 
readers of his article will think there is nothing wrong with RAD, but easy to 
believe that realizing reform necessitates overcoming some serious hurdles. 
ARCHIvARIA 74 (Fall 2012): 3–6
Archivaria, The Journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists – All rights reserved
First, there needs to be consensus behind the rationale for reform. Second, 
there needs to be support for the actual effort at reform. RAD came about 
because there was widespread support for development of descriptive stan-
dards: the benefits were understood and the archival community stood up to 
bear the costs of its development and implementation. Assuming the commu-
nity answers the bell Dancy has rung to reach a consensus on the wisdom of 
reforming RAD, the questions are the same: are the benefits of reform worth 
the effort and is the community willing to accept the cost of developing and 
implementing a revised set of rules? I think that it should be. Much that was 
swept under the rug when RAD was devised needs to be dealt with. It only 
needs the community to galvanize itself again to take the next step in the 
development of its linchpin descriptive standard. 
In his article in this issue, Geoffrey Yeo extends the far-ranging and deep-
reaching exploration of fundamental concepts at the heart of archival theory, 
and therefore the complex process of arranging and describing archives, that 
he developed in several previous articles. He makes the case for more subtlety 
in our appreciation of the character of various archival aggregations, which he 
believes have never been easy to fix (that is, identify in one way) and are even 
less so in the digital age. In keeping with recent constructivist-oriented think-
ing to the effect that archives are formed and re-formed and never explicable 
from only one viewpoint, he challenges the traditional distinction between 
collections and fonds. His challenge opens up several avenues for rethinking 
how archivists approach arrangement and description. Above all, he joins 
other voices in calling for “third order” multi-view representations of archives 
in relational models. He presents a rich vein of ideas that strongly suggest that 
reform of arrangement and description is likely to look both conceptually 
and practically more like a revolution. It certainly suggests that the great leap 
forward that RAD appeared to be twenty years ago in Canada now looks more 
like a baby step. Despite its structural flaws, which Dancy dissects, RAD was 
based on well-established concepts of traditional archival science. Yeo’s think-
ing strongly suggests that any true leap forward that capitalizes on the capaci-
ties of the digital era must call upon and employ knowledge beyond our own 
ken to build approaches to arrangement and description robust enough to open 
avenues to the hitherto unexploited richness of institutional holdings.
Robin Darwall-Smith and Michael Riordan take us back to an earlier era 
and the history of the first efforts to arrange and describe the archives of eight 
Oxford colleges. “Why this article in this issue?” readers might ask. Well, for 
one, every institutional collection presents layer upon layer of past practice 
with which current practice must wrestle. (There is, by the way, a rich vein 
of research to track just how materials were marked by institutional work on 
them, and how such marking might be exposed for greater understanding of 
what the researcher confronts.) For another, the authors make it abundantly 
clear that departure from concepts of respect des fonds and respect for original 
4 Archivaria 74
 
Archivaria, The Journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists – All rights reserved
order at least obscured, and possibly destroyed, our ability to detect impor-
tant relationships of records and aggregations, and thereby give heartening 
notice that, for all the prodding we give traditional concepts, they do provide 
a reasoned basis for the treatment of archives, which can be overturned only 
at peril. Darwall-Smith and Riordan’s story is an interesting one for its own 
sake as a piece of archival history, but they use it to reflect on current policies 
and practices in which they see a trend toward privileging content over context 
once again, as was the motivation for the work of the early cataloguers of the 
Oxford college archives they have studied. 
Andrew Janes details the situation of cartographic records (maps) in The 
National Archives (TNA) of the United Kingdom and explains how long-
standing practices of identifying and describing them were reformed to align 
with archival descriptive standards, to incorporate them into the institutional 
project to computerize all descriptions, and to improve on existing descrip-
tions and access to the vast holdings of maps in the institution. He explains in 
considerable detail how TNA addressed a broad range of issues in the process 
of modernizing its arrangement and description (the term he uses is catalogu-
ing) of cartographic records. In telling the story of all this work, he aims 
(and succeeds admirably) to bring the work on cartographic records from 
the margins of archival science into the mainstream. (By the way, it is diffi-
cult not to reflect that the decision to keep separate chapters for the likes of 
cartographic records in RAD, about which Dancy writes at some length, can 
only have had the opposite effect.) One suspects that other institutions have 
gone through a similar process of rethinking and reformulating practice for 
description of cartographic records, but if they have, none have been reported; 
and if they have not, Janes’s work here provides an ample picture of how to 
go about it. Nevertheless, I would like to think that non-specialists with carto-
graphic records can read this article with profit. If cartographic records and 
consideration of the special concerns of their treatment exist on the margins 
of archival science, perhaps it is because they are not widely understood in 
the community. 
Jane Zhang reports on her research about the extent to which the concept 
of original order is observed in three institutions that are preserving born- 
digital archival materials. Among other questions, she asks how original 
order is established in digital archives and how documentary relationships 
can be identified and preserved. She then answers those questions as they are 
addressed in the actual programs of digital preservation she has studied. Her 
answer is distilled into six key findings. Although she does not put it this way, 
her conclusion is that, however access to individual archival documents may be 
provided, archivists depend on the order and relationships of digital archives 
while preserving them, and researchers will benefit from their identification 
and representation. In many ways, hers is a heartening story of how fundamen-
tal ideas have been tested and confirmed in the new digital environment.
 From the Guest Editor 
 
Archivaria, The Journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists – All rights reserved
Finally, Carolyn Harris reports on the challenges of applying the concept 
of original order in the arrangement and description of the Donald G. Simpson 
Fonds at York University, Toronto. Much has been written in a conceptual vein 
about the changing face of archives as they pass through various stages in their 
existence, and how these transformations need to be documented. Harris’s is 
an account of how complicated it can become to represent order and how open 
to question the notion of “original” order is when the creator has actively inter-
vened to present his archives, and the archivist must struggle to represent its 
character to the world.
In one way or another, all these authors dig beneath the surface of tradi-
tional thinking about arrangement and description, and present a picture of the 
complexity of both observing cardinal precepts of the profession and applying 
them in creative ways to meet the reality archivists encounter. In so doing, they 
have admirably fulfilled the aim for this special issue.
6 Archivaria 74
 
Archivaria, The Journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists – All rights reserved


English

Arrangement and Description of Archives

A Different Kind of Web: New Connections Between Archives and Our Users. KATE THEIMER, ed. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2011. xvii, 369 p. ISBN 1-931666-39-3

Harvey, Kathryn

KATE THEIMER, ed., A Different Kind of Web: New Connections Between Archives and Our Users

Dylan Thomas: Man and Myth. DYLAN THOMAS CENTRE, SWANSEA, WALES, UNITED KINGDOM. Permanent exhibit

Lonie, Emily

 
          
           
          
           
         
       
       
 
Exhibition Reviews
 
Dylan Thomas: Man and Myth. DYLAN THOMAS CENTRE, SWANSEA, 
WALES, UNITED KINGDOM. Permanent exhibit. 
Dylan Thomas (1914–1953) is one of the twentieth century’s most popular 
and oft-quoted poets. Well known throughout the English-speaking world, he 
is revered as a national hero at home in Wales, particularly in the anglicized 
south. The Man and Myth exhibit, which has been mounted permanently at 
the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea since 2001, explores the life and work 
of the writer, while intentionally and overtly casting him as a key player in the 
formation of Welsh national identity. The exhibit uses portions of the exten-
sive archival collection to highlight how Thomas’s poems reflect a long and 
glorious literary and musical past that separates the Welsh from the English 
“other.” 
The Dylan Thomas collection is held by two institutions: the Swansea 
Central Library, which holds the majority of the published records, such as 
books, articles, pamphlets, and audio recordings; and the Dylan Thomas 
Centre, which houses Thomas’s early writings, portraits, photographs, 
sketches, posters, translations, and early editions. Once a derelict building in 
the Swansea marina, the Dylan Thomas Centre was repurposed to host the UK 
Year of Literature and Writing and opened to the public on St. David’s Day 
in 1995. It originally housed a limited Dylan Thomas exhibit, but organizers 
determined in the late 1990s that a more substantial display was required to 
adequately represent the importance of Thomas to the city and to the South 
Wales people. The current permanent exhibit displays about one-third of the 
Dylan Thomas Centre’s collection, including early writings, photographs, 
sketches, and audio recordings, while the remainder is accessible to research-
ers and the public in the reading room located on site. 
The title of the exhibit suggests that Thomas has been endowed with mythi-
cal status – that he has become a symbol, not just a revered poet. In the case 
of the Man and Myth exhibit, Dylan Thomas and his work have been made 
to stand for the “idea” of the nation, that Wales has a long and glorious past 
ARCHIvARIA 73 (Spring 2012): 151–153
 
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152	 Archivaria 73 
steeped in rich linguistic, literary, and musical tradition. Thomas’s use of the 
English language with Welsh expressions and sentence structure, combined 
with his adoption of the Welsh literary tradition and the lyrical and rhythmic 
elements of his poetry, recall the glorious culture that has defined the nation 
over the centuries. By using Thomas as a symbolic vehicle, the exhibit reflects 
and reinforces Welsh identity.
Defining their identity against what Linda Colley calls an alien “them,” 
the Welsh people have established a grand historical narrative, which bypasses 
their English conquerors and links them to a glorious Celtic heritage.1 A strong 
modern culture, defined by language, literature, and music, has emerged in 
response to the lack of nation-state status and the resulting fear of cultural 
domination. Dylan Thomas drew on this rich literary and musical culture and 
imbued his poetry and prose with lyrical Welsh qualities.
It is important to make a distinction between Welsh identity in the north 
and south, as there is a cultural divide where the major motorways stop and the 
mountains of North Wales begin. Commonly referred to as “Welsh Wales,” the 
north remains largely Welsh-speaking in contrast to the more anglicized south. 
Much of Welsh cultural identity is based on maintenance of an ancient lan-
guage, and as such it would seem that there should be an Anglo-Welsh identity 
crisis. However, from the mid-1920s, writers in the south reminded the nation 
that “the dragon has two tongues.”2 
The South Wales people have been forced to forge an anglicized Welsh 
identity, and many contend that Dylan Thomas’s poetry, though composed 
in English, is distinctly Welsh in character.3 Thomas’s work owes a debt to 
Welsh literary traditions, and therefore the language in which it is composed 
does not detract from its importance in the definition of Welsh culture. Rather, 
the poetry and Thomas himself have succeeded in bridging the gap between 
the north and south, and have become two of the most important markers of 
Welsh national identity in the twentieth century. By presenting the life and 
work of Dylan Thomas, the Man and Myth exhibit is a tangible reflection of 
this cultural development.
Almost immediately upon entering the Dylan Thomas Centre, the visi-
tor encounters a large glass panel displaying text over a stylized sketch of 
Thomas’s face. The caption reads, “If I had been born and brought up in an 
igloo and lived on whales, not in it … it would have been extremely unlikely ... 
I [would have] become a writer.” Immediately, the visitor is alerted to the fact 
1 	 Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837 (London: Pimlico, 1992), 6. 
2 	 The dragon, depicted on the Welsh flag, is commonly used as a reference to the country 
itself. Geraint H. Jenkins, A Concise History of Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University 
Press, 2007), 269. 
3 	 Linden Peach, Ancestral Lines: Culture & Identity in the Work of Six Contemporary Poets
(Bridgend: Seren, 1992), 27. 
Archivaria, The Journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists – All rights reserved 
  
 
           
        
       
153 Exhibition Reviews
that Dylan Thomas is intricately linked with Wales and attributes his success 
as a writer to his home. The opening text panel calls attention to the general 
theme of the exhibit, that Dylan Thomas and Wales are synonymous, almost 
interchangeable. This is reinforced throughout the exhibit and serves to define 
Thomas as a symbol of national identity. 
The exhibit is designed to be inviting, inclusive, and experiential, perhaps 
to its detriment for those hoping to be presented with Thomas’s original manu-
scripts. The space is relatively small but is utilized effectively, so visitors are 
able to explore as they like. There are interactive elements, namely a magnetic 
poetry board and several listening posts where one can experience the musi-
cal qualities of Dylan’s work, read by the poet himself. The majority of dis-
plays are large text panels in a variety of colours, each highlighting an aspect 
of Thomas’s life. In lit glass cases, with the English text separated from the 
Welsh, are examples of Thomas’s work and photographs of the region where 
he lived. The glass cases are small, typically housing one, sometimes two, 
photographs or manuscript poems.
What is surprising about an exhibit so focused on the work of a poet is how 
the manuscripts and photographs act only as peripheral support. The exhibit 
has been carefully constructed to explore the duality of its title rather than sim-
ply present the archival collection to be examined and interpreted by visitors. 
The exhibit successfully weaves the tale of a man who has become a symbol 
of Welsh culture itself. Highly entertaining, informative, and participatory, it is 
an invaluable addition to the Swansea cultural centre. However, for those wish-
ing to explore the work of Dylan Thomas, or feel the modest excitement that 
archivists and historians experience in the presence of original manuscripts, 
the exhibit falls slightly short of the mark. visitors hoping to engage with the 
historical manuscripts will have to be content with the research room. 
The presentation speaks to the inherent methodological differences 
between archives and museums. While museological exhibits are designed to 
inform and educate through the development of a central cohesive narrative, 
archival exhibits highlight the importance of the documents themselves. Man 
and Myth, despite its literary subject matter and the archival manuscripts fea-
tured, is more of a museological exhibit than an archival one. Ultimately, it is 
much more about the creation of a symbolic myth than the work of a man. 
Emily Lonie
Library and Archives Canada 
Archivaria, The Journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists – All rights reserved 


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STEVEN J. MILLER, Metadata for Digital Collections: A How-To-Do-It Manual

TERRY COOK, ed., Controlling the Past: Documenting Society and Institutions: Essays in Honor of Helen Willa Samuels

Our Contributors

Avis aux auteurs

Inside Covers

Table of Contents

Arrangement and Description of Archives

KATE THEIMER, ed., A Different Kind of Web: New Connections Between Archives and Our Users

Dylan Thomas: Man and Myth. DYLAN THOMAS CENTRE, SWANSEA, WALES, UNITED KINGDOM

Advice to Authors of Submissions

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