Thanks to Mark Patrick for directing members of the
list to a phenomenal special collection, to the
Detroit Public Library that houses and supports it,
and to the work of a highly dedicated staff of
librarians and archivists who care for and make all of
its resources accessible to a wide range of users. 

Everyone stand up and take a bow!

http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/Special_Collections/special_collections.htm
 
http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/Main_Library/Main_Library.htm

By their very nature, however, nearly ALL archives are
closed to the general public. Simply put, this is
because rare documents don't take kindly to handling
by many people -- regardless of their socio-economic
class. 

Hence archives generally require that researchers who
would like to access a particular collection must
prove both their credentials and their purposes. I
seriously doubt, for example, that everyone who asks
for "Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer among the Indians"
(contained in the Detroit Public Library's Samuel
Clemens Collection, which is part of the Burton
Historical Collection that Mark Patrick referred to),
will be given the original manuscript.

Of course, it is NOT always true that every special
collection severely restricts access to its wealth of
historic resources, but it IS the case in the
overwhelming majority of archives. And the reputations
of archivist whose work so frequently goes unnoticed
may suffer as a result, along with the salaries they
are paid.

Pax Universalis, ms

--- Mark Patrick <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

The presumption in the post attached below is that all
archives are not heavily used by the "masses". I have
managed two heavily used archives--the National
Automotive History Collection and the Burton
Historical Collection, both  at Detroit Public
Library. We get many thousands of user inquiries each
year and are very proud of it. Outreach is an
important component of our service and we are always
looking for ways to market what we hold to the public.
Use accredits us and even though some may not know to
officially call us archivists, my observation is that
users intuitively understand what we do in our
collections and nearly all appreciate us. Proof is
that our millages are overwhelmingly passed by
voters-- people I personally would not refer to as the
"masses". Mark Patrick

"Scott, Kim" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent by: Archives & Archivists
<[log in to unmask]>
06/19/2006 01:53 PM CST
Please respond to "Scott, Kim"

 To: [log in to unmask]
 cc: 
 bcc: 
 Subject: Pax Archivus
  



Ok, ok….so you know my Latin isn’t up to snuff
either….



We probably, as a profession, ought to spend more time
selling people on the value of the work we do, rather
than trying to sell each other on the value of our
education (or our educational program, if we are
fishing for students).  



The bottom line is that the service we provide is used
by so few people when compared to those other
professions, like doctors, lawyers, and (gasp)
librarians.  Since our customer base is so small, we
have a larger responsibility of convincing the masses
who will never darken our doors that it is a good idea
to keep paying us.



Kim Allen Scott

MontanaStateUniversity, Bozeman
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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
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