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- Title
Donors and Donor Agency: Implications for Private Archives Theory and Practice.
- Authors
FISHER, ROB
- Abstract
Donors of archival fonds are largely neglected in our professional literature, and yet for many archives, donors are essential to building a rich and vibrant collection. Though archivists have a wealth of practical experience with donors, there is a paucity of research and reflection about them. The role of donors deserves greater inquiry. Donors introduce a dynamic element to the archival process, bringing their own values, ideas, and interests. Examining donors through the concept of agency, as developed in the social sciences, reveals that they exercise significant influence on key archival functions, which in our theoretical models are generally treated as the sole purview of archival professionals. Donor relations are negotiated, perhaps even contested ground that ultimately shapes the surviving documentary record of society. What are the implications of donor agency for archival practice? What motivates donors to offer their material to an archives? How does donor interaction influence the acquisition and appraisal environment? How should we adapt archival models to reflect the reality of donors in private archives more accurately? This article explores donors and donor agency, arguing for their place in archival theory.
- Subjects
ARCHIVES -- Gifts, legacies; ARCHIVE acquisitions; ENDOWMENTS; ARCHIVAL theory; LIBRARY science
- Publication
Archivaria, 2015, Issue 79, p91
- ISSN
0318-6954
- Publication type
Article