Historical Archives Part 2: The Historians Perspective

Adam Chapman

Aims and Objectives

How are archives and their content created? How do the contents of archives end up there? Who decides? What sort of material might be expected? Approaches to documents Applications in archaeology

The whys of archives

Institutional memory in this sense, a medieval cartulary and the minute book of a nineteenth century shipyard perform exactly the same function though what they can tell us about urban landscapes may be rather different. Legal or financial expediency or, it might be useful one day.

The whys of archives

Audit do not underestimate this: a vast amount of the surviving documents of central and local government survive because someone, somewhere thought that others would come and check up on how something was done or how money was spent. Recording an event or sequence of events anything from a medieval court roll to a football match report.

The whys of archives

And finally: Conscious safeguarding of items of historical significance preservation and conservation. This has been happening for longer than you might think.

Approaches to Documents
Texts dealing strictly with the content, the way in which language is deployed the assumptions behind it and the processes which shape authorial choice. The Document as Object Material Culture. This approach considers documents within their physical context. How does it appear? Is care taken in its preparation and display? What function does the document perform? How does it signify ownership? Omission what does a document not do and why?

Types of Archive:
Public Private and Personal correspondence, clubs and societies, family, legal or financial Corporate Trade and Industry or even University Governmental (National and Local) Church Community

Archival Material: Medieval

Archival Material: Medieval

Very process-driven and probably in Latin Dominated by Church and State but this covers an enormous amount of ground Of particular use, from an archaeological perspective, are building accounts, rentals and inventories note these refer primarily to buildings and plots Limited survival of private documents

Archival Material : Modern (i.e. post 1500)

Stands a good chance of being in English. More varied in origin, content and purpose. Greater survival of private documents. More pictorial and mapping evidence. The closer to the present you get, the more there is a positive and a negative Not necessarily historic the HER and similar datasets can be regarded as archives

Following that reference:

What does TNA E 101/18/1 actually mean? How can this help? TNA = The National Archives (formerly the Public Record Office) E = Records of the Exchequer E 101 = King's Remembrancer: Accounts Various (sub-series: records of the army and navy) 18/1 = The specific document

Recording, Transcription and Note-taking

Recording and Note-keeping

Photography Pros Quick, cost-effective and you can enlarge it when you get home. Cons copyright, institutional policies, keeping track of data, limitations. It does not save taking notes. Sorry. IF IN DOUBT ASK

General points
What information do you want from the document? Do you need to transcribe it all? Is this a good use of your time?

 Record what is there and not what you think is there note alternative spellings for example: Is Dinfor the same as Dinefwr or Dynafor? Beware different languages in the same document

Applications of Archival Material

Research Archives
Often available online having been assembled as part of research projects Synthesise archival sources in more accessible forms (potentially, this does not always work) May well include items not easily or accessibly documented to a lay audience this is especially true of medieval documents

Footbridge over railway line from Waterloo to the old Terminus Station and Docks, connecting Marsh Lane (W side) with Chantry Road (E side), City of Southampton.

Historic Mapping: John Speed Southampton 1611 the earliest extant street plan of the city

Reconstructive mapping based on archives and archaeology: Medieval Southampton

Southampton c. 1454 (3D render based on 1454 Terrier and archaeological data)