This page will link to various texts on archival theory and practice. Understanding how archivists arrange, describe, and make collections accessible will help you, the researcher, better navigate across repositories. While each archival repository may do things slightly differently, the theory that grounds archival practice remains the same. Concepts such as provenance, order, description, gaps, and neutrality and biases are included in the list below.
Douglas, Jennifer. “Toward More Honest Description.” The American Archivist 79, no. 1 (2016): 26–55. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26356699
Drake, Jarrett. “RadTech Meets RadArch: Towards A New Principle for Archives and Archival Description” https://medium.com/on-archivy/radtech-meets-radarch-towards-a-new-principle-for-archives-and-archival-description-568f133e4325
Duranti, Luciana. "Origin and Development of the Concept of Archival Description," Archivaria 35 (1993): 47-54. https://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/11884
Janak, Edward, "What do you Mean it's not There? Doing Null History," American Archivist 1 March 2020; 83 (1): 57-76. doi: https://doi.org/10.17723/0360-9081-83.1.57
Kathleen D. Roe: "Why Archives?" American Archivist 1 June 2016; 79 (1): 6-13. doi: https://doi.org/10.17723/0360-9081.79.1.6
Stuchel, Dani. “Material Provocations in the Archives.” Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies 17 May 2020; 3 (1). doi: https://doi.org/10.24242/jclis.v3i1.103
Thompson, Samantha "How Can You Help Archivists to Help You? Reference Services from Our Side of the Desk"
Winn, Sam. “The Hubris of Neutrality in Archives” https://medium.com/on-archivy/the-hubris-of-neutrality-in-archives-8df6b523fe9f
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