Archival Science 3: 6566, 2003.

65

Book Review

Bruce W. Dearstyne, Managing Historical Records Programs: A Guide for

Historical Agencies (Walnut Creek, California: AltaMira Press, 2000), 240
pp. $62.00/$24.95. ISBN 0-7425-0282-1

Until recently in the UK, most archivists assumed that the responsible way
of ensuring the future preservation of and access to the records of local
communities was through their deposit in or gift to an established local
authority record office or a specialist repository. Historical societies, literary
institutes, charities, local museums and public libraries were discouraged
from keeping archives, especially if they had no professional archival staff
(which they generally did not) and if they were reliant on volunteer help.
Archivists believed that proper provision could only be made in adequately
staffed and funded record offices, even though this meant removing archives
from their original context. In part, this stems from the century-long tradition
of a network of county record offices across England that offered levels of
service far beyond what a small institution could aspire to. Hard won recog-
nition for the archive profession and its achievements was defended and for
archives of outstanding importance their proper care is clearly paramount.
A more inclusive and flexible approach is now emerging, which takes into
account the value to local communities of all sorts of historical materials.
Against this British perspective, it is almost shocking to read that US State
Historical Records Advisory Boards surveys carried out in the late 1990s
found that less than one third of the historical agencies holding historical
records had a professional staff member, almost one third relied entirely on
volunteers and 40% had budgets below $1000. Dearstyne sounds a cautionary
note when he remarks how easy, and common, it is to underestimate what it
takes to manage historical records in a responsible manner and on a sustained
basis. However, he does not advise historical agencies to give up, rather he
sets about writing a soundly based and practical handbook intended to help
these agencies find solutions and approaches that best fit their needs.
The handbook is organised into ten thematic chapters which address the
framework and management of archives programmes (e.g. prerequisites for
programme success, leadership and management) and the key professional
activities (e.g. arrangement and description, preservation, services to users).
There is a brief look at the future in chapters on electronic archives and on
66 BOOK REVIEW

current trends. Almost 100 pages are devoted to practical appendices, which
usefully gather material from a variety of sources and reproduce it with some
additional commentary. Each chapter (except chapters 6 and 10) ends with
a handful of questions, designed to help the reader to check their records
programme against good practice.
I have some differences of opinion on some of the matters discussed.
Chapter 1 defines the terms used. Dearstyne suggests that records are defined
by their informational content: I think that their essence is that they provide
evidence of an activity and this is what makes a record distinct from an infor-
mation product. He also says that document means approximately the same
thing as record which it does not.1 I dislike the use of collection to mean
fonds or record group: I think that it should only be applied to artificially
created collections such as those amassed by an antiquarian.
Apart from a short discussion of records management on page 2, this vital
part of our work is not mentioned. The justification may be that the book is
directed at acquisitive archives (Dearstynes collecting programs) but they
all ought to be encouraged to have an interest in the record creating activities
of the parent body especially when the records are created electronically.
Dearstyne effectively admits this difficulty in chapter 9 when he suggests
that the best option may be for electronic records to stay in the organizations
that created them. Local authority record offices in the UK commonly neglect
the management of the current records of their parent body, to the ultimate
detriment of the archives, and this book perpetuates this weakness.
My other main criticism of the book is that it makes little reference to inter-
national approaches and standards. For example, in chapter 6, Arrangement
and Description, while MARC, AACR2 and Library of Congress Subject
Headings are discussed, there is no mention of the International Standards
on Archival Description (such as ISAD(G)) published by the International
Council on Archives. Although there may be practical reasons for such an
approach it limits the usefulness of the book to audiences working outside
the North American tradition.
These points aside, Dearstyne has produced a useful, practical handbook
which will no doubt be invaluable to its target audience. It is to be hoped that
it will contribute to the strengthening of historical records programmes along
the lines of Dearstynes recommendations.

Elizabeth Shepherd
School of Library, Archive and Information Studies
University College London, London, UK

1 For a discussion of these and other terms, see E. Shepherd and G. Yeo, Managing
Records: A Handbook of Principles and Practice (London: Facet Publishing, 2003) pp. 25,
1317.