Manda Lueders

Olivia Hessler
Haley Simpson
February 25, 2018
Group 2
Primary Source Project

60657 Primary Source Project

Executive Summary:
This 45 minute presentation concerning archival appraisal will be centered around the
various collections of the National Museum of African American History and Culture located in
Washington D.C. The lesson will be utilized to educate and stimulate critical thinking of archival
records and how archivists make decisions regarding items that are chosen for archival
repositories. The lesson will begin with a discussion of what an archive is and its purpose to
society. During this introduction, students will be given time to brainstorm and learn the different
kinds of archives that exist. Next, students will briefly learn about the key members of archives,
archivists and how a person becomes an archivist through interests and necessary degree fields.
Following this, the discussion of appraisal will begin, outlining relevant topics such as the
relevance of materials and proper storage and handling. The difficulties of appraisal will be
discussed including topics like intrinsic value, history and provenance of materials, and
understanding if an object is relevant to an archive and its collections. Along with these subjects,
authenticity, accessibility, and its relation to archival appraisal will be mentioned. Different
approaches to appraisal will be discussed to outline the various ways that archivists have
historically approached archival materials and its evolution. Along with this, successes and
concerns of appraisal will be touched on briefly. A PowerPoint presentation will then display the
various collections of the National Museum of African American History and Culture as an
example of an archival repository and appraisal by examining specific objects found within their
collections.
At the end of the tour, students will be given a chance to appraise potential archival
materials in order to gain first hand experience. During this exercise, students will be sorted into
groups of 3-4 and have 5 items they must appraise based on what they have just learned. The
application of this exercise following the culmination of their tour will enable them to apply the
thoughts and theories of archival appraisal in order to make critical decisions. Ultimately, the
goal of the presentation and tour is to educate students of the importance of archives and the
critical thinking skills that must be utilized in order to effectively determine the worth of an
object. Necessary background information to have before the visit include prior knowledge
related to archivists and what they do in an archive. This will be beneficial, as it will enable the
archivists to spend more time discussing appraisal. Along with this, prior knowledge relating to
African American history and culture should also be discussed with students beforehand. Below
are short reflection questions in order to prepare students for their introduction of archival
appraisal and everything that it entails:
1. What do you think is the purpose of an archive?
2. What do you want to see in this particular archive?
3. How do you think archives decide what they contain?
4. What challenges do you see there being to digital archives? How do you think they
decide what to keep in digital archives?

Resource List:

Bahde, Anne, Heather Smedberg, and Mattie Taormina. Using Primary Sources: Hands-on
Instructional Exercises. , 2014. Print.

Boles, Frank and Julia Young. Exploring the Black Box: The Appraisal of University
Administrative Records. The American Archivist: Spring 1985, Vol. 48, No. 2, pp. 121-140.

Cook, Terry. “Mind Over Matter: Towards a New Theory of Archival Appraisal.” in Barbara
L. Craig, ed., The Archival Imagination: Essays in Honour of Hugh A. Taylor (Ottawa, 1992),
pp. 38-. 70.

Cook, Terry. "We Are What We Keep; We Keep What We Are: Archival Appraisal Past, Present
& Future." Journal of the Society of Archivists 32 (2), 2011, 173-189.

Duranti, Luciana. “The Concept of Appraisal and Archival Theory,” American Archivist, Vol.
57.(Spring 1994) Pp. 328-344.

Flinn, Andrew, Stevens, Mary, and Shepherd, Elizabeth. "Whose memories, whose archives?
Independent community archives, autonomy, and the mainstream," Archival Science 9 (Fall
2009): 71-86.
Ham, F. Gerald. "The Archival Edge," American Archivist 38 (January 1975): 5-13.
Intrinsic Value in Archival Material, NARS Staff Information Paper 21 (Washington DC:
National Archives and Records Service, 1982).
The National Archives UK.”What is an archive?.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 24
October 2013. Web. 19 February 2018.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URhWOKyve-I
Shilton, Katie and Srinivasan, Ramesh. "Participatory Appraisal and Arrangement for
Multicultural Archival Collections," Archivaria 63 (Spring 2009): 87-101.
https://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/13129/14371
Tschan, Reto. "A Comparison of Jenkinson and Schellenberg on Appraisal. American Archivist
65 (Fall/Winter 2002); 176-195.
Visual Reference:
See attached PowerPoint Presentation
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LjZpIiP9aELpd1bjFpwpafm2QVlD7X2HBX7BUJ_cFy
Q/edit?usp=sharing

Presentation Plan:

Part I: Introduction
The introductory portion of this presentation will be utilized to gain the students’ perspective of
archives and the role of archivists in society.

1. What are Archives? (10 mins)

• Get the students’ perspectives on archives
o What do archivists do?
o Are archives important? Why or why not?
o What effect do they have on society?
o Can you name any institutions that have archives?
• Discuss how one becomes an archivist
o Necessary degrees and fields (i.e. MLIS, History, etc.)

Part II: Archival Appraisal Discussion

This portion of the presentation will focus on the topic of archival appraisal. Here, students will
learn about the process of appraisal including different challenges related to archival appraisal.
Intrinsic value, relevance, provenance, and other related terms will be discussed during this
integral section. The varying approaches from archival scholars like Schellenberg and Jenkinson
will be touched on as well along with counter arguments from Ham and Samuels. Students will
also learn about the fate of archival material that is not chosen for archiving within particular
archives as well as the permanence of archival materials including its relation to reappraisal of
archival materials. Finally, the National Museum of African American History and Culture will
be utilized as the example of an archive and select materials will be discussed as examples for
archival appraisal.

2. Archival Appraisal (15 mins)

• What is appraisal?
o Discuss this process and some of the key challenges
o Intrinsic value, relevance, provenance, etc.
o Condition, storage, need for restoration
o Explain authenticity of materials and how appraisal is utilized to determine an
object’s authenticity
o Explain accessibility and access to materials
• Approaches to Appraisal
o Schellenberg, Jenkinson, Ham
o How have approaches evolved over time?
• What can happen to items that are not accepted?
o Sometimes sent to other archives
o Returned to donor
o Sold by archive in order to fund acquisition of other items/institutional needs
• Is appraisal permanent?
o No, it can change if the mission of the archive is changed
o Reappraisal should be done as needed or according to a prior schedule
• Use the National American History Museum as an example
o What does it collect and why?
o Discuss its collection policy, why is this so important for archives?
o Use PowerPoint presentation to show examples from its collection.
Part III: Archival Appraisal Exercise
This section of the presentation will be an exercise conducted by the students. The students will
be divided into groups of 3-4 and be given 5 objects to examine. Each group will be given the
same 5 objects to apply their knowledge of appraisal to determine if each object is relevant to the
archives for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. 3 of the objects will
have relevance to the institution while the other 2 will have historical significance, but not for the
institution in question. Students will have 10 minutes to review each item and will then share
their decision for each item with the class.

3. Appraisal Exercise (10-15 mins)

• Students will divided into small groups (3-4)
• Each group will be given 5 items they will have to appraise using the information
that was presented to them.
1. Beyonce’s yellow dress from the music video “Hold Up”
a. Yes, because it is from a culturally significant music video about black women’s identity
2. A handwritten letter from JFK to Pierre Salinger, his press secretary, about how to frame
the Vietnam War during press conferences
. No, because it does not have to do with African American history or culture
3. A photograph taken of Martin Luther King Jr. from someone at the crowd of a civil rights
march, MLK is shown talking to some people at the site
. Yes, because it shows an important figure from the civil rights movement. Bonus points
if the kids mention that labels on the photograph make it more important
4. Text Book of the Madam C. J. Walker Schools of Beauty Culture
a. Yes, because it is an artifact from Madam C.J. Walker, a prominent figure in the African
American community known for her contribution to beauty products created specifically for
African American women. Walker is also renowned for being one of the first self-made
American women millionaires in American history.
https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/collection/search?edan_q=%2A%3A%2A&edan_local=1&edan_f
q%5B%5D=topic%3A%22Education%22
5. An audio file containing an interview with marchers from the Women’s March in Atlanta,
Georgia.
a. No, because it does not have to do with African American history or culture.
 • After 10 mins, each group will share their decisions with the class and we will discuss
each approach
Part IV: Conclusion
The final part of this presentation will focus on concluding the presentation within the last 5
minutes and answering any questions or closing thoughts from the students. Make sure to phrase
the asking of questions as an open ended question, rather than yes or no to hopefully elicit more
responses.

4. Conclusion (5 mins)
• Closing thoughts
• Take final questions from students