Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts

by Dennis Meissner

Arrangement and description lie at the very heart of the archival endeavor. While all archival functions are crucial and interdependent, arrangement and description transform the potential value of materials into practical, usable value for researchers and others. In Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts, Dennis Meissner provides a solid foundation in the history, theory, and standards supporting arrangement and description. In addition, he clearly demonstrates the approaches, methods, and mechanics required to process archival collections.

The processing landscape has changed considerably in the last decade: archivists focus more on the economics of processing, descriptive standards have matured and increased in number, new technologies and viewpoints have challenged long-standing assumptions, and evolving systems and software have changed the mechanics of metadata capture and serialization and our approaches to those fundamental processes. This is a must-read book for every archivist practicing today.

Genres: Nonfiction, Grad School, Read For School

212 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1990

Reviews

[Kylie Kincaid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truly learned a lot through reading Meissner’s thoughts on describing archival content. However, I gave the book four stars because Meissner annoyed me with his flippant remarks on preservation in the context of MPLP. Watch yourself, Dennis.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're new to the world of archival description as I was, this is a great place to start. There is a lot of information to ingest, but Meissner provides excellent examples and helpful appendices to help plod through it. This was used as the textbook for Archival Arrangement and Description - an IU Indianapolis graduate class. For once I felt the $$ I paid for a textbook was worth it.

[Colin Post · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another entry in the typically excellent Archival Fundamentals Series III. Meissner’s guide to arrangement and description provides a solid overview of the mechanics and theory of this area of archives. The guide offers some good resources for further study too.

[Melissa Nestico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for school. Very informative.

[Rachel]

this book was very helpful and I referred to it a lot this semester but I resent the fact that I had to spend $60 on the e-book version