Norton on archives: The writings of Margaret Cross Norton on archival & records management

by Margaret Cross Norton, Thornton W. Mitchell (Editor)

Detailing every facet of archival and records management, this collection of 30 articles by the distinguished former Illinois state archivist is both a manual and a history of American archives administration. The significance of Margaret Norton, Illi­nois state archivist from 1922 to 1957, in the evolution and maturation of archives administration in the United States cannot be overestimated. As early as 1930 she paved the way toward the recognition of archives administration as an indispensable element of public service entitled to full public sup­port. Never preaching or dictating, she attacked the problems confronting the ar­chivist, diagnosed their nature, and sug­gested how they may be dealt with—doing so with the wisdom that revealed a judicious mind. Dealing with the concepts, principles, and techniques of archival management, these comprehensive essays brought to­gether here thus demonstrate the art of con­verting theory into practice through in­cisive examination and explication of the vast dimensions of the archival profession. Heretofore unavailable or buried in in­accessible journals the essays represent a precious source of material and study for ar­chivists and students of the profession. Miss Norton’s essays have a timelessness and a currency that give them continuing value, because the techniques and concerns she ex­pressed during her career have not been superseded in any large part, if at all. Norton on Archives stands as an important monu­ment to her work, second only to the pres­tigious archives she help build in the state of Illinois.

288 pages, Unknown Binding

First published November 1, 1975

About the author

1891-1984

Reviews

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my academic genealogy great-grandmother. It took me a bit of time to get through because I read it at night in bed, and it is that weird mix of a book that is both interesting enough to want to keep reading, but also boring enough that you would love to fall asleep. A page-turner it is not, but selected chapters should be on Archives 101 syllabi nationwide. My favorite part about this book is that it was made of just cramming together her old articles from various journals, because when encouraged to write a book in her retirement she said, essentially, "got more than enough of academic writing when I had to do it my dudes, I am now gardening until I die." But her cult of respect was high enough that they decided to make a book anyway.

MCN was unique in her time for her focus on government records as a tool of the state foremost, and a service to history only second. The first chapter makes a solid argument for this, not just because that's indeed how the records are primarily used, but also because it keeps the funding in the forefront of the minds of governmental bodies, and thus your archives are less likely to die the death of 1000 budgetary cuts. Her detailed anxieties on the quality of paper is a bit dated now, especially since climate control is now pretty standard (although I did sort of like the idea of matching grade of paper to retention period, even though it is and was utterly impractical for any office to have 5 grades of paper you'd have to thoughtfully select from every time you sat down to write, but is was interesting), but you could take every paragraph about the mixed values of microfilming, replace "microfilming" with "digitizing," and it would be 100% correct to today's challenges.

[Illona · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was really enjoyable to read, the descriptions of her history, how she came to the field of archiving, the importance of archiving government documents and more.

Table of Contents
The scope and function of archives
The purpose and nature of archives
The organization and operation of an archives
Services and resources of an archives
The comparison of archival and library techniques
Classification and description of archives
Making and control of administrative records
Physical properties of archives
The handling and repair of fragile documents
The protection of records from disaster
Photographic and microphotographic reproductions of records
Records disposal
The archivist and records management.