Community Archives: The Shaping of Memory (Principles and Practice in Records Management and Archives)

How do archives and other cultural institutions such as museums determine the boundaries of a particular community, and of their own institutional reach, in constructing effective strategies and methodologies for selecting and maintaining appropriate material evidence? This book offers guidance to which archivists, record managers and museums professionals can turn to when faced with such issues in their daily work. This edited collection explores the relationships between communities and the records they create at a practical and scholarly level. It focuses on the ways in which records reflect community identity and collective memory, and the implications of capturing, appraising and documenting them - with particular focus on the ways in which recent advances in technology can overcome traditional obstacles, as well as how technologies themselves offer possibilities of creating new virtual communities. It is split into three parts: Context and concepts; Case studies: community archives, community and non-traditional recordkeeping, record loss, destruction and recovery, and online communities; and, practical implications. This will appeal to practitioners, researchers, and academics in the archives and records community and beyond.