History of Archiving and Archival Records in Critical Perspective

3 credits · Graduate

This course is deals with two major interrelated concerns of archivists and records managers: i) the history of archiving and archival thought; and ii) the context of the creation and the characteristics of records. It covers a wide variety of international examples from ancient times to the present, with a focus on Canadian ones since the nineteenth century. The course begins with an introduction to key concepts, theories, methods, and practices that all archivists and records managers need to know (Unit 1). Against this backdrop, we will then examine milestone events and foundational texts in archival studies, and trace how these are taken up and altered with the development of the records management field in the mid-20th century. We will do so through an antiracist/anticolonial feminist lens that centers Indigenous, racialized and marginalized voices, histories and perspectives (Unit 2). As part of that, we will interrogate the assumptions and power dynamics embedded within the archives cannon and dominant recordkeeping practices/methods by drawing on relevant contemporary debates and literatures from across disciplines.