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- Description
- Table of Contents
- About the author
- Reviews
Winner of the 2016 Preservation Publication Award from the Society of American Archivists (SAA)
Drawing on a multitude of historical texts, this sweeping yet accessible volume provides a broad understanding of preservation for librarians, archivists, and museum specialists, and related LIS and continuing education classes. Cloonan offers readers an overview of longevity, reversibility, enduring value, and authenticity of information preservation. Each section features historical works that form the basis of contemporary thinking and practices. Readings from a variety of fields primarily concerned with the preservation of cultural heritage, including many from hard-to-find publications, shed new light on how to approach contemporary problems. An ideal teaching text as well as a benchmark reference source for researchers, this book covers such key topics as
- Early perspectives on preservation, from 700 BC to the 19th century
- Cultural heritage and risks to cultural heritage, such as time and nature
- Preservation in the context of libraries, archives, museums, and the built environment
- Digitization, the preservation of time-based media, obsolescence, and other contemporary collection development and management issues
- Important frameworks for the discipline, such as policy, ethics and values, sustainability, multicultural perspectives, and more
Cloonan's selections and insightful commentary on each facet of preservation comprise a truly global and current view of the field.
Advisory Board
Preface
Acknowledgments
Preservation Timeline
Chapter One: Early Perspectives on Preservation
Jeremiah 32:14, ca. 630–580 BC
Isaiah 30:8, ca. 740–700 BC
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, Excerpts from De Architectura libri decem, ca. 75–15 BC
M. Valerii Martial, Epigrammaton Liber 10.2, ca. 40–104 AD
The Koran, Excerpt from Surah 85, "The Constellations," ca. 632
Hakīm Abul-Qāsim Ferdowsī Tūsī, Excerpt from "When the Sword of Sixty Comes Nigh His Head," from the Shahnameh, ca. 977–1010
William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18, "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?" ca. 1593–1598
Gabriel Naudé, Advis Pour Dresser Une Bibliothèque, 1627
John Weever, Excerpts from Ancient Funeral Monuments, of Great Britain, Ireland, and the Islands Adiacent, 1631
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Ebenezer Hazard, February 18, 1791
Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ozymandias," 1818
John Murray, "On the Bad Composition of Paper," 1823
Francis Lieber, Excerpts from General Orders No. 100: The Lieber Code: Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field, 1863
William Morris, et al., "The Manifesto" of The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, 1877
Chapter Two: Perspectives on Cultural Heritage
Jan Assmann, "Collective Memory and Cultural Identity," 1995
Pierre Bourdieu, Excerpts from Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, 1984
Peter Burman, "What is Cultural Heritage?" 2001
Australia International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS Inc.), The Burra Charter, 1999
Susan M. Pearce, "The Making of Cultural Heritage," 2000
Laurajane Smith, Excerpts from Uses of Heritage, 2006
Chapter Three: Preservation in Context: Libraries, Archives, Museums, and the Built Environment
- Environment
Paul N. Banks, "A Library Is Not a Museum," 1983
David W. Carr, "In the Contexts of the Possible: Librarians and Museums as Incendiary Cultural Institutions," 2000
Stanley Chodorow, "To Represent Us Truly: The Job and Context of Preserving the Cultural Record," 2006
Michele Valerie Cloonan, "The Preservation of Knowledge," 1993
F. Gerald Ham, "The Archival Edge," 1975
- Libraries
Pamela W. Darling and Sherelyn Ogden, "From Problems Perceived to Programs in Practice: The Preservation of Library Resources in the U.S.A., 1956–1980," 1981
Ross Harvey, "Developing a Library Preservation Program," 1993
Jan Merrill-Oldham, "Taking Care: An Informed Approach to Library Preservation," 2002
- Archives
David Bearman, "Retention and Preservation," 1989
Richard J. Cox, "Digital Curation and the Citizen Archivist," 2009
Kenneth E. Foote, "To Remember and Forget: Archives, Memory, and Culture," 1990
Anne J. Gilliland, Enduring Paradigm, New Opportunities: The Value of the Archival Perspective in the Digital Environment, 2000, updated 2011
James M. O'Toole, "On the Idea of Permanence," 1989
- Museums
Edward Porter Alexander and Mary Alexander, "To Conserve," 2008
James Cuno, Excerpt from "The Object of Art Museums," 2003
John Cotton Dana, "Why This Series Is Begun: The Old Museum and the New," 1917
G. Brown Goode, "The Relationships and Responsibilities of Museums," 1895
- Historic Preservation/Architectural Conservation
Cesare Brandi, Excerpts from "The Concept of Restoration," in Theory of Restoration, 1963
James Marston Fitch, "The Philosophy of Restoration: Williamsburg to the Present," 1992
Jukka Jokilehto, "Preservation Theory Unfolding," 2006
Paul Philippot, Excerpts from "Historic Preservation: Philosophy, Criteria, Guidelines," 1972
Chapter Four: Collections: Development and Management
Ross W. Atkinson, "Selection for Preservation: A Materialistic Approach," 1986
Paula De Stefano, "Selection for Digital Conversion in Academic Libraries," 2001
Dan Hazen, Jeffrey Horrell, and Jan Merrill-Oldham, Excerpts from "Selecting Research Collections for Digitization," 1998
- Collections: Time-Based Media
Karen F. Gracy, "Preservation in a Time of Transition: Redefining Stewardship of Time-Based Media in the Digital Age," 2013
Howard Besser, "Digital Preservation of Moving Image Material?" 2001
Gregory Lukow, "The Politics of Orphanage: The Rise and Impact of the ‘Orphan Film' Metaphor on Contemporary Preservation Practice," 1999
Mark S. Roosa, "Sound and Audio Archives," 2009
Dietrich Schűller, "Socio-technical and Socio-cultural Challenges of Audio and Video Preservation," 2008
Chapter Five: Risks to Cultural Heritage: Time, Nature, and Humans
Rebecca Knuth, "Understanding Modern Biblioclasm," 2006
Pip Laurenson, "Inside Instillations. Preservation and Presentation of Instillation Art. Part 1: Risk Assessment," 2007
Dennis S. Mileti and Lori Peek, "How Do Societies Manage Risk?" 2001
Peter Waters, Excerpts from Procedures for Salvage of Water-Damaged Materials, 1993
Chapter Six: Conservation
Paul N. Banks, "The Laws of Conservation," n.d., with new material added by the editor
Christopher Clarkson, "Minimum Intervention in Treatment of Books," 1999
Douglas Cockerell, Excerpt from A Note on Bookbinding, 1904
Caroline K. Keck, "The Role of the Conservator," 1972
Sheldon Keck, "Further Materials for a History of Conservation," 1976
Andrew Oddy, "Does Reversibility Exist in Conservation?" 1999
Jan Paris, "Conservation and the Politics of Use and Value in Research Libraries," 2000
Nicholas Pickwoad, "Distinguishing between the Good and Bad Repair of Books," 1994
Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler, Excerpts from "Conservation Treatment," Preserving Archives and Manuscripts, 2nd ed., 2010
Chapter Seven: Frameworks for Digital Preservation
Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information, Excerpts from Preserving Digital Information: Report of the Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information, 1996
Paul Conway, Excerpts from Preservation in the Digital World, 1996
Margaret Hedstrom, "Understanding Electronic Incunabula: A Framework for Research on Electronic Records," 1991
Brian Lavoie and Lorcan Dempsey, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at . . . Digital Preservation," 2004
Clifford Lynch, "Repatriation, Reconstruction, and Cultural Diplomacy in the Digital World," 2008
Jeff Rothenberg, "Ensuring the Longevity of Digital Documents," 1995
Abby Rumsey, Why Digitize? 1999
Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access, Excerpts from Sustainable Economics for a Digital Planet: Ensuring Long-Term Access to Digital Information: Final Report, 2008
Chapter Eight: Preservation Policy
Ellen Cunningham-Kruppa, "Exploring Cultural Policy at Humanities Texas," 2010, updated 2012
John H. Hammer, "On the Political Aspects of Book Preservation in the U.S.," 1992
John Henry Merryman, "Art Systems and Cultural Policy," 2009
Chapter Nine: Ethics and Values
- Selected Conventions, Charters, Declarations, and Professional Association Codes of Ethics
United Nations, Excerpts from Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
UNESCO, Excerpt from Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, 1954
UNESCO, Excerpt from Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, 1972
United Nations, excerpts from Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2007
Salzburg Declaration on the Conservation and Preservation of Cultural Heritage, 2009
American Alliance of Museums, Code of Ethics for Museums: A Sampling, 1991, amended 2000
American Association for State and Local History, Excerpts from Statement of Professional Standards and Ethics, 2012
American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, Excerpts from Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice, 1994
American Library Association, excerpt from Code of Ethics, 1939, amended 1981, 1995, 2008
Association of Moving Image Archivists, Excerpt from Code of Ethics, 2009
Society of American Archivists, Excerpts from Code of Ethics for Archivists, 2005, revised 2012
- Articles
Richard Cox and James O'Toole, "The Impulse to Save," 2006
Richard Cox and James O'Toole, "The Impulse to Destroy," 2006
Samuel Jones and John Holden, "Conservation and Its Values," 2008
Ellen Pearlstein, "Restoring Provenance to a Native American Feather Blanket," 2010
Ernst van de Wetering, "Conservation-Restoration: Ethics and the Problem of Modern Art," 1999
Chapter Ten: Multicultural Perspectives
Lourdes Arizpe, "Cultural Heritage and Globalization," 2000
Miriam Clavir, "First Nations Perspectives on Preservation and Museums," 2002
Virginia Greene, "‘Accessories of Holiness': Defining Jewish Sacred Objects," 1992
Sven Haakanson, Jr., "Why Should American Indian Cultural Objects Be Preserved?" 2004
Chapter Eleven: Sustainability
Erica Avrami, Randall Mason, and Marta de la Torre, Excerpts from Values and Heritage Conservation, 2000
David Lowenthal, "Stewarding the Future," 2005
Rebecca Meyer, Shannon Struble, and Phyllis Catsikis, "Sustainability: A Review," 2012
Chapter Twelve: Epilogue
Contributors
Credits
Author Index
General Index
"There is a good balance between the historic roots of preservation and contemporary challenges surrounding digital preservation ... A sound investment for anyone seeking an overview of the field of preservation."
— Library Journal
"This volume makes a diverse array of articles and some from hard-to-find sources easily accessible for students of architecture, cultural heritage, historical conservation, book arts, and related programs of study. Taken together, the readings included here provide an excellent single-volume overview to introduce readers to the wide concerns of preservationists."
— CHOICE
"A wonderful contribution to the preservation literature. The readings are expertly selected and organized in a highly successful way that cumulatively tells us much about where the profession has come from and where it is headed."
— Technical Services Quarterly
"Highly recommended."
— Technicalities
"Professionals and students alike working in and studying about archives, museums, libraries, and historic preservation now have a clear and compelling place to either begin or continue a review of the literature that should inform their everyday work. This hefty anthology helpfully consolidates some of the key literature that charts the evolution of perspectives on preserving our cultural heritage and establishes valuable context and purpose for the field ... The crossdisciplinary approach of this anthology is immensely useful and revealing as to how professionals across disciplines have been thinking and talking about longevity, reversibility, enduring value, and authenticity, among other topics."
— Journal of Western Archives
"The particular pedagogical strength of this book lies in its multidisciplinary approach to the subject matter. Preservation is considered in multiple settings: libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions ... an invaluable resource for all who consider preservation among their core professional responsibilities."
— New England Archivists Newsletter