Related Material – The Arrangement and Description of Family Papers

This article examines the treatment of family papers in a sample of specialist repositories in the UK. It is suggested that there is an inherent tension between thematic collecting policies and traditional archival theories concerning the preservation of provenance. This conflict has sometimes been more broadly characterized in archival thought as the choice between serving the needs of users and that of fulfilling archival requirements. Family papers can serve to highlight these difficulties, due to their often complex provenance and wide-ranging content. It is argued that, through arrangement and description, archivists have sometimes simplified and, in some cases, distorted information about records in their care in order to meet the perceived interests of their users. It is concluded that authority records, if properly developed, could protect provenance, enable easier access and minimize the privileging of information within multifaceted collections such as family papers.