Archives, whether big or small hold and document the history and development of an institution, its collections, exhibitions, programs, and the contributions of its individuals and outside groups. They collect, organize, preserve, and provide access to the collection, through different avenues, while exhibiting and showcasing important artifacts, documents, and relics, just as their museum counterparts do. These archives hold information and artifacts in a variety of mediums and storage units, some of which require permanent physical storage while others can be digitized and stored in servers, both on and off the premises. Museums like archives share many similarities in their content, history, environmental, storage and preservation concerns, as well as their stated goals and missions, which lay out the foundation for both repositories as interpreters and holders of history, culture and identity. A look a journal articles defining the current trend of archives include a look at archives in partnerships and convergences with museums, a look at the role of archives today and a look at the trend in both physical and digital exhibitions, which may lead archives in the direction of museums.
Museums and institutional archives, like that of Shangri La, share many similarities, as repositories for history and culture. Archives, whether institutional, governmental, or educational in nature, all share a common interest, as centers of information. On closer examination, these institutional archives, most holding unique documents and artifacts also serve as a gallery of history, in the same way a museum exhibits artwork, with archivists serving as its “curators.”
These “curators,” arrange and interpret their archives according to a concept known as respect des fonds , a principle which seeks to preserve both original order and provenance. This overarching principal serves as the framework for arrangement similar to that of an art museum, which may group art works by medium, time period, style, or artist
Trend towards partnership
Museums like archives share many of the same goals and missions, to collect, preserve, interpret, arrange, and provide access to its collection in articles by J. Trant, Alexandra Yarrow,
Barbara Clubb, and Jennifer-Lynn Draper, common goals and visions for the future, is what propels museums and archives into a path of convergence. Examples outside the scope of the articles include: Institutions such as The University of Calgary, which merged their archives and
1

special collections with their library, art museum, and press, creating a library and cultural resource center, closing the gap between informational repositories, creating one entity, for its patrons.
1
Along with UC, the Tyne and Wear Museum and Archives in the United Kingdom have also merged in 2009, creating one entity from which to serve its patrons. The trend towards partnership can be a win for all; giving archives a gallery space for exhibitions, providing museums valuable research opportunities and giving the public more access to archival collections.
Museums and archives, have also partnered here in the United States like the
Contemporary Jewish Museum, featuring the Jewish Museum of San Francisco, which was arts oriented, and the Magnes Museum, which featured a historical archive collection merging in
2002. Other collaborations and partnership between libraries, archives, and museum include various projects like Museum and Online Archive of California (MOAC) initiative which partners 13 institution include the SF MOMA, the Japanese American National Museum, and
UCLA and Berkeley resources with the goal of enhancing interoperability and integration of resources, lowering the cost of participating institutions who wish to share digital content.
Another example of collaboration is the Publication of Archival, Library and Museum Materials
(PALMM) in Florida, which publishes and digitizes the collection of universities, national parks, archives, and library material.
2
These examples allow users to merge resources from multiple institutions and repositories, when performing searches across databases, providing a more userfriendly experience, while allowing greater access to their resources.
3
The convergences and similarities discussed in these articles help to contextualize this discourse for the future of archives and museums, creating distinct roles for each institution while sharing commonalities between the two.
Some of the driving forces behind this potential future include: economic pressures, business model evolution, value chain disruption, interpretive and service options, digitization and technology movement, primary source preservation and storage, content market dynamics,
1 “Library and Cultural Resources,” University of Calgary, <http://lcr.ucalgary.ca/>
2 Alexandra Yarrow, Barbara Clubb, and Jennifer-Lynn Draper, "Public Libraries, Archives and Museums: Trends in Collaboration and Cooperation," International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions , 108, Web, 21
Mar. 2012, <http://www.ifla.org/files/public-libraries/publications/prof-report-108/108-en.pdf>.
3 J. Trant, "Emerging Convergence? Thoughts on museums, archives, libraries and professional training," Museum
Management and Curatorship , 24.4 (2009): 369-386, Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.archimuse.com/papers/trantConvergence0908-final.pdf>.
2

and their community-building missions.
4
These drivers, put forth by David R. Curry, provide one future for archives as a pivotal part in the new information environment. Other initiatives that highlight digital content include the New Media Consortium (NMC), which connect 200 universities and their museum members, to offer materials, tours, and orientations for members and the public on new medias, including Second Life.
5 This blurring of the divide between archives and museums is not a coincidence, but one rooted in their past, vision, and mission.
Archives and Museums: Past and Present
Though museums and archives are driven and frequented by different purposes,
(museums driven by curator with the draw of an exhibition, while archives are driven by researches, and what the archives holds) each serve as an informational repository, with similar preservation, access, storage, and environmental concerns. One such movement propelling a possible transformation is commonalities in their history, mission and vision, highlighted in the articles of Kenneth E. Foote and Carolyn Heard. They share the view that both institutions share similar values of preservation, collection, education and providing access evident in their mission statements. Modern archives emerged like public museums out of the French Revolution and the overthrow of the abolutist regime when needs for classification and organization of information repositories became an administrative function. These archives were later influenced by Melvil
Dewey and his classification know as the Dewey Decimal Classification Scheme which created a hierarchical system of ten main classes, that were broken down into ten divisions and later ten sections. Like the first American archives, their counterparts in the Public Records Office in
England founded in 1838, began sorting and filing their archives by provenance and chronology.
6
These first museums and archives were utilized and first opened for the “elite” as performative spaces, and later transformed for public access. Today archives are still in some cases elite driven institutions where access is granted to different members of society, just like
4 David R. Curry, “One Potential Future for Museum, Archives, Libraries,” American Association of Museums,
Center for the Future of Museums. 8 Mar. 2010, <http://futureofmuseums.blogspot.com/2010/03/one-potentialfuture-for-museums.html. >
5 Nancy Courtney ed., Library 2.0 and Beyond: innovative Technologies and Tomorrow's User , Westport: Libraries
Unlimited, 2007. Print.
6 Carolyn Heald, "Is There Room for Archives in the Postmodern World?" American Archivist , 59,1 (1996): 88-101,
Web, 20 Mar. 2012,
<http://archivists.metapress.com/content/u854130x02844653/?p=3b5fc6416cec4f92b1d0972920c7cc42&pi=5>.
3

the first public museums, where order and subject where hierarchically based, just like the placement of art in museums.
Archives along with museums not only share a common history and mission but also serve as, “society’s collective memory,” 7 in its efforts to document, educate, enrich and research that sustain cultural values and traditions. Archives can hold a dual purpose in paying homage to the past and serving as a grim reminder of our history; they serve as a valuable means of extending the temporal and spatial range of society through human communication, in our document-oriented society. Some examples of this connection include archives documenting nuclear test and waste sites, archival material on the Holocaust and the Nazi concentration camps, and monuments that remind us of tragic events including the Boston Massacre and the assignation of President Kennedy. In this instances archives like museums act collectively to maintain records of the past, while portraying different representations, that may be interrelated.
8
Both museum exhibits and archives can also be employed to protect and remind future generations of the past, though carefully selective retention, restriction of access, and the digitizing of their collections to produce a memory of the past.
9
Archives continue to serve history and scholarly research of the past and serve as custodians and curators of not just historical records, but documentary heritage of the nation, possessing a secondary value as a socio-historical collection, vital to historical research. These “memory institutions” are charged with providing access and storehouses used for different purposes from education to entertainment.
10
Their analysis of the role of museums, share the necessity not only for archives but physical archives, which hold the “memory” of the past, as a intangible object not captured digitally, while serving as a collective history of our successes and failures.
Trend in Exhibitions:
Archives and their holdings are in some cases comparable in value to that of museums, they have been used in countless exhibits, to showcase an “intimacy and a sense of participation
7 Kenneth E. Foote, "To Remember and Forget: Archives, Memory, and Culture," American Archivist , 53.3 (1990): pg 379, Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
<http://archivists.metapress.com/content/d87u013444j3g6r2/?p=ca988a29b0e542349ffc26b5c58ca825&pi=1>
8 Ibid.,
9 Ibid.,
10 J. Trant, "Emerging Convergence? Thoughts on museums, archives, libraries and professional training.”
4

for the visitor and can explain or provide a context for an object.” 11
The use of archives for exhibitions can help to provide greater access to the collections treasures, while fulfilling their obligation to educate a broad spectrum of constituents, through the use of new digital technologies, highlighted in articles by: Nancy Allyn, Shawn Aubitz, Gail Stern, Margaret
Herdstrom, and J. Trant. These exhibitions can provide a cultural heritage context for visitors in contrast to textbooks and scholarly articles, by providing a first hand account of historical events, places, and people. Archival exhibitions like those in museums help to create a context for the visitor, through representations of display. This performative space can incorporate the use of digital content, facsimiles, enlarged or typed manuscripts, photos and maps, juxtaposed against original content.
Examples of these exhibits have been done throughout the United States to represent a multitude of cultural and historical events such as the Balch Institute exhibition on, “Italian-
American Traditions: Family and Community,” which looked at original family photographs, passports, immigration papers, and other documentation of passage and citizenship. Another example is the National Archives exhibition on “Uncle Sam Speaks: Broadsides and posters from the National Archives,” which trace the art of persuasion for the past two centuries.
12
Exhibits such as these, open up the archives to a wider audience providing greater access, and showcasing, note worthy artifacts of the archives. Local institutions in Hawaii have also made use of archival material for exhibitions, Bishop Museum, for instance has used painted books, and manuscripts for their exhibition on the Japanese immigrant experience as have other museum archives. Archives also aid in the research of exhibitions and provide valuable insight for curators, as interpreters of history.
Archives, while used physically for exhibitions, can also be digitally uploaded. This trend towards the digitalization of archives is one of many technological advances that have transformed archives. Institutions including archives and museums have begun to integrate access to their collections online blurring the line between the two in the networked information society. They have begun this process defining the informational value of digital representations,
11 Nancy Allyn, Shawn Aubitz, and Gail F. Stern, "Using Archival Material Effectively in Museum Exhibitions,"
American Archivist . 50.3 (1987): pg. 402, Web. 20 Mar. 2012,
<http://archivists.metapress.com/content/g5203123461g2208/fulltext.pdf>.
12 Ibid.,
5

though challenges remain over authenticity, which can only be proven through the provenance of its original owner. Archivists have begun to process their collection for digitalization, with users in mind, decided which items may be frequented more, providing a wider audience with their perceived interests, as a form of “digital curation.” 13
Archives have also been involved like museums in Second Life projects, which create a virtual world for archives, as a new source of access to the collection. In these virtual worlds, archives can showcase their collection, offer resources and have reference desks, to answer questions.
Digital collections, for archivists come as a natural progression of managing databases for decades. Software used for data management of the archive can be used to integrate their collection online making their content accessible and useful to users online and onsite. Digital collections can also facilitate different modes of presentations, that of the digital exhibition.
Similar to that of digital museums, archives can use digital reproductions of their collections to be facilitators of community interaction, fulfilling some of the criteria of their mission, to education, preserve, and provide access through the dissemination of their collection. This digital repository creates a clear shift from that of physical objects, allowing archives to accommodate a wide ranger of mediums including metadata.
This trend towards digital archives also presents the global archival community with an opportunity at uniform standards in creating networking that can bridge institutions in the similar fashion herbaria and other science disciplines share metadata with one another. Archives can reassess their custodial practices reexamining the methods of documentation and information management, providing a standard that can best suit its users. With this digital revolution, scholars are able to access a half million machine readable descriptions from archival records located in repositories across the United States, with some repositories looking into retrospective conversions of traditional documents to digital form, as a method for supplying greater access and to provide a preservation medium. Another advantage of digital archives is arrangement, archivists can arrange their digital collection in different manners that may suit user searches
13 J. Trant, "Emerging Convergence? Thoughts on museums, archives, libraries and professional training."
6

better, be it by subject, place, or chronology across the entire collection, a concept never considered before.
14
Archives, like museums, can also generate “buzz” around their collections by presenting digital catalogs and inventory lists, while creating a framework for its users, through its representations of the collection, i.e. grouping, arrangement, files, subjects. Each archive has unique information that can be shared and valuable content that represents the cultural heritage or history of a community. These looks at the future of archives provide discourse on the direction of change in the informational institution, while offering potentials that are likely to transform the identity of archives. Though large questions surrounding security, networking, technological issues, and preservation remain, large-scale digital projects maybe one option archives transform from historical repositories to interpreters and curators of our past.
As archives begin to define themselves in this new digital age, so do museums. As new pressures weigh on museums and archives, convergences, partnerships, and a rethinking of traditional archives is being discussed. Can archives become the new museums? Archives of all sizes contain valuable documents and artifacts vital to our culture, some of which have already been on display. These trends and transformations which have occurred in the last two decades signal a shift in the identity and role of archives in the community, providing archivists a chance to reflect and contemplate a potential future of archives as the “new” museum though changes in their identity. These article offer different trends and technological advances for archives, while framing them in the wider context of its role in society, one often compared to museums. As museums rethought and rebranded their image as educational based knowledge centers of the
“fantastic” so too must archives, in the Post Modern World, providing archives and archivists an exiting future as the new museum.
14 Margaret Hedstrom, "Electronic Archives: Integrity and Access in the Network Environment," American
Archivist , 58.3 (1995): 312-324, Web. 21 Mar. 2012,
<http://archivists.metapress.com/content/n7353726666u41v5/fulltext.pdf>.
7

Works Cited:
Allyn, Nancy, Shawn Aubitz, and Gail F. Stern. "Using Archival Material Effectively in
Museum Exhibitions." American Archivist . 50.3 (1987): 402-404. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
<http://archivists.metapress.com/content/g5203123461g2208/fulltext.pdf>.
Courtney, Nancy ed. Library 2.0 and Beyond: innovative Technologies and Tomorrow's User .
Westport: Libraries Unlimited, 2007. Print.
Curry, David R. “One Potential Future for Museum, Archives, libraries.” American Association of Museums. Center for the Future of Museums. 8 Mar. 2010.
<http://futureofmuseums.blogspot.com/2010/03/one-potential-future-for-museums.html.>
Foote, Kenneth E. "To Remember and Forget: Archives, Memory, and Culture." American
Archivist . 53.3 (1990): 378-392. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
<http://archivists.metapress.com/content/d87u013444j3g6r2/?p=ca988a29b0e542349ffc2
6b5c58ca825&pi=1>.
Hedstrom, Margaret. "Electronic Archives: Integrity and Access in the Network Environment."
American Archivist . 58.3 (1995): 312-324. Web. 21 Mar. 2012.
<http://archivists.metapress.com/content/n7353726666u41v5/fulltext.pdf>.
Heald, Carolyn. "Is There Room for Archives in the Postmodern World?" American Archivist .
59.1 (1996): 88-101. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
<http://archivists.metapress.com/content/u854130x02844653/?p=3b5fc6416cec4f92b1d0
972920c7cc42&pi=5>.
O'Sullivan, Catherine. "Diaries, On-line Diaries, and the Future Loss to Archives; or, Blogs and the Blogging Bloggers Who Blog Them." American Archivist . 68.1 (2005): 53-73. Web.
20 Mar. 2012.
<http://archivists.metapress.com/content/7k7712167p6035vt/?p=9d56ce3a39074a8795b9 e2d10e87c53d&pi=7>.
Pederson, Ann. "Do Real Archivists Need Archives & Museum Informatics?" American
Archivist . 53.4 (1990): 666-675. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
<http://archivists.metapress.com/content/y32h731602772u36/?p=3b5fc6416cec4f92b1d0
972920c7cc42&pi=4>.
Trant, J. "Emerging Convergence? Thoughts on museums, archives, libraries and professional training." Museum Management and Curatorship . 24.4 (2009): 369-386. Web. 20 Mar.
2012. <http://www.archimuse.com/papers/trantConvergence0908-final.pdf>.
Yarrow, Alexandra, Barbara Clubb, and Jennifer-Lynn Draper. "Public Libraries, Archives and
Museums: Trends in Collaboration and Cooperation." International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions . 108. n. page. Web. 21 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.ifla.org/files/public-libraries/publications/prof-report-108/108-en.pdf>.
8