AFS State
of the Discipline 1994: 
There are over two hundred folklife and ethnomusicology archives in the United States and Canada, providing our field a wealth of collected information on cultural traditions, in many formats. These archives make it possible for folklife scholars to explore the range and variation of traditions over time and to compare traditions across cultures and regions, as well as to make their own collections available to other scholars and the public.
Archivists arrange, preserve, and make accessible collections of folklife materials together in keeping with the collector's intent in compiling those materials. Unlike historical archives, where the archivist often compiles related documents, thus creating collections, folklife archives are repositories for collections that are the creations of ethnographers. Preserving the intellectual purpose behind ethnographic collections as well as the physical items they contain requires active collaboration between collectors and archivists.
The members of the Archiving Section see the work of collectors and archivists as being intimately related. Not only do archives provide access to ethnographic documentation for researchers to use, but archivists also assist collectors in protecting and preserving their materials so that they will be of use to them and to others after they return from the field. Both collectors and archivists experiment with new techniques and technology for collections management, documentation, and data retrieval. Archives are often used as a training ground for young scholars and as a resource for creating public awareness of ethnographic disciplines, as well as a resource for returning documentation of traditions to the cultural groups from whom they were collected.
In the past, librarians and archivists generally divided collections by format for special housing and care by format specialists. This physical separation of inter-related materials undermined the collector's intellectual purpose in assembling them. Today computer databases, hypertext systems, and Internet services make it possible to keep multi-format collections together intellectually by tracking items and showing the relationships between the different media. Historic collections once broken up by format can now be reunited for the researcher by means of digitized versions of the sound recordings, photographs, and texts linked together on a multi-media server or CD-ROM. Online communications are making it possible for archives to share their collection finding aids and catalog records with the world. A new standard cataloging format for multi-format collections, Mixed Materials MARC, makes possible standardized cataloging of ethnographic collections as whole intellectual works, rather than as separate media.
The computer and information revolutions provide marvelous new possibilities for compiling, preserving, and providing access to ethnographic collections. However, these new options come at a time when ethnographic archives are losing funding and staff, and are often unable to support the technology that makes these techniques possible. Archives need computers to build the databases, staff trained in using them, and staff to develop catalogs and other access tools.
Moreover, the physical items in historic folklife and ethnomusicological collections are threatened. Wax recordings, acetate discs, acetate audio tape, and nitrate film are quickly reaching the ends of their usable lives. In the 1960s many early recordings were preserved on acetate tape, which is now deteriorating; sound cannot always be recovered from either originals or preservation copies. Even modern materials are in jeopardy: equipment used to read early video and computer formats is becoming unavailable as older formats become obsolete. All these materials must be duplicated onto modern preservation formats, or they will be lost.
Folklorists must promote awareness of the special concerns of ethnographic archivists among librarians and archivists in other fields. Most librarians work with published materials, and most archivists work with historical compilations. Yet many ethnographic archives are contained within libraries, or rely on librarians and historical archivists for advice and support in dealing with their unique collections. By educating our professional colleagues about the special concerns of ethnographic archivists and the modern options for dealing with ethnographic collections, we may enlist them as collaborators. Because there is a developing interest among librarians and historical archivists in finding new ways to provide access to multi-format collections, the time is ripe for such collaborations.
Facilitating the work of ethnographic scholars in arranging and documenting their collected works will also help the cause of archives by improving the quality of ethnographic collections archives receive. Educating scholars and students about the importance of collection management through training in academic programs and internships in archives is one means to this end. Another would be for academic departments to give the same weight to documented and arranged collections as to publications in awarding tenure.
Folklife scholars must actively support their archives so that the primary data of our field can be preserved for future use, and so that potential methods for preservation and access may be fully explored. We must make granting agencies aware of the need for funding support for collections management and preservation and develop programs to preserve and provide access to historic collections.
Finding the means to preserve archives and to help them to realize the potential that modern technology makes possible must be a primary goal of our discipline in coming years.
Stephanie A. Hall Convener
Lani Herrmann Secretary/Editor
(Updated 04/06/2001)