Archivists and Archaeologists – Kissing cousins

           Now that we’ve talked about the disciplines which are most closely related to archival science, what about those that are more distant? Take archaeology.  What could that possibly have in common with archival processing besides the fact that they both begin with an “a?”  Since I have a PhD in archaeology I feel pretty qualified to address that question.  In fact my first job after graduate school was as a document specialist with the anthropology department of a museum.  Actually that was more records management than archives, but I did give lectures about paper and photograph preservation and I participated in the documentation of the archaeological collections (photographs and excavation reports) so I both created and curated (processed and preserved) collections.  Anyway that is one similarity, archivists are in the preservation business and so are archaeologists.  That’s not the primary similarity though.  What makes them kissing cousins is the skill set needed for both disciplines.  What do I mean by that? Well, an archaeologist studies cultures over time by digging carefully down through the layers of material that comprise an archaeological site. The goal is to tell the story of a culture and people. Excavation answers such questions as what people ate, how they lived, and even what they believed.  Having an historical record helps greatly – ask any historical archaeologist - but archaeologists can piece together a picture of past cultures without a paper trail.  Archival collections also give a picture of the past.  Through the activity of processing, an archivist uncovers information that helps tell the story of a collection creator and the time period and culture in which he lived.  The archivist does this by going through the layers of material in a collection and organizing the material so that others can study it.  The similarity is in the way of looking.  Interpretation of what you are looking at is what you do whether you are an archivist or an archaeologist or both. 

            Research skill and interpretive skill development are certainly not limited to archivists or to archaeologists.  Historians use archives to understand and interpret the past.  They too go back through time using the written record preserved by archivists to understand and interpret the happenings of the past.  I guess that makes historians kissing cousins too.  The archivist is the enabler that makes the written record accessible to the other disciplines.  Like them he is interpreter and arranger and one of the storytellers that opens the door to the past.