Dear Jane,
At the British Library, our in-house cataloguing system is set up to require the top-level description in any hierarchy to be classed as the 'fonds', whether it be an archive or artificial collection. So we have many so-called 'fonds' descriptions with no creator.
Best wishes,
Sandra Tuppen
Dr Sandra Tuppen
Lead Curator, Modern Archives and Manuscripts, 1601-1850
The British Library
-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pamela Birch
Sent: 03 March 2016 17:28
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Question about fonds and creator
I admit we use fonds as the top level for all our collections, I don't know how we would could do otherwise. That being the case we currently only use creator in certain fonds level descriptions.
It's not that we don't know the provenance, but the word 'creator' just doesn't seem to fit, we have the same difficulty with the return of accessions to TNA every year.
I admit I probably need to re-read the definition of creator as defined in ISAD(G) but it is one bit we have always had some trouble with given the nature of county record office collections.
Regards
Pamela Birch
Bedfordshire Archives
________________________________________
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Jane Stevenson [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 03 March 2016 17:10
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Question about fonds and creator
Hi there,
I have another question about catalogue data and best practice….
For the Archives Hub we have decided to make ‘creator’ mandatory if the description is a ‘fonds’ description. This is on the basis that a fonds has to come from a source - it has to have a known provenance so that the archivist is aware that it is an organic whole. We don’t make creator mandatory for a ‘collection’ description, as this may refer to a group of materials that is not from a single source.
However, we have a number of descriptions that are ‘fonds’ where the creator is given as ‘unknown’ or variations thereof.
It seems unlikely to me that the creator can be unknown, because if that is the case, how can we be sure that it is a fonds?
When I’ve raised this a few times with a few of our contributors, I have found that the collections in question are really artificial collections. I wonder whether there is a tendency to call all collections ‘fonds’ even if they are not?
I’d be really interested to hear any views on this.
cheers,
Jane
Jane Stevenson
Archives Hub Service Manager
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T 0161 413 7555
W archiveshub.ac.uk
Skype janestevenson
Twitter @archiveshub, @janestevenson
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