Dear Deborah,
May I intervene to suggest another way to look at your problem as to how
to define a fonds? If you use authority records for the creators of a
fonds, in line with the ISAAR(CPF) and the NCA Rules, you can link these
to the catalogue descriptions of the records in a much more flexible way.
The advantages of this approach are spelled out in greater detail in the
introduction to the ISAAR.
In the case of corporate archives, ISAAR 2.1.6-8 provides a framework
whereby the mandate, functions, administrative structure and
relationships with other corporate entities can be described and linked
both with other authority records and with the catalogues themselves.
For Worcestershire as for Gwynedd, local government reorganisation has
complicated the administrative histories of schools and other local
authorities. It would seem best not to allow these circumstances to
overload the catalogue descriptions unnecessarily, but to enter them at a
county council level and refer up from the Educational Service and
Schools levels.
Where a function has passed from one local body to another, e.g. boards
of guardians to county councils, it is possible to compile several
authority records and link them to a single catalogue at fonds, subfonds
or series levels as appropriate. The merits of this approach mean that
you do not have to define a theoretical 'superfonds' for all local
government records, but treat them in the same units and levels of
description as you have hitherto. Also if, perish the thought, local
government is reorganised yet again, you do not need to rework all your
catalogues.
I understand that CALM 2000 does support authority records and would be
interested to discover whether other record offices have used this
facility to overcome the problems you and Gareth have outlined.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dick Sargent
Director of the National Register of Archives
Historical Manuscripts Commission
Quality House, Quality Court
Chancery Lane
London WC2A 1HP
tel 0171 242 1198
fax 0171 831 3550
email [log in to unmask]
http://www.hmc.gov.uk
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