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Nursing files—Trash or treasure?
History Nursing Files Trash or Treasure? N A PREVIOUS column, Diane Hamilton noted that Iintellectual "Nursing archival collections are one piece of the dowry that each generation of nurses bequeath to future eras," but that historians seeking archival data are "sometimes running just ahead of the trash collector." (Hamilton, 1996). What are you doing about preserving nursing history? Whether you are in an academic setting or are collecting your personal papers, you can preserve both the past and the present for future researchers. Keeping archives is a serious, costly venture involving security, environmental controls, processing, and access issues. Many regional nursing archival centers as well as organization archives have been developed since the Nursing Archives opened at Boston University in 1966. These centers accept material from both individuals and agencies and rely on donor support to provide the proper care of our intellectual dowry. Most large universities have an archives or records management program that determines how university material is preserved. If your school has such a program, you can consult with the archivist to be sure you are keeping and regularly transferring material to the archives for processing and proper maintenance. Faculty members should be made aware that all official correspondence is the property of the school and may be appropriate for archiving. If your school or agency has no archives program, consider asking that one be started. Individuals also should consider donating their personal materials to an established archive. Most nursing theorists are archiving their papers so that future scholars can study the thought processes behind the development of the theories as well as their influences on the theorist. But today's movers and shakers also need to donate their papers to an archive for future research. Modest nurses may need to be encouraged by their colleagues to consider the future worth of their personal papers. What should be kept? All material that describes the nature, activities, and thinking process of the person or institution. It is not necessary to save publications of other agencies, such as the National League for Nursing, because they have their own archives. Keep one clean (preferably the original) copy of documents with no metal fasteners. Schools should keep any written histories of the program, committee minutes, annual and accreditation reports, orga-
JANET L. F~CrmiSSEN, MSN, RN
Secretaryand Webmaster AmericanAssociationfor the History ofNursing gO Box 90803 Washington, DC 20090-0803 Copyright © 1997 by W.B. Saunders Company 8755-7223/97/1305-0004503.00/0
nization charts, handbooks, and policy and procedure manuals. It is not necessary to keep invoices, meeting notices, agendas, work orders, and routine or repetitive memos. Especially important are materials that describe the life of a nursing student, such as student publications and student government records. Materials that illuminate students' clinical experiences also are valuable to historians. Academic records are generally kept by the registrar and are subject to the rules of that office. Individuals may have smaller, more diversified collections. In the past, written correspondence has been a treasure trove for researchers, but our current electronic communication also will be important to future historians. E-mail is easy to archive, but will software always be available to read it? Early fax machine and photocopy paper deteriorates rapidly and may need to be recopied onto permanent paper. If telephone logs or diaries are kept, they would be useful to the collection. Photographs are important. Many old photographs are unlabeled or were labeled improperly, resulting in irreversible damage. Never put a photograph away without some form of identification! The photograph may not be seen again for years, and the subject and time may be a mystery to the finder. Photograph conservators prefer not to write on photographs; rather they put all identifying documentation in a finding aid or catalog. Alternatively, the information can be written on a piece of permanent paper and stored with the photograph or carefully written along the edges of the back of the photograph with a very soft pencil. So that researchers in 2020 can actually see and hear nurses of the past, videotapes and other audiovisual materials also must be preserved by storing them in plastic cases in a controlled environment. Ideally, audiotapes should be recorded on only one side. Even carefully preserved media may, however, be rendered usdess by changing technology. These archival and preservation issues make a good argument for archival centers that are prepared to cope with them. Other important things to preserve are textiles, such as uniforms and caps, school pins, equipment and instruments, and items with the school name. These may not be accepted by an archive because of space limitations, but they would be appropriate for a nursing museum or exhibit. Will researchers in the next millennium wonder why 20th-century nurses, with their technology and access to archives, did not preserve their collective memory? Consider the value of your personal and agency's papers, and preserve them today for the future. Reference
Hamilton, D.H. (1996) Historical consciousness as collective memory.]ournal ofProfessionalNursing, 12, 5.
Journal of ProfessionaI Nursing, Vol 13, No 5 (September-October), 1997: p 279
279
JANET L. F~CrmiSSEN, MSN, RN
Secretaryand Webmaster AmericanAssociationfor the History ofNursing gO Box 90803 Washington, DC 20090-0803 Copyright © 1997 by W.B. Saunders Company 8755-7223/97/1305-0004503.00/0
nization charts, handbooks, and policy and procedure manuals. It is not necessary to keep invoices, meeting notices, agendas, work orders, and routine or repetitive memos. Especially important are materials that describe the life of a nursing student, such as student publications and student government records. Materials that illuminate students' clinical experiences also are valuable to historians. Academic records are generally kept by the registrar and are subject to the rules of that office. Individuals may have smaller, more diversified collections. In the past, written correspondence has been a treasure trove for researchers, but our current electronic communication also will be important to future historians. E-mail is easy to archive, but will software always be available to read it? Early fax machine and photocopy paper deteriorates rapidly and may need to be recopied onto permanent paper. If telephone logs or diaries are kept, they would be useful to the collection. Photographs are important. Many old photographs are unlabeled or were labeled improperly, resulting in irreversible damage. Never put a photograph away without some form of identification! The photograph may not be seen again for years, and the subject and time may be a mystery to the finder. Photograph conservators prefer not to write on photographs; rather they put all identifying documentation in a finding aid or catalog. Alternatively, the information can be written on a piece of permanent paper and stored with the photograph or carefully written along the edges of the back of the photograph with a very soft pencil. So that researchers in 2020 can actually see and hear nurses of the past, videotapes and other audiovisual materials also must be preserved by storing them in plastic cases in a controlled environment. Ideally, audiotapes should be recorded on only one side. Even carefully preserved media may, however, be rendered usdess by changing technology. These archival and preservation issues make a good argument for archival centers that are prepared to cope with them. Other important things to preserve are textiles, such as uniforms and caps, school pins, equipment and instruments, and items with the school name. These may not be accepted by an archive because of space limitations, but they would be appropriate for a nursing museum or exhibit. Will researchers in the next millennium wonder why 20th-century nurses, with their technology and access to archives, did not preserve their collective memory? Consider the value of your personal and agency's papers, and preserve them today for the future. Reference
Hamilton, D.H. (1996) Historical consciousness as collective memory.]ournal ofProfessionalNursing, 12, 5.
Journal of ProfessionaI Nursing, Vol 13, No 5 (September-October), 1997: p 279
279