Classification (archive)

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In archives, classification describes the archivist's systematic ordering of the archival material within a collection. The units of description are assigned to systematic groups that serve as a content structure in the finding aid . This results in an optimization of the information and the transparency of the inventory for use.

historical development

After the pertinence principle had already been abandoned in France in 1841 , this model was followed in Germany as well. With the guidelines drawn up in 1881 in the “Regulations for Order Work in the Secret State Archive”, the Prussian Secret State Archive in Berlin prescribed a uniform structure based on the principle of provenance , initially for its own and in 1896 for all other Prussian state archives as well. The order that had arisen in the course of the administration's business was strictly adopted. In the course of time, however, it turned out that this strict principle only worked with an exemplary registry that was practically not available in every administration, so that adjustments to the actual structure remained inevitable.

When, in the course of the office reform in the 1920s, the central registers were finally abolished in favor of decentralized file management (clerk register), a number of different principles of order emerged. So developed u. a. Adolf Brenneke , head of the Prussian Secret State Archives from 1930 to 1943, a concept according to which the holdings could be classified according to six types of order.

While attempts were made in the GDR to subject the organization of holdings to legal regulations with the “Rules and Regulations for the State Archives of the German Democratic Republic” of 1964, regulations in West Germany were limited to recommendations. For example, in the “Guidelines for title recording and repertorisation of documents from the 19th and 20th centuries” of the State Archives Administration of Baden-Württemberg from 1981: “Every archival order is based on the given structure of the documents to be sorted. In view of the […] existing variety of written material structures, the following guidelines do not contain any provisions on the organization of written material. "

Structure of official documents

Example of a classification according to the administrative structure principle

Even today there is no legal basis on which the classification is built. In the case of official (or similar) documents, the choice of the ordering principle depends largely on the pre-archival order. In view of the archiving background, it must be decided to what extent this is suitable for the inventory and at which points, if necessary, corrections must be made. The main principles are as follows:

  1. Strict registration principle: The pre-archival order is transferred unchanged to the holdings or restored in its original form on the basis of file plans or other filing aids.
  2. Regulatory registry principle: The pre-archival order is largely adopted, but small changes are possible if, for example, a restructuring of the holdings suggests itself.
  3. Administrative structure principle: The inventory is basically reorganized. The classification is mainly based on the tasks (task structure plan) or the business structure (business structure plan) of the registrar. In addition, changes that result from the existing structure are possible.
  4. Abstract systematising principle: The classification is formed according to theoretical, generally applicable points of view. The order does not necessarily have to result from the inventory itself, but can be based on the function of the registry creator (functional principle) or the order of similar registrars or inventory.

Structure of private documents

In the case of private documents (e.g. bequests ), the problem of classification often lies in the fact that there is no pre-archiving order or that this was not created according to archiving criteria. This is why the abstract systematising principle is usually used here. Despite everything, any existing regulations must be checked for their usability. If this is comprehensible, it can be adopted unchanged. Otherwise, classification must be based on formal and / or factual criteria. The breakdown groups can e.g. B. can be classified according to content as follows:

Example of a classification according to the abstract systematising principle
1. Works: all documents written or created privately or professionally
(e.g. sketches, drafts and elaborations) regardless of their form and the degree of completion.
2. Correspondence: all letters, cards, telegrams, etc. that
  • addressed to the inventory builder
  • written by the inventory manager or
  • are directed by third parties to third parties
including the accompanying envelopes and inserts. The order can be made alphabetically by author / recipient and, if necessary, also chronologically.
3. (Life) documents: all documents relating to the professional or private life of the inventory creator
(e.g. private factual files, ID cards, contracts, diaries and notebooks)
4. Collections and objects: all compiled by the curator, but not written by him and himself
not necessarily relevant documents
(e.g. newspaper clippings)

This classification is mainly used for literary estates.

Classifications according to media types (documents, photos, posters, books, etc.) or those that can be derived from the inventory are also possible.

literature

  • Gerhart Enders : Archive administration apprenticeship. Berlin: Rütten & Loening, 1962.
  • Adolf Brenneke; Wolfgang Leesch : Archivkunde: A contribution to the theory and history of the European archival system . Editing according to lecture transcripts and Estate papers and supplemented by Wolfgang Leesch. Unchangeable photomechan. Reprint d. Orig. Leipzig, Koehler u. Amelang, 1953. Munich-Pullach [Pullach / Isartal]: Verl. Documentation, 1970.
  • Archivist: Zeitschrift für Archivwesen / Ed .: Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen  ; VdA , Association of German Archivists eV; Vol. 35, 1982, no. 3.
  • Development of archive material, possibilities and limits of municipal archive maintenance through district archives: from 1st to 3rd November 2000 in Reetzerhütten (Hoher Fläming) / Hans-Jürgen Höötmann [Red.]. Münster: Landschaftsverb. Westphalia-Lippe, Westphalian Archives Office , 2001.
  • Practical Archival Studies: A Guide for Media and Information Services Professionals; Archive / Norbert Reimann [Ed.]. 3. revised Edition Münster: Ardey-Verl., 2014. ISBN 978-3-87023-366-2 .

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