Quick answers to Rod's questions:
The issue is not whether scolars are interested now. The issue is whether
you orgnize an archive with the intention that it (eventually) will be a
rich, well structured archive of documents giving broad and deep insight.
Many historically significant archives go unused at first. Some remain
unused long after they move into a museum or university. The point is that
they are orgnized so that scholars (and others) are able to use them when
the interest arise.
It isn't the current interest of users that determines an archive. It
inolves something like the three criteria I suggested and the degree to
which the archive meets those criteria.
The reason -- in a sense of your personal motive -- is irrelevant, as long
as it meets the criteria. The issue of funding is also irrelevant.
The question you ask on organizing principles is a matter that archivists
and librarians often debate. The only consensus is that all documents be
preserved, and that if they are reorgnized, records preserve the original
structure to permit earlier states to be reconstructed.
Regarding your question on Jean Brown, an archivist collector is not a
collector of archives. It is a collector who is also an archivist.
Ken Friedman
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