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GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums)/Archives/Post-Custodial Archives

From Kula

Definition

Post-custodial archives are archives in which the creator(s) of the content to be preserved "maintain control of their archival records while archivists/information professionals provide management support." [1]

Post-custodial activities are in contrast to traditional archival processes, such as acquisition and appraisal during which an archivist/archive assumes custodial control of the collection or fonds.

Post-custodialism provides archivists & information professionals a "valuable framework for archival practice" as a way to respond to:

  • The growing body of documentation in digital and paper forms.

  • Postmodern theories of "authenticity" in archival practices.[1]

Background

The concept of custody is a fundamental concept in archival science around the care, control, and preservation of a record.

The "chain of custody", or the "succession of offices and persons how have held materials from the moment they were created", helps the archivist determine a document's authenticity. The "ability to demonstrate an unbroken chain of custody is an important test of the authenticity of records or evidence." [2]

Custody is both about care (guardianship) in that archives must reasonably preserve and care for a record, as well as integrity (chain of custody), in that an archive must be able to account for a record's history.

With the proliferation of paper documentation and the rise of digital document creation, however, the ability for institutions or organizations to properly assess or authenticate mass records is nearly impossible. Moreover, the theoretical foundations of archival science around power and privilege have also come into question in the post-modern era. [3].

New frameworks for archival practice have emerged to meet the proliferation challenge, including More Product, Less Process (MPLP) and Post-custodialism among them. [4]

Kula & Post-Custodial Archives

Archives are not only a collection of cultural heritage items, archival institutions also play a vital role in both custodial and post-custodial practices of access, description, and preservation.

As trusted community partners, Kula connects librarians, archivists, and information professionals with communities to dialogue and advise on best practices for preservation and access when appropriate. For example, the Conflict Aftermath Digital Archive Project (CADAP) is working with community to develop ethical digital archival methods and resources to preserve and make publicly accessible at-risk visual material in conflict and post-conflict contexts. This practice-informed research is based on two photographic archival initiatives, the Kashmir Conflict Archive and the Yazidi Community Digital Archive. Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) is not taking custodial control over the archive; rather, SCUA and Kula colleagues are acting as partners to safeguard archives within the communities themselves.

Using a post-custodial model of archiving, these projects embed community members directly in the archival and memory-making processes through a framework that involves training, capacity-building, support, and collaborative decision-making. CADAP is producing accessible open-access resources that provides documentation of methods, ethics, and strategies that can guide and assist academic research libraries in the production of similar projects.

Resources

Toolkits

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Millar, L. A. (Ed.). (2017). Archival history and theory. In Archives: Principles and practices (pp. 37–66). Facet. https://doi.org/10.29085/9781783302086.007
  2. ↑ SAA Dictionary: Chain of custody. (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2025, from https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/chain-of-custody.html
  3. ↑ Millar, L. A. (Ed.). (2017). Archival history and theory. In Archives: Principles and practices (pp. 37–66). Facet. https://doi.org/10.29085/9781783302086.007
  4. ↑ SAA Dictionary: Postcustodialism. (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2025, from https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/postcustodialism.html


Author: Matt Huculak (talk) Reviewer: Christian Schmidt (talk)

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