11597 - Archive Administration (1)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student will know the basics of general archival and archival organization in Italy; be able to apply the theoretical principles and the basic methodology necessary for the archivist presiding over the training, organization, conservation and dissemination of the documentary heritage. They will know how to use both archival and on-line archival techniques with precision and accuracy, as required for management of the documentation produced and collected in various specific institutions, and will also know how to apply the main methods and tools for researching information and archival material, as well as applying the tools of historical analysis necessary for cataloguing, appraising, disseminating and conserving the historical and cultural heritage. They will be capable of collecting, selecting and logically organizing complex data and information, enabling them to formulate independent conclusions and opinions. They will organize information logically and outline it with methodological rigour, care and precision.

Course contents

The course will cover the following topics:

1. Introduction to archival science and basic concepts

2. Archive: a word having many meanings

3. History of the archives and of the archival science

4. The birth of contemporary archival science and the evolution of the methodologies for describing archives

5. Archival description as a 'complex process'

6. Standards for archival description

7. Finding aids

8. Archives in Italy: conservators and the Italian archival system

9. Access to archives and consultation of documentation

10. Private archives

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students:

1. Handbooks

• Paola Carucci, Le fonti archivistiche: ordinamento e conservazione, Roma, Carocci, 2005: chapter 1 (Gli utenti degli archivi), pp. 11-15; chapter 2 (Archivio e archivi), pp. 19-24; chapter 4 (Gli archivi come fonti per la storiografia), pp. 39-43; chapter 5 (Selezione e conservazione delle fonti), pp. 48-54.
• Giorgetta Bonfiglio-Dosio, Primi passi nel mondo degli archivi. Temi e testi per la formazione archivistica di primo livello, Quinta edizione, Padova, Cleup, 2023: chapter 1 (Accostarsi all'archivio), pp. 11-19; pp. 31-39 (excluding paragraph 9); chapter 2 (L'amministrazione archivistica italiana), pp. 45-54; chapter 4 (L'archivio in formazione), pp. 71-96 (excluding paragraph 7); chapter 5 (L'archivio di deposito), pp. 105-123 (excluding paragraph 6 et seq.); capitolo 7 (La consultabilità dei documenti archivistici), pp. 177-211.
• Isabella Zanni Rosiello, Gli archivi tra passato e presente, Bologna, il Mulino, 2005.

2. Articles and essays

• Giorgio Cencetti, Scritti archivistici (Il fondamento teorico della dottrina archivistica; Sull’archivio come “universitas rerum”; Inventario bibliografico e inventario archivistico), Roma, Il centro di ricerca, 1970, pp. 38-69.
• Claudio Pavone, Ma è poi tanto pacifico che l’archivio rispecchi l’istituto?, in «Rassegna degli Archivi di Stato», XXX (1970), pp. 145-149.
• Stefano Vitali, Le convergenze parallele. Archivi e biblioteche negli istituti culturali, in «Rassegna degli Archivi di Stato», LIX (1999), pp. 36-60.
• P. D'Angiolini, C. Pavone, Gli archivi, in Storia d'Italia. I documenti, V/2, Torino, Einaudi, 1973, pp. 1660-1691.
• P. D'Angiolini, C. Pavone, Introduzione, in Guida generale degli Archivi di Stato italiani, I, Roma, Ministero per i beni culturali e ambientali, 1981, pp. 1-31.

Non-attending students:

In addition to the texts and articles for attending students, the following texts:

Isabella Zanni Rosiello, Gli archivi nella società contemporanea, Bologna, il Mulino 2009.

Paola Carucci, Maria Guercio, Manuale di Archivistica. Nuova edizione, Roma, Carocci, 2021, pp. 17-66; 187-203; 259-376.

Teaching methods

1. Lectures supported by slides and other teaching materials.

2. Visits to archives.

Lecture slides and other materials are published on the teaching portal.

Assessment methods

Oral exam:

• Knowledge of the topics covered by the lectures and of the bibliography
• Presentation of concepts with an appropriate language.

Teaching tools

Slides and materials will be available to expand on the topics covered by the lectures.

Office hours

See the website of Miles Nerini