Building History
Page 3 of 3
How to find out a source
Now that we know the different kind of sources we have to learn to find them out.
Documents are conserved in different places, which have different rules and functions:
- archives
- libraries
- museums (ground)
An archive is at the same time a collection of historical records and the location in which the collection is kept. Archives contain documents which have been accumulated by a person or an organization.
The archives of an individual may contain personal documents, as papers, letters, photographs, computer files or diaries, created or collected by the person. The archives of an organization usually contain many other types of records, such as financial and administrative files, business records, laws and projects of laws, official correspondence and meeting minutes.
Even if many different kinds of archives exist, following the recent census of archivists in the United States, we can identify five major types of institution which are used to create and to possess archives:
- academic,
- for profit (business),
- public administrations,
- church,
- non profit,
- other (i.e. foundations and museums).
Usually archives contain records selected for permanent or long-term preservation, on their enduring research value. Archival records are normally unpublished and unique, unlike books or magazines, which are produced in many identical copies. For that reason archives have different functions and organization if compared to libraries, although archival collections can often be found within library buildings and vice versa.
On this matter see also Chapter 2 - On Line Archives
A library is at the same time a collection of books and the building that houses the collection.
If the archives usually host documents generated as the "by-product" of normal human activities, the libraries hold specifically authored information "products". Traditionally, libraries contain every types of printed works, included encyclopaedias, newspapers and reviews. Nowadays, libraries are also repositories and access points for maps, prints, or other documents and various storage media such as microform (microfilm/microfiche), audio tapes, CDs, cassettes, videotapes, and DVDs. Libraries often also provide public facilities to access subscription databases and the Internet.
The catalogues of the bigger and most important libraries are available on line. To facilitate the researches, they are often collected in opacs (On-line Public Access Catalogue), which allow simultaneous searches in different catalogues.
Many methods exist for dividing libraries in types, but the simplest one is by traditional professional divisions. Following that method, we distinguish:
- Public libraries or public lending libraries, providing service to the general public and making at least some of their books available for borrowing.
- Academic libraries, located on the campuses of colleges and universities and serve primarily the students and faculty of that and other academic institutions.
- Research libraries, intended for supporting scholarly research, they maintain permanent collections and attempt to provide access to all necessary material.
- School libraries, designed to support the school's curriculum.
- Special libraries, containing all other libraries. Many private and public organizations, including hospitals, museums, research laboratories, law firms, and many government departments and agencies, but also individuals, maintain their own libraries for specialized research related to their work. Special libraries may or may not be accessible to some identified part of the general public.
Following the definition of the International Council of Museums, a museum is a "permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment, for the purposes of education, study, and enjoyment”. Museums collect and care for objects of scientific, artistic, or historical importance and make them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. There are many types of museums, from very large collections in major cities, covering many of the categories below, to very small museums covering either a particular location in a general way, or a particular subject, such an individual notable person. Categories include: fine arts, applied arts, craft, archaeology, anthropology and ethnology, history, cultural history, military history, science, technology, children's museums, natural history, numismatics, botanical and zoological gardens and philately. Within these categories many museums specialize further, e.g. museums of modern art, local history, aviation history, agriculture or geology.
In the museums the historian can find not only masterpieces, but also every day objects, products of the material culture of a people in a particolar moment of his history.
