Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts. Archival Fundamentals Series III, Vol. 2. By Dennis Meissner. [Review]

Abstract

Dennis Meissner's Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts is the fourth manual on the topic to be published by the Society of American Archivists since 1977. A longer volume than its Archival Fundamentals Series II predecessor, Meissner's Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts is organized to proceed from basic definitions to the principles of arrangement and description, and then to the practice of each. A chapter on nontextual formats (i.e., photographs, sound and moving image recordings, and digital records) affirms that arranging and describing such materials occurs within the same basic framework as those for traditional paper records. A brief final chapter offers speculation about future change, and a recapitulatory conclusion and six appendices round out the manual. Meissner's clear treatment of fundamental ideas provides a basis for the reader to understand the work of arrangement and description. Throughout, the author offers both concise and practical advice. Among other things, the manual offers lucid descriptions of concepts and practices such as levels of arrangement, multilevel description, and practical and physical requirements for archival processing, as well as a concise guide to arranging and describing born-digital records. Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts successfully fulfills its author's stated goal of providing "a very practical manual" that situates its pragmatic guidance within archival theory (p. 1).