Advantages of Archival Documents as a Source of Historical Data - Literature review Example

Archival documents and oral history Name Institution Date Question 2 Archival documents and oral history Introduction Historical methods of getting past information entails guidelines and techniques through which historians utilize primary sources along with other prove to research and write histories in form of accounts of past events and experiences. Archival documents and oral history are two important historiographical methods Oral history is the recording, conservation and explanation of historical information on the basis of personal experiences and opinions of the speaker. It might be in the form of eye witness indication about ancient times, but can entail myths, songs, folklore and stories that are passed down from one generation to another over years through the word of mouth. Whilst it is a valuable means of conserving the understanding and knowledge of older individuals, it may also entail interviewing the younger generations. Archival documents contain information that act as evidence of past happenings. They record information on past acts and activities and serve as memory aids that enhance people to revive and remember them as well as re-communicate information on those incidents at a particular time in future. Advantages of archival documents as a source of historical data Archival documents are originally developed for the precise aim as prove of transactions. Through the preservation of public records developed by governmental agencies as archive, archival documents aims at preserving the memory of acts and activities of an organization, an individual or a government body and also the context and circumstances associated with the activities. Archival documents thus help people to understand who they are, either as organizations or individuals, and where they come from. Through offering people with information on their past, they are better capable of understanding the present. The information contained in archival documents is as significant to the Australian nation as personal memory is significant to every individual (Iredale, 1973). In the real sense, archival documents offer an appropriate understanding of past events and activities that is significant in Australia to inform development of a democratic society. Iredale (1973) argues that a public archive is thus a unique resource for tackling social memory of the country and the protection of the rights of citizens in their nation. It is thus a main resource for promoting national identity and also a treasure national resource accessible to all people. Through statutory management of current archival documents, there is protection of historical date as well as promotion of transparent, accountable and efficient prove based governance. This is so since the information contained in public archival documents represents a strategic resource that enhances appropriate delivery of governmental service. Archival documents also act as a key channel for transparency, and are also a foundation of democracy. Via access to archives and public documents, accountability is (Kragh, 1999). Through controlling schemes of classification of archival documents in every medi as well as their functional disposal and management, there is efficient retrieval, preservation and use of archival documents; people are able to attain transparent historical data. Archival institutions choose, conserve and make their documents available for several reasons entailing financial, administrative and legal purposes. Governmental archives that manage public records, for instance, maintain records and prove of government’s operations and policies. Therefore, public archival documents helps to make sure that people are able to hold the government accountable through accessing records which enable them to monitor conduct of public servants and government agencies. Disadvantages of archival documents as a source of historical data In majority of organizations, archive comprise of inactive official documents as well as other historically important materials that document an organization along with its people, its things and its places. Archival documents contain tremendous secondary and historical value that may be taped for a wide range of purposes. However, it is challenging to use these archival documents to attain historical data because it is difficult to find access and understand the material. Delgadillo and Lynch (1999) note that in the fast growing globe of corporate reorganizations and mergers, getting historical material about an institution or business isn’t simple as locating it in an online departmental directory and there are also numerous general rules that should be followed. In official archives, there is a designated individual for safeguarding as well as offering access to historical data. At times archival documents are sent to hidden site for safekeeping and getting to identify individuals for archival collections is the major step of accessing the material. According to Jules (2004), another challenge of using archival documents as a source of historical data is that historical knowledge is attained from veteran employees, who might in the real sense possess boxes of several materials gathered during their long tenures or have taken over these collections from their past mentors. Even though archives and archival materials might exist, tradition and corporate culture makes accessibility of these documents a hard endeavor. At times, access to archival documents is a privilege other than a realistic anticipation. Historical legal visual along with protection of the institutions from exterior censures are usual reasons that make access to archival documents limited. Nevertheless, contracts or employees are advantageous because they are viewed as reliable insiders and with a well planned research and approval from essential authority levels, the insiders are able to get access to a great amount of information (Sreedharan, 2004). Advantages of oral history as a source of historical data According to Thompson, (2000), history acts as a significant tool in preservation of community and local history. Within the increasingly computerized world, people don’t keep journals or write letters like the precedent generations which leads to a loss of a a lot of individual side of the past events and experiences. Via oral interviews, people are able to restore individual insights, entailing motivations and emotions, to the historic documentation. Oral history is as a source of historical data can bring out hidden features of a story and facilitate a feeling of closure to matters not sufficiently dealt with or remembered through offering a voice to people who have a good memory of past events but haven’t been listened to. It may supplement diaries, and encourage and ensure a communal sense of the society (Thompson, 2000). Oral history offers a voice to groups and individuals who are at times marginalized in traditional histories such as ethnic minorities, women and working classes. It can offer novel information, different insights and alternative explanations which have the potential of having enormous value Thomson and Perks (1998) note that spoken words are able to convey emotions and feelings with propinquity and an influence that written words can’t match and also conserve a documentation of local accents and dialects. It allows historians to ask queries of her or his informant and presents him or her at the development of the historical source, other than solely depending on those developed by other people. Thomson and Perks (1998) argue that Oral history offers historical actors with the chance to tell their personal stories in their individual words. Through spoken history, interviewees are offered with the opportunity to take part in creation of historical retelling of their individual lives. Speeches, government documents and newspapers articles might reveal important valuable information, but they usually overlook private and personal experiences. Via oral history, people are able to have an understanding of feelings, aspirations, hopes family histories, personal experiences and disappointments of the people being interviewed. Oral history promotes human interrelation because history is concerned with human experience because interviewees and researchers come together and dialogue about a universally shared interest. As with every human interaction, this possesses the probability to be enormously rewarding for both the interviewer and interviewee (Donald, 2010). The perspectives exposed via oral history are relative facts that might be weighed in combining historical dialogues and the knowledge attained via studying oral testimony usually emphasizes accounts of persons whose stories are usually overlooked and may offer insight into the history of people that simplified through firmly concentrating on partisan history. Donald (2010) argues that apart from offering added aspects to historical research, oral history can promote appreciation for the increasingly vanishing or little known ways of living, and prove the historicity of incidents which can’t be determined through traditional schemes of historical research. Oral history as a source of historical data can also correct trite images of peoples and their ways of life and also recover and conserve significant elements of human experiences that has a probability of being undocumented According to Serikaku, (1989), the collection, reservation and sharing of oral histories transfers knowledge across generation and also enables people to understand their past through illumination of personal experience. Historical books and documents cannot tell people every thing about their past because they usually concentrate upon big events and famous events and thus neglect ordinary individuals conversing about daily events. In addition, they neglect individuals on margins of the societies such as ethnic communities, unemployed and disabled people, whose sayings have been concealed from history. Oral history acts to fill up gaps and offers people history which entails everyone. It is significant for writing history of marginalized and ethnic minority groups’ lack of opportunity or inability to document their past experiences in written records may otherwise have implied the loss of significant historical perspectives and facts (Serikaku, 1989). Disadvantages of oral history as a source of historical data Individual statement is greatly biased and usually two accounts of a similar incident will contradict. In addition, memories that are shared by an individual might be contradicting since psychology has made people to understand that individuals usually make changes within their memories as well as exception within their beliefs so as to make logic of them. Somme and Quinlan (2002) state that the oral history interview therefore supposed to focus upon individual memory but not on folk tradition or hearsay. In practice, nevertheless, these usually merge since oral history is all about story telling. When people are asked to talk about past events and experiences, there are being asked to tell stories from memory and when they do this, they usually choose and highly particular features whilst minimizing others. Individuals do this so as to this so as to personalize their tales from listeners, to make the tale relevant to date, or to present their experiences as being logic (Donald, 2010). It is the nature of human beings to utilize stories in explaining things. Interviewers should therefore be conscious of this story making process because decision making is involved in story telling and there are also conditions which determine it. Every project of oral history requires parameters to offer an apparent understanding of the people to be interviewed as well as the topics to be covered. A more focused project makes it simpler to attain unique tales that together create broader historical themes. Whist the natural inclination is to dialogue with several individuals, this approach has the likelihood of overwhelming available resources, entailing money, manpower and time (Thompson, 2000) According to Sommer and Quinlan, (2002), there are natural gaps amid people in oral history. Religion, geography, politics, age, gender, economics, education and language are the most universal diversities. Other differences are highly subtle and possibly restraining to oral history and it is therefore the role of oral historian to recognize and concede any gaps and act in a way that will reduce their negative influence, whilst also making these differences to function to the benefit of the historical data being gathered through oral history. Differences between people can be beneficial, particularly of an interviewer doe not fair asking for detailed explanations, definitions and elaboration. However, if the interviewer is afraid of asking for elaborations, detailed explanations and definitions, the information gathered will be unclear and confusing( Sommer and Quinlan, 2002). In order to fill the gaps, the interviewer can use research so as to study more on topics he or she is reviewing, and also about life of the person being interviewed. Interviewers are supposed to be able to listen and value answers offered by the interviewees, even if the responses markedly differs from their personal experiences and beliefs. Thomson and Perks (1998) state that even though experience gaps may affect the result of the interview both negatively and positively, they must be minimized. There is the possibility of the interviewee being close to the area of study or interviewee that the resultant information does not have insight, detail and depth. In such cases, though the interviewer and the interviewee may have a collective understanding of the story, its actual relevance might be lost during future researches. This is because the audience classifies terms, prevent inside terms and information, and seek for clarifications, even if on may be knowing the answer. Individual’s frame of reference as well as their life experiences may not be similar to as to the people who will gain from oral history in a decade or a century (Thomson, & Perks, 1998). Conclusion Archival documents and oral history are two significant sources of historical data through which people are able to get past events and experiences. Archival documents preserve the memory of acts and activities of an individual, government or organization and thus help people to understand who they are. Through offering individuals with information on their past, archival documents also help people to understand their present lives. Nevertheless, it is hard to utilize archival documents to get historical data since it is difficult in finding, accessing and understanding these documents. Oral history is an important in preserving local and community history and it provides people with the chance to participate in creation of chronological retelling of their personal lives. The main disadvantage of oral history is that personal statements are highly biased and two accounts of the same event have a high probability of contradicting. References Serikaku, L, (1989). Oral history in ethnic communities: widening the focus, Oral history review 17, 71-87. Thompson, P., (2000). The voice of the past. London: Routledge Sreedharan, E. (2004). A Textbook of Historiography, 500 B.C. to A.D. 2000. England: Orient Longman. Thomson, A., & Perks, R., (1998). The oral history reader. Routledge: London. Donald, A., (2010). The Oxford Handbook of Oral History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kragh, H., (1999). An Introduction to the Historiography of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Iredale, D., (1973). Enjoying archives: what they are, where to find them, how to use them. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Summer, B., & Quinlan, M., (2002).The Oral History Manual UK: Wiley-Balckwell: Jules, B., (2004). A Student's Guide to History. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. Delgadillo, R., & Lynch, B., (1999). Future Historians: Their Quest for Information". College & Research Libraries: 245–259. Read More