Green Archivism:

1
Green Archivism

• The Archival Response to Environmental Research
• Elizabeth Johnson
• Miriam Intrator
• Matt Kern
• Dorothy Carr Porter

2
Surveys

• Sets of questions
• Two common types of surveys
• Interviews
• Questionnaires
• The techniques and principles are the same,
  butThere are advantages and disadvantages to
  both

3
Surveys (cont)

• The Basics
• Unstructured vs. Structured Questions
• Crafting the Questions and Answers
• Be clear, concise dont lead the subject
• Pretest, pretest pretest!
• Your Objective
• Gather as much information as you can as quickly
  as you can

4
Our Article

• Todd Welch. Green Archivism The Archival
  Response to Environmental Research. The American
  Archivist, Vol. 62 (Sprint 1999) 74-94.

5
Problem Addressed

• Given the importance of environmental studies
• How are archival repositories being used for
  environmental research?
• Are archivists encouraging environmentalists to
  conduct research in their archives?

6
Archival Repositories

• Archivists
• Changing responsibilities
• Record custodians vs. record promoters
• Records
• Various formats (diaries, land deeds,
  photographs, etc.)
• Increased need for organization and promotion of
  holdings

7
Needs of Environmental Users

• Evaluation of needs
• Professional sessions
• Evidence of need
• Journals
• Subject Headings
• Subject-specific repositories

8
Methodology

• Selected sample from North American Forest
  HistoryBias?
• Questionnaire, primarily using structured
  questions, with room for additional comments
• Submitted proposed questions to scholars and
  practitioners

9
Methodology (cont)

• Final Results
• 12 multiple choice questions
• Some good, some not so good
• The questions all have to do with the research
  topic

10
Data Gathering Techniques

• Mailed to 42 repositories in the Northwest
• 30 returned response rate of 71.4
• 12 academic institutions
• 2 regional branches of the NARA
• 5 state archives
• 5 public libraries
• 7 historical societies

11
Breakdown of Survey Results

• Types of research
• Environmental history 87.5
• Environmental impact statements 78.1
• Historical geography 68.8
• Types of records used
• Photographs 90.6
• Maps 87.5
• Publications 68.8
• Archival response to environmental research
• Appraisal considerations 93.8
• Collections publicized for environmental research
  40.6
• Finding aids/subject guides 37.5

12
Analysis of Results

• Academic and non-academic study
• Non-academics more likely to use governmental
  records
• Academics lean towards personal papers and
  organizational records
• Increased used of collections in the past five
  years
• 83.1 of repositories
• Increased awareness of archival materials for to
  researchers
• Explains why repositories now consider the needs
  of environmental researchers when appraising
  records

13
Sherbet Dish

• Problem
• Literature Review
• Hypothesis/Research Question
• Choose sample
• Describe data
• Conclusions
• Generalizable?

14
Further Use

• Repositories with environmental holdings
• Any other repositories with specialized holdings
• Other studies geographical area, holdings

15
Evaluation

• Well-designed study
• Well-written article
• but
• Survey for the users?
• Bias in repository selection?
• Questions assume knowledge of users?