Communicating Context: Commentary
Abstract
The author notes that the series and fonds systems are both methods of preserving context, while the International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families or ISAAR (CPF) is a tool for its communication. Since the same tool can be used with either method to communicate context, the two systems may be more compatible than has been assumed historically. In the fonds system, as interpreted by Michel Duchein, the method of preserving context is by making respect for original order a corollary of respect for provenance. The series system, by Clive Smith's account, treats provenance as subservient to original order. In either method, the two types of context, provenancial and documentary, are protected, and therefore susceptible of being communicated. The author then demonstrates how by separating the description of provenance from the description of the records, ISAAR (CPF) is compatible with Rules for Archival Description, based on the fonds system, or with descriptive procedures based on the series system.
RÉSUMÉ
L'auteur souligne que le système des séries ou celui du fonds, sont tous les deux des méthodes qui préservent le contexte, alors que l'International Standard Archival Authority Record for Bodies, Persons and Families (ISAAR [CPF]) est un instrument pour sa communication. Puisque le même outil peut être utilisé selon chacune des deux méthodes pour communiquer le contexte, les deux systèmes peuvent être davantage compatibles qu'on ne l'a d'abord cru. Selon le système du fonds, tel qu'interprété par Michel Duchein, la méthode pour préserver le contexte consiste à faire de l'ordre original un corollaire du respect de la provenance. Le système des séries, selon l'explication donnée par Clive Smith, considère la provenance comme subordonnée à l'ordre original. Dans les deux méthodes, les deux types de contexte (de provenance et documentaire) sont protégés, donc susceptibles d'être communiqués. L'auteur démontre alors que séparer la description de la provenance de la description des documents (ISAAR[CPF]) est compatible avec les Règles de description des archives basées sur les fonds ou sur des procédures de description fondées sur le système des séries.
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