The study investigated a framework that archival institutions could follow in warranting cleanliness in the information housed in a repository for their end users. Archival materials are used by many researchers for different purposes, and some of these people write history books, some write manuscripts for reality movies, novels, and many other kinds of publications. The study used the literature review to investigate a framework that archival institutions may follow in warranting cleanliness in the information they inherit or kept. There are no means for archival institutions to address the authenticity of their records before they are adopted in custodies for permanent preservation. The study recommends that archival institutions come up with archival diplomatic strategies to authenticate the records before keeping for secondary users in the general public. The study also proposes a framework for authenticating archival materials.
TopIntroduction And Background
Cleanliness in archival materials cannot be overemphasised. It is required to ensure that those who use archival materials to transfer knowledge are not eventually misled. End users of archival materials also use information to transfer knowledge to the general public or even the entire universe. So, it is very imperative that information housed is taken through a scrutiny for authentication before it is used to inform the public and make them believe what is not incorrectly. For example, information from different organisations and government bodies housed in the archival repository is used by researchers. This is used for secondary sources publications such as history books that gives context to specific issues, filmscript writers and novelists, to list only a few. This in itself may contribute much to the public mindset and believes. Inauthentic information may even lead the public to negative actions against particular people or bodies alleged to be involved in unpopular situations.
Archival cleanliness has to do with the application of archival diplomatics. According to Duranti (2010a), it originated as a science in France to ascertain that records, both inside custody and those that are still to be submitted, were authentic and original “to attest to patrimonial rights” of users. This science was eventually used in many disciplines such as law, history and philosophy. In legal proceedings lawyers used it in their resolution to disputes. In history it was used by historians in their records interpretation. Editors used it in their reviews for manuscripts about publication of the past incidents or practices (Duranti 2010a). According to Duranti (2010a), the concept of “diplomatics”
comes from the Latin term diploma – derived from the Greek words … meaning I fold, and … doubled or folded – which was used in ancient Rome to refer to documents written on two tablets attached with a hinge, and later to any recorded deed, and it means “about records.” However, over the centuries, its focus has expanded from its original concern with medieval deeds to an all-encompassing study of any document produced in the usual and ordinary course of activity as a means for it and a residue of it.
It is very imperative that archival institutions make assurance that their collections are in order in terms of authenticity and trustworthiness. This may only be possible with the application of archival diplomatics techniques or strategies. Archival diplomatics has much to do with records originality, authenticity and Duranti (2010a) elaborates that it is categorised into classic and modern in which classic is more focused on the evidential value of records and the modern diplomatics focuses on records in association to their metadata. Duranti (2010a) explains the origin of the concept of diplomatics in association with records as follows:
The history of diplomatics is directly linked to the so-called “diplomatic war” (bella diplomatica), judicial controversies over political or religious claims based on records of disputed origin, which, in the seventeenth century, especially in Germany and France, assumed a doctrinal character and prepared the ground for a scientific debate between the Benedictines of the Congregation of Saint-Maur in France and the Jesuits organized by Jean Bolland in a scientific society in Antwerp (Bollandists). In 1675, the second volume of the Acta Sanctorum, an analysis of the lives of saints published in several tomes by the Bollandists, was released, with an introduction by Daniel Van Papenbroeck which outlined the general principles and methods for assessing the authenticity of medieval records. In the text, the author, applying his analysis to the records of Frankish kings, declared a diploma issued by Dagobert I to be a forgery, thereby discrediting all Merovingian diplomas, on which most patrimonial rights of the French Benedictines rested.
Evaluating a record’s content to ascertain authenticity and truthfulness is very important, since some of the records may have been falsified during their lifespan at some stage (Gonzalez, 2020).