Varia
derink als commies. Bevorderd werden: mej. M. Ramperti tot bureau-ambtenaar
en de heer H. W. van Veldhuizen tot referendaris.
Mededeling
Met machtiging van het bestuur van de Vereniging van Archivarissen in Neder
land is de 'Handleiding voor het ordenen en beschrijven van archieven' van Muller,
Feith en Fruin op het Algemeen Rijksarchief in offset herdrukt.
Bestellingen kunnen worden gedaan door storting of overschrijving van 5,50 op
postrekening 507588 ten name van de Comptabele van het Algemene Rijksarchief
te 's-Gravenhage.
In Black and White
Letter writing is of the greatest importance in the work of the Clinic and we
should give it careful attention.
If you want to call a man a liar and a thief, do not write him, go to see him
and tell him in person, but be sure that you can run faster than he can.
Be cautious about what you put on paper. What you set down in black and white
you cannot recall It is advisable to go over a preliminary draft of every
important letter to see if there is anij possibility of misinterpretation.
Rarely is there justification for a long letter. A long letter does not often convey
additional irformation and it requires time both in the writing and the reading.
A capable secretary usually can arrange on one page as long a letter as is desirable,
and will center a short letter so that it looks attractive
(W. J. Mayo, memorandum to surgeons and heads of clinical sections,
luly 9, 1930 (Mayo Clinic Archives, Rochester, Minn.). Contributed by
Mayo Clinic Archivist Clark W. Nelson.)
only with the lapse of years
One of the limitations of any organization is its inability to see the importance
of its own work at any one moment, or to see that work in perspective. As a
consequence, it often happens that no adequate record is preserved of what prove
in retrospect to have been epoch-making events, and the historically minded person
is in despair at the paucity of material which so obviously should have been
saved. It is indeed difficult to estimate the significance of a piece of work upon
which either an individual or a group of individuals is immediately engaged, and
it is only with the lapse of years that a chain of events can with logic and accuracy
be traced to the source from which action in the first instance emerged.
For these reasons very few organizations have the forethought to plan their
records or their output of publications in any orderly sequence, in accordance
with a carefully devised system out of which a complete story may be made. Still
less can be foreseen the persistent pleadings of libraries or of collectors for the
wherewithal to complete their files. And least of all do organizations have in
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mind the historical significance of their own archives, and the use that may in the
future be made of them.
(Marion Talbot and Lois Kimball Mathews Rosenberry The History of
the American Association of University Women, 1881-1931, p. 310 (Boston,
Houghton Mifflin 1931). Quoted by permission of the Houghton Mifflin
Co. and the American Association of University Women.)
Gohbledygook-A.D43
I instructed Callistus that the cipher-like communications between departments
must cease and correct Latin or Greek longhand be substituted: the new officials
must be allowed to understand what was going on.
(Emperor Claudius, as reported by Robert Graves, in Claudius the God,
p. 266 (New York, Harrison Smith Robert Haas 1935; copyright 1935
and renewal 1962 by Robert Graves). Quoted by permission of Random
House, Inc.)
Survival
the present work when it is written, I shall treatwith a preservative
fluid, seal it in a lead casket and bury it deep in the ground somewhere for posterity
to dig up and read Perhaps on second thoughts, I shall not take the trouble to
seal it up in a casket: I shall merely leave it lying about. For my experience as a
historian is that more documents survive by chance than by intention.
(Emperor Tiberius Claudius, speaking through Robert Graves, in I, Clau
dius, p. 8 (New York, Random House; copyright 1934 and renewal 1961
by Robert Graves). Quoted by permission of Random House, Inc.)
Baffled
One sometimes suspects that, in devising his filing system, the chief objective
of the archivist in each department of the (German) Foreign Ministry was to
make himself indispensible, to devise a system so complex that even an archivist
from another department of the ministry would be baffled if he tried to find a
document.
(Raymond J. Sontag, review of George O. Kent, A Catalog of Files and
Microfilms of the German Foreign Ministry Archives, 1920-1945 (vol. I),
in American Historical Review, 68 742 (Apr. 1963). Quoted by permission
of the managing editor, American Historical Review.)
Marching Home
What is needed now is a clear decision in a precedentsetting court so that the
thousands of state and federal manuscripts now at large and destined to be
fought over one by one may come home quietly. In order to get such a decision
the issue should be joined in friendly fashion and with agreement as to the gover-
nemental origin of the record or records in contest. What a great day it would
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