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Final Report of the Joint Task Force on Archives American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies and The American Historical Association 1 April 1995

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Norman Naimark ,
William G. Rosenberg ,
William Taubman ,
Kathryn Weathersby ,
Donald J. Raleigh ,
Gregory Freeze  and
David Ransel
Norman Naimark
Affiliation:
Department of History, Stanford University
William G. Rosenberg
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Michigan
William Taubman
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Amherst College
Kathryn Weathersby
Affiliation:
Department of History, Florida State University
Donald J. Raleigh
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of North Carolina
Gregory Freeze
Affiliation:
Department of History, Brandeis University
David Ransel
Affiliation:
Department of History, Indiana University
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Type
Discussion
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , Summer 1995 , pp. 407 - 426
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1995

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References

The Task Force wishes to thank the many members of both associations who offered us counsel, as well our archivist colleagues in the Society of American Archivists and abroad. Special thanks go to IREX for strategic help in finishing up the report. The views expressed in this report are entirely those of the Task Force.

1. See the discussion in Slavic Review 52, no. 1 (Spring 1993): 85–106, which includes Ellen Mickiewicz, “The Commercialization of Scholarship,” Mark von Hagen, “The Archival Gold Rush,” J. Arch Getty, “Do We Need a Code of Behavior” and Carole Fink, “Resolution of the AHA Council,” as well as an introduction by Elliott Mossman. Additional commentary followed in subsequent issues. See “The Case of the Russian Archives: An Interview with Iurii N. Afanas'ev, Slavic Review 52, no. 2 (Summer 1993): 338–52; Boris N. Mironov, “Much Ado About Nothing,” and Amy Knight, “The Fate of the KGB Archives,” Slavic Review, 52, no. 3 (Fall 1993): 579–86. “On the Russian Archives: An Interview with Sergei V. Mironenko,” appeared in Slavic Review 52, no. 4 (Winter 1993): 839–46. See also Mark Kramer, “Archival Research in Moscow: Progress and Pitfalls,” Cold War International History Project: Bulletin, Issue 3 (Fall 1993); Laurent Greilsamer, “Russie: des archives en or,” Le Monde, (2 March 1994) 8; the discussion “Archival Affairs” in the AAASS Newsletter 32, no. 4 (September 1992): 1–7; and Patricia Kennedy Grimsted, “Russian Archives in Transition: Caught Between Political Crossfire and Economic Crisis,” The American Archivist 56, no. 4 (Fall 1993): 614–62.

2. Petition to the AAASS submitted by members of the Midwest Russian History Workshop, October 1993. Signatories included faculty and graduate students from Ohio State University, University of Michigan, University of Chicago, University of Illinois, Indiana University, Western Michigan University, University of Toronto, Kent State University, Oberlin College, Michigan State University, Washington University and Bowling Green State University. A copy is available from Professor Allan Wildman.

3. The Yale Conference, organized by the Yale Military Archive Project, included scholars who have worked extensively in Russian and Soviet archives, bibliographers, archivists and publishers. According to information provided by Mark Steinberg, for which the Task Force is grateful, one of the assumptions motivating this gathering and confirmed in the discussions was that there is a need to make more widely available information about archives, archival holdings and projects connected with the archives. A number of the suggestions made at the conference are reflected in the Recommendations of the Task Force.

4. The “ALA-SAA Joint Statement on Access: Guidelines for Access to Original Research Materials” of the American Library Association and the Society of American Archivists provides that “A repository is committed to preserving manuscript and archival materials and to making them available for research as soon as possible. At the same time, it is recognized that a repository may have legal and institutional obligations to protect confidentiality in its collections, and that private donors have the right to impose reasonable restrictions upon their papers to protect privacy or confidentiality for a reasonable period of time” (see Archival Outlook [September 1994], 8–9).

5. Osnovy zakonodatel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii ob arkhivnom, fonde Rossiiskoi Federatsii i arkhivakh, (Moscow 1993), article 20.

6. On 10 November 1994, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12937 titled “Declassification of Selected Records within the National Archives of the United States” at the urging of a presidential task force working on a major overhaul of the executive order controlling US classification and declassification policy. Executive Order 12937 made available in December almost 44 million pages of security-classified records, many of great value to historians of the former Soviet Union and east Europe. Current information on these matters can be obtained from Page Putnam Miller, National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History, 400 A Street, Washington, DC 20003. (Telephone: 202 544 2422).

7. R.G. Pikhoya, “Use of Archival Documents: Legislation, Problems and Prospects,” unpublished paper presented to a conference on Access to Archives, Bellagio, Italy, March 1994, p. 2. This conference was sponsored by the AHA, NEH, the Rockefeller Foundation and the ICA.

8. The directive, dated 22 September 1994, was published in Rossiiskaia Gazeta, 27 September 1994, 4. The Commission is to be an integral part of the interdepartmental commission on the protection of state secrets. Its initial membership included S.N. Krasanchenko, chair, A.N. Iakovlev, R.G. Pikhoya, N.A. Krivova, E.A. Abramov, V.P. Kozlov, A.V. Korotkov and I.V. Lebedev, among others.

9. Jerzy Skowronek, “Codes of Ethics for Archives,” unpublished paper presented to the Conference “Access to Archives,” March 1994, 1.

10. Borys Ivanenko, “Code of Ethics for Archives,” Theses presented to the Conference “Access to Archives,” 1. See also his “Ukrainian Archives: Statutory and Ethical Problems,” Janus: Revue Archivistique/Archival Review 1(1994): 84–86.

11. Report provided to the Task Force by Rosarkhiv.

12. ICA (H. Forde, I. Froejd, J. Hofenk de Graaff), “Plan for the Preservation and Conservation of the Central Russian Archives,” Paris, 1994, prepared at the request of the Russian government and financed by UNESCO.

13. Wolf Buchmann, Disaster Prevention Plan for the Russian Central Historical State Archives in St. Petersburg, Koblenz, 1993, prepared at the request of the Russian government, and financed by UNESCO. Mr. Buchanan is the Coordinator for Archival Technologies, International Council on Archives. His report can be obtained from Karen Benedict, Senior Archives Consultant, The Winthrop Group, 29890 Leeds Rd, Columbus, Ohio 43221. Among other problems, Buchmann notes the real danger that floors currently sagging may actually collapse because of overloading, a “particularly critical” situation that could arise if the increasing number of leaks allow large amounts of water into the strongrooms, combustible electrical fittings in the strongrooms, the absence of fire resistant walls and floors, and the absence of an effective evacuation plan, in case of fire, for staff or records.

14. Laurent Greilsamer, “Russie: des archives en or,” Le Monde (2 March 1994): 8.

15. See e.g. the discussion in the AAASS Newsletter, September 1992.

16. G.L. Freeze, J.P. Burds, Wm.J. Chase, J.Arch Getty, eds., The Russian Archive Series, distributed by the Russian Publications Project, Center for Russian and East European Studies, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260.

17. Hershberg, James G., ed., Cold War International History Project: Bulletin, Woodrow Wilson International Center.Google Scholar