11597 - Archive Administration (1)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student will know the basics of general archival and archival organization in Italy; be able to apply the theoretical principles and the basic methodology necessary for the archivist presiding over the training, organization, conservation and dissemination of the documentary heritage. They will know how to use both archival and on-line archival techniques with precision and accuracy, as required for management of the documentation produced and collected in various specific institutions, and will also know how to apply the main methods and tools for researching information and archival material, as well as applying the tools of historical analysis necessary for cataloguing, appraising, disseminating and conserving the historical and cultural heritage. They will be capable of collecting, selecting and logically organizing complex data and information, enabling them to formulate independent conclusions and opinions. They will organize information logically and outline it with methodological rigour, care and precision.

Course contents

The course will examine three aspects of the archival universe:

1. basic grammar of archives and archival studies
2. archives in Italy
3. the perception of archives in contemporary culture (literature, cinema, popular culture)

In this way, principles and methods of the archival discipline will be critically analyzed, notes on its history of archival science, archives in contemporary society and how digital and the web have changed the tools and methods of research in archives. The course will focus in its theoretical part on the use of archival categories as a tool for interpreting documentary corpuses and historical-institutional contexts and in the practical part on the analysis of concrete case studies on archives and inventories.

Readings/Bibliography

Isabella Zanni Rosiello, Gli archivi tra passato e presente, Bologna, il Mulino, 2005, pp. 7-121

Stefano Vitali, Di angeli, di paperi e di conigli, ovvero dello strano mestiere dell'archivista in “Archivi per la storia”, 2001, pp. 179-187

Stefano Twardzik (a cura di), Introduzione allo studio dell’Archivistica, Milano, Biblion Edizioni, 2023, pp. 31-98 (capitoli 2-4)

Giorgetta Bonfiglio Dosio, Primi passi nel mondo degli archivi. Temi e testi per la formazione archivistica di primo livello, Padova, CLUEP 2023 (5^ edizione)

Recommended readings

Linda Giuva, Stefano Vitali, Isabella Zanni Rosiello, Il potere degli archivi. Usi del passato e difesa dei diritti nella società cintemporanea , Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2007

Arnaldo D’Addario, Lineamenti di storia dell’archivistica (secc. XVI-XIX), in «Archivio storico italiano», 148/1 (1990), pp. 3-35

Students who are unable to attend lessons in person will be guaranteed the opportunity to use teaching material and to replace attendance of lessons in person with the study of some supplementary texts for which the teacher ensures support for study and exam preparation.

Teaching methods

Face-to-face lectures and laboratory lessons at archival institutes. There will be visits to the State Archives of Bologna, the State Archives of Ravenna, the archives of the Fondazione del Monte di Bologna and Ravenna and other archives in the province of Bologna.

Assessment methods

Oral interview and preparation of a written report on the activities carried out in the archive (to be delivered one week before the exam). Knowledge of the topics discussed during the lessons and of the recommended bibliography, understanding of the use of research tools and the critical and methodological skills developed by the students will be assessed.

Teaching tools

Slides and factsheets on theoretical and institutional history, examples of digitized documentation and inventory tools will also be analyzed during the lessons to explore their use for research and interpretation of sources.

During visits to the archives, the original documents will be directly analyzed.

During the lessons, clips from films, TV series, video games and other cultural products will be analysed.

Office hours

See the website of Dario Taraborrelli