Institution vs Constituent Needs in the Archives

A major similarity that I noticed between the Moravian Archives and Wenner Hall were back logs. Back logs are both a major problem, and major reality, of archives according to Meissner and Greene. They add that back logs are occurring more and more because of the current day archive field being unable to keep up with the amount of material to process because the methods to do so are still old and unchanged (p. 211). Old methods make processing a slow and arduous task.

Another problem that Meissner and Greene point out, which is particularly relevant to both Moravian’s and Wenner’s situation is the issue of processing based on the “perceived needs of [the] collection” and the “demonstrated need of [the] constituents” (p. 212). Even though the Moravian archives had thousands and thousands of processed materials, that amount was actually only a very tiny fraction of their acquisitions. The archivist at the Moravian Archives spoke a lot about this when he was explaining about how researchers use their Archive, and how would they would like to use the archive moving forward.

If information isn’t yet processed, it is unsearchable through digital means, making research for constituents difficult. This is also problematic for the Archive because it highlights the fact that completing research at that particular institution might be hard, or unsuccessful—especially if an Archive is actually in possession of material that a researcher needs, but neither party knows because processing hasn’t happened. This is certainly the case with the Allentown Band Archives in that very little of their material can be referenced or researched right now, making it nearly impossible for researchers to access the fantastic material stored in Wenner. Once the materials are processed, they will be easily searchable and accessible for researchers looking for connections to the Band. In the future, researchers may not have to come in person to dig and sort through unlabeled boxes of material in hopes of what they’re looking for, but will instead be able to reference detailed finding aids to locate exact information. For this reason, institutions like Moravian and Wenner Hall would benefit from updating processing techniques that would expedite the process and allow for easy and universal access to materials.