Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg (24 February 1903 – 14 January 1970) was an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
archivist
An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to Document, records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist c ...
and
archival theorist. Schellenberg's publications and ideas are part of the foundation for archival theory and practice in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. In particular, Schellenberg is known for pioneering American archival ideas about
appraisal.
Early life
Theodore Roosevelt Schellenberg was born on February 24, 1903 to Abraham Lawrence and Sarah Schroeder Schellenberg in
Garden Township, Harvey County, Kansas. Prior to Theodore's birth, his parents had decided to emigrate to the United States in 1879 to avoid the introduction of
Russification
Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...
in their native country,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. There was a large immigration population of
Mennonites
Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...
in Kansas during this time, which allowed Abraham Schellenberg to continue working as a leader for the
Mennonite Brethren
The Mennonite Brethren Church is an evangelical Mennonite Anabaptist movement with Wiktionary:congregation, congregations.
History
The conference was established among Plautdietsch language, Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites in 1860. Durin ...
.
Education
In his youth, T. R. Schellenberg attended McPherson Elementary School (1908–1912) and Hillsboro Middle School (1912–1915). He went on to attend
Hillsboro High School (1916–1918), but he later finished his high school career at Tabor Academy (1919–1922).
From there, Schellenberg briefly attended
Tabor College (1924–1926) before transferring to the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...
. Here, he graduated in 1928 with a
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in
History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
and received a
Master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in History in 1930. After receiving both his Bachelor's and Master's at the University of Kansas, he finished his education at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, where he received a
Ph.D
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
in 1934.
[T. R. Schellenberg Papers]
/ref> His dissertation topic was "The European Background of the Monroe Doctrine, 1818 to 1923."
Career
Upon completing his doctorate, Schellenberg secured a position with the Joint Committee on Materials for Research as Executive Secretary, part of the American Council of Learned Societies
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
and the Social Science Research Council
The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is a US-based, independent, international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines. Established in Manhattan in 1923, it today maintains a he ...
. In the following year, he was hired within the National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...
(NARA) as a Deputy Examiner, part of a group of academics who were tasked with examining the records
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, ...
of executive agencies in Washington D.C.
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
In 1938, he was appointed chief of the Division of Agriculture Department Archives, which he eventually left in 1945. It was in this position that he published his first paper in 1939, ''European Archival Practices in Arranging Records'', which laid the groundwork for his life's work. In it, he observed that European methods only applied to U.S. records management
Records management, also known as records and information management, is an organizational function devoted to the information management, management of information in an organization throughout its records life-cycle, life cycle, from the time of ...
in a limited way. Americans were creating documents at an unprecedented rate, and European archival practices did not adequately respond to the changing needs of American records management. Experiencing this issue firsthand during his work at NARA, Schellenberg's theory of the archives came from the practical need to adapt European archival practices to working with the massive scale of the federal records climate.
Schellenberg briefly left NARA for three years at the close of WWII
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in 1945, when he took a job as a Records Officer in the Office of Price Administration
The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was established within the Office for Emergency Management of the United States government by Executive Order 8875 on August 28, 1941. The functions of the OPA were originally to control money (price contr ...
. His work there illustrated the many difficulties found in managing vast amounts of government records, which only increased his commitment to finding solutions. In 1948, he returned to NARA as Program Adviser to the Archivist and published his first major work in 1949 called ''Disposition of Federal Records: How to Develop an Effective Program for the Preservation and Disposal of Federal Records.''
Schellenberg was promoted to Director of Archival Management in 1950 and served in that capacity until 1962. One of his first projects was to craft a rigorous training program for NARA employees because there was an inadequate standardization
Standardization or standardisation is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments. Standardization ...
in his division's policies and procedures. He also created guidelines for how positions would be categorized and ensured that job descriptions were consistent. Schellenberg continued to provide archival training throughout his tenure at NARA by planning a two-semester course at American University
The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
, organizing a series of symposiums for senior archivists, and traveling to records centers throughout the U.S. to provide three-day classes on archives management. Schellenberg also oversaw a massive reappraisal of documents to deaccession old records and enforced a methodology
In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...
more selective in the appraisal of new records. He then went on to serve as the assistant archivist of the United States until he retired in 1963.
Influence
Schellenberg on appraisal
Schellenberg's major contribution to archival practice was emphasizing the centrality of appraisal in archival work and making selection a primary role of the archivist. To Schellenberg, a record has "primary value" to the creator as evidence of activities, but also has "secondary value" (i.e. evidential or informational value) to future users of the records outside of the originating agency, such as other agencies, historians, or private users. He argued the most efficient way to deal with the sheer volume of records that archives were dealing with at the time was to differentiate between a record's primary and secondary value and, thus, determine the relative value of the records based on the secondary value of the records. This differentiation was key for Schellenberg as he argued for a greater distinction between records and archives. In his definition, records only have current, primary value to their creators, but archives are records deemed to have significant secondary value by an archivist (i.e. meriting permanent preservation) outside of their original value to the record's creators. Consequently, records were under the purview of records manager
A records manager is the professional responsible for records management in an organization. This role has evolved over time and takes many forms, with many related areas of knowledge required for professional competency. Records managers are foun ...
s, and only those records holding value for future users (particularly for future historical inquiry) would become a part of the archives.
According to Schellenberg, a record's overall value can be appraised based on three distinct criteria:
* ''Uniqueness'': The information contained in the record cannot be found anywhere else and must not have been duplicated. This can determine how unique the record is.
* ''Form'': The extent to which the information is formatted as well as the form of records themselves should both be considered. The hardware the information is stored on or the hardware needed to read the information should also be taken into account.
* ''Importance'': When appraising records, the needs of the federal government should take precedence before the needs of historians and social scientists. Historical significance of the records should also be taken into account.[Schellenberg, Theodore R. (1956). ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.]
''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''
In 1954, Schellenberg was given the opportunity to travel to Australia through the Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
to assist Australians in creating an archival system suited to their archival issues. He spent months helping address records management concerns through a lecture and seminar series that allowed him to travel throughout the continent and even to Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
and New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. During this time, his lecture and seminar notes began to take the shape of a textbook on archival work and management practices. In 1956, he published this work as the acclaimed text ''Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques''—thus creating the first exhaustive American approach to archival administration.
The book explores emerging issues, concerns, and approaches to archival theory and practice that modern archivists encounter, thereby reflecting the desire for a closer and more efficient working relationship between records management and archival work and giving readers a broad overview of principles of public records management. In responding to modern archival problems, particularly distinctly American archival concerns, the book also juxtaposes American archival work and theory with those of foreign countries to clarify the fundamental nature and methods of archives, records management, and archival management.
Schellenberg's textbook was largely well received in the archival field, both in America and internationally, and quickly became a central text for students in archival training programs. After the publication, historian and archivist Waldo Gifford Leland
Waldo Gifford Leland (July 17, 1879 in Newton, Massachusetts – October 19, 1966) was an American historian and archivist whose work for the Carnegie Institution and the Library of Congress was instrumental in the founding of the National Archiv ...
positively reviewed the text in the October 1956 issue of the ''American Archivist
The ''American Archivist'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal and the official publication of the Society of American Archivists. It covers theoretical and practical developments in archival science, particularly in North America. The jou ...
'', stating: "This compact and well written book is, at least in the opinion of the reviewer, the most significant and useful statement yet produced on the administration of modern records and archives." In the following year, Schellenberg won a meritorious service award to honor the contributions made to the archival profession through the textbook.
Principal publications
1996 reprint online
1988 reprint online
References
Further reading
*Boles, Frank (2005). ''Selecting and Appraising Archives & Manuscripts''. Chicago: Society of American Archivists. pp. 43–73. .
*Cook, Terry (2005). "Macroappraisal in theory and practice: origins, characteristics, and implementation in Canada, 1950-2000". ''Archival Science''. 5 (2-4): 101–61.
*Ridener, John (2009). ''From Polders to Postmodernism: a concise history of archival theory''. Duluth, Minnesota: Litwin Books. .
*Schellenberg, Theodore R. (1999) 956
Year 956 ( CMLVI) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place Byzantine Empire
* Summer – Emperor Constantine VII appoints Nikephoros Phokas to commander of the ...
''The Appraisal of Modern Records''. Bulletin of the National Archives. 8. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
*
External links
Schellenberg, T. R. (Theodore R.) Papers, 1903-1970 at the Kansas State Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schellenberg, T. R.
American archivists
1903 births
1970 deaths
Archival science
Tabor College (Kansas) alumni
University of Pennsylvania alumni
University of Kansas alumni
National Archives and Records Administration