The "new" social history is no longer new. Monographs and theses in social history abound; severa... more The "new" social history is no longer new. Monographs and theses in social history abound; several academic journals have been established under its banner and older ones have been won over. But interest in social history has neither been confined to university history departments nor are social historians incapable of appealing to the general reader. Archivists considering the future course of historical research will want to note articles on teaching social history at the high school level in recent issues of The History and Social Science Teacher. They may have also noted that not long ago Time magazine ran a cover story on the influence of social history on American historical writing and, more recently, Saturday Night
This paper has been aimed at demonstrating the applicability of the ground penetrating radar to a... more This paper has been aimed at demonstrating the applicability of the ground penetrating radar to acquiring basic information on lake sediments and geomorphological conditions of their deposition in the basin of Mały Staw lake. The lake area is one of the most comprehensively studied part of the Polish part of the Karkonosze Mountains. The application of radar soundings enabled a fast and environmentally friendly verification as well as updating the results of previous research on the thickness and structure of the sediments of this glacial lake. Mały Staw lake is formed at the postglacial depression in the granite bedrock. The bottom of the lake is composed of limnic deposits of the maximum thickness reaching up to 15 m. The postglacial formations occurring below them probably contain a buried moraine of the youngest recessional phase. Solid rock is located about 25 meters beneath the current bottom of the lake.
This article outlines the role of the thesis in the approach to archival education of the master’... more This article outlines the role of the thesis in the approach to archival education of the master’s program in archival studies at the University of Manitoba. The article discusses the role of the thesis in educating students to think archivally, or to enable them to identify significant work problems, conceptualize their issues, research the relevant sources, analyze and assemble the resulting information, and share it with others. The author maintains that this research ability is vital in the increasingly complex archival workplace of the twenty-first century. RESUME Cet article decrit le role des theses dans l’enseignement de l’archivistique au sein du programme de maitrise en etudes archivistiques de l’Universite du Manitoba. L’auteur soutient que les theses jouent un role important en apprenant aux etudiants a penser de facon archivistique ou en leur permettant d’identifier les problemes significatifs, a conceptualiser leurs questions, a faire des recherches dans les sources ap...
Two recent articles in the Toronto Star on Canadian rural life could not have been more dissimila... more Two recent articles in the Toronto Star on Canadian rural life could not have been more dissimilar. The first, under the headline "Crisis on our Farms," summarized several serious problems facing agriculture. The Star reported that high interest rates, indebtedness, and inflation had joined forces in the 1970s with the farmer's other enemy poor weather to threaten the very existence of the family farm. The story went on to discuss the Jago family of Reston, Manitoba. The Jagos were on the verge of selling their farm. Said John Jago, who admitted his limited formal education: "Somehow it just doesn't make sense. I'm 40 and able-bodied. There's lots of work out there and I want to do it. The country needs feeding." Although Jago saw little hope of coping with environmental and economic forces beyond his control, a spokesman for the ManTech Management Group of Winnipeg, a farm management consulting firm, offered a brighter scenario. "There's...
In the popular novel Disclosure, Tom Sanders, an executive at an American information technology ... more In the popular novel Disclosure, Tom Sanders, an executive at an American information technology design company, wears a special headset to enter the company's computerized "virtual" records office in a frantic search for records which will defend him against a charge of mismanaging a company project. A real person, Michael Deering of Sun Microsystems Inc. of Seattle, reports that his company is working on a prototype of such a virtual records system. He says, "it will be a simpler type than what you saw in Disclosure, but it will remind you very much of that."' Perhaps one day in the next century we will make available to users of archives finding aids and records which they will view with a virtual reality headset or eye glasses, which may indeed be an all-purpose appliance, that is simply turned on at home or anywhere, and archives are beamed up. We are flooded with such scenarios for the future development of and access to communications. We feel very...
The socio-political weakness of archives is a fundamental problem in modern democracies. Archivis... more The socio-political weakness of archives is a fundamental problem in modern democracies. Archivists do not have sufficient authority and resources for their work because citizens are not fully aware of the actual uses and community benefits of archives. Thus, societies do not place enough social and political pressure on institutions to make their archives available. Yet these uses have become so numerous and extraordinary that it may be possible to say that human knowledge and society are beginning to be shaped by and depend on archival materials as never before. Have we entered what might be called the archival stage in the history of knowledge? RESUME La faiblesse socio-politique des archives est un probleme fondamental dans les democraties modernes. Les archivistes ne disposent pas de suffisamment d’autorite et de ressources pour faire leur travail car les citoyens ne sont pas pleinement conscients des utilisations reelles et des avantages communautaires des archives. C’est donc...
... Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre gave initial form to the Annales school in 1929 when they founde... more ... Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre gave initial form to the Annales school in 1929 when they founded the journal which has since then identified the ... BC, the appearance of oats and rye after 2000 BC, the domestication of the horse (1500 BC), the arrival of ox and plough (1000 BC ...
The opening of an archives is often an exciting occasion when access is gained to once inaccessib... more The opening of an archives is often an exciting occasion when access is gained to once inaccessible or previously unknown records. Archives today, though, are being reopened through growing interest in the history of records and archives. Approaches to ...
Jonathan Culler's valuable little book Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 1... more Jonathan Culler's valuable little book Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 1997) contains a cartoon which depicts three people in conversation, no doubt about literary theory. One turns to another and says,You're a terrorist? Thank God. I understood Meg to ...
The "new" social history is no longer new. Monographs and theses in social history abound; severa... more The "new" social history is no longer new. Monographs and theses in social history abound; several academic journals have been established under its banner and older ones have been won over. But interest in social history has neither been confined to university history departments nor are social historians incapable of appealing to the general reader. Archivists considering the future course of historical research will want to note articles on teaching social history at the high school level in recent issues of The History and Social Science Teacher. They may have also noted that not long ago Time magazine ran a cover story on the influence of social history on American historical writing and, more recently, Saturday Night
This paper has been aimed at demonstrating the applicability of the ground penetrating radar to a... more This paper has been aimed at demonstrating the applicability of the ground penetrating radar to acquiring basic information on lake sediments and geomorphological conditions of their deposition in the basin of Mały Staw lake. The lake area is one of the most comprehensively studied part of the Polish part of the Karkonosze Mountains. The application of radar soundings enabled a fast and environmentally friendly verification as well as updating the results of previous research on the thickness and structure of the sediments of this glacial lake. Mały Staw lake is formed at the postglacial depression in the granite bedrock. The bottom of the lake is composed of limnic deposits of the maximum thickness reaching up to 15 m. The postglacial formations occurring below them probably contain a buried moraine of the youngest recessional phase. Solid rock is located about 25 meters beneath the current bottom of the lake.
This article outlines the role of the thesis in the approach to archival education of the master’... more This article outlines the role of the thesis in the approach to archival education of the master’s program in archival studies at the University of Manitoba. The article discusses the role of the thesis in educating students to think archivally, or to enable them to identify significant work problems, conceptualize their issues, research the relevant sources, analyze and assemble the resulting information, and share it with others. The author maintains that this research ability is vital in the increasingly complex archival workplace of the twenty-first century. RESUME Cet article decrit le role des theses dans l’enseignement de l’archivistique au sein du programme de maitrise en etudes archivistiques de l’Universite du Manitoba. L’auteur soutient que les theses jouent un role important en apprenant aux etudiants a penser de facon archivistique ou en leur permettant d’identifier les problemes significatifs, a conceptualiser leurs questions, a faire des recherches dans les sources ap...
Two recent articles in the Toronto Star on Canadian rural life could not have been more dissimila... more Two recent articles in the Toronto Star on Canadian rural life could not have been more dissimilar. The first, under the headline "Crisis on our Farms," summarized several serious problems facing agriculture. The Star reported that high interest rates, indebtedness, and inflation had joined forces in the 1970s with the farmer's other enemy poor weather to threaten the very existence of the family farm. The story went on to discuss the Jago family of Reston, Manitoba. The Jagos were on the verge of selling their farm. Said John Jago, who admitted his limited formal education: "Somehow it just doesn't make sense. I'm 40 and able-bodied. There's lots of work out there and I want to do it. The country needs feeding." Although Jago saw little hope of coping with environmental and economic forces beyond his control, a spokesman for the ManTech Management Group of Winnipeg, a farm management consulting firm, offered a brighter scenario. "There's...
In the popular novel Disclosure, Tom Sanders, an executive at an American information technology ... more In the popular novel Disclosure, Tom Sanders, an executive at an American information technology design company, wears a special headset to enter the company's computerized "virtual" records office in a frantic search for records which will defend him against a charge of mismanaging a company project. A real person, Michael Deering of Sun Microsystems Inc. of Seattle, reports that his company is working on a prototype of such a virtual records system. He says, "it will be a simpler type than what you saw in Disclosure, but it will remind you very much of that."' Perhaps one day in the next century we will make available to users of archives finding aids and records which they will view with a virtual reality headset or eye glasses, which may indeed be an all-purpose appliance, that is simply turned on at home or anywhere, and archives are beamed up. We are flooded with such scenarios for the future development of and access to communications. We feel very...
The socio-political weakness of archives is a fundamental problem in modern democracies. Archivis... more The socio-political weakness of archives is a fundamental problem in modern democracies. Archivists do not have sufficient authority and resources for their work because citizens are not fully aware of the actual uses and community benefits of archives. Thus, societies do not place enough social and political pressure on institutions to make their archives available. Yet these uses have become so numerous and extraordinary that it may be possible to say that human knowledge and society are beginning to be shaped by and depend on archival materials as never before. Have we entered what might be called the archival stage in the history of knowledge? RESUME La faiblesse socio-politique des archives est un probleme fondamental dans les democraties modernes. Les archivistes ne disposent pas de suffisamment d’autorite et de ressources pour faire leur travail car les citoyens ne sont pas pleinement conscients des utilisations reelles et des avantages communautaires des archives. C’est donc...
... Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre gave initial form to the Annales school in 1929 when they founde... more ... Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre gave initial form to the Annales school in 1929 when they founded the journal which has since then identified the ... BC, the appearance of oats and rye after 2000 BC, the domestication of the horse (1500 BC), the arrival of ox and plough (1000 BC ...
The opening of an archives is often an exciting occasion when access is gained to once inaccessib... more The opening of an archives is often an exciting occasion when access is gained to once inaccessible or previously unknown records. Archives today, though, are being reopened through growing interest in the history of records and archives. Approaches to ...
Jonathan Culler's valuable little book Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 1... more Jonathan Culler's valuable little book Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 1997) contains a cartoon which depicts three people in conversation, no doubt about literary theory. One turns to another and says,You're a terrorist? Thank God. I understood Meg to ...
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