Contagious Description: Factors Influencing the Adoption of the Australian Series System in New Zealand Archives

<p>The Australian series system has been identified as useful in describing the multiple relationships increasingly identified in archival collections due to complex administrative history, the need to describe electronic records or a wish to describe multiple views of a single group of archives. However, throughout New Zealand it has been fully adopted by relatively few Archives. A mixed-methods survey was carried out to investigate motivators and barriers to the adoption of the Australian series system, using quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis of responses to a questionnaire. Using Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory and the records continuum model to suggest factors and map the results, it was found that the main motivator to use the AuSS was an archivist convinced of its value, through training or previous use, and with an awareness of archival conventions and standards. Other motivators included a large collection with a complex administrative history, the availability of compatible software, institutional support, and expert advice recommending its use. Barriers included lack of awareness or training, lack of autonomy for the archivist, and lack of resources. Changes to description occurred when particular moments of opportunity coincided with perceived needs. These factors worked together at all levels of the records continuum to affect decisions made by archivists on the type of description to use in their finding aids. Wider use of the AuSS to enable better information sharing and more fully-developed contextual description could be achieved through the provision of better publicised information; expert advice on implementation and on migration of existing data; and practical, readymade, simple and adaptable templates for finding aids.</p>

Contagious Description: Factors Influencing the Adoption of the Australian Series System in New Zealand Archives

<p>The Australian series system has been identified as useful in describing the multiple relationships increasingly identified in archival collections due to complex administrative history, the need to describe electronic records or a wish to describe multiple views of a single group of archives. However, throughout New Zealand it has been fully adopted by relatively few Archives. A mixed-methods survey was carried out to investigate motivators and barriers to the adoption of the Australian series system, using quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis of responses to a questionnaire. Using Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory and the records continuum model to suggest factors and map the results, it was found that the main motivator to use the AuSS was an archivist convinced of its value, through training or previous use, and with an awareness of archival conventions and standards. Other motivators included a large collection with a complex administrative history, the availability of compatible software, institutional support, and expert advice recommending its use. Barriers included lack of awareness or training, lack of autonomy for the archivist, and lack of resources. Changes to description occurred when particular moments of opportunity coincided with perceived needs. These factors worked together at all levels of the records continuum to affect decisions made by archivists on the type of description to use in their finding aids. Wider use of the AuSS to enable better information sharing and more fully-developed contextual description could be achieved through the provision of better publicised information; expert advice on implementation and on migration of existing data; and practical, readymade, simple and adaptable templates for finding aids.</p>

Administration System Under the Nizams of Hyderabad, India

This is an attempt at presenting a brief account of the administrative history of the dominions of Hyderabad, the time the Asaf Jahi Dynasty was established here to the 1948. Following the Mughal conquest of the Golconda Kingdom in 1687, territorial adjustment and changes were effected and the Kingdom was in corporate as one of the six Mughal provinces of the Deccan as Subah Farkhundabunyad (Hyderabad). This subah or province during the first quarter of the eighteenth century and 42 sarkars and 405 mahals these sarkars or districts where Mohammadnagar (alias Golconda) Kolas, Khammamet, Koilkonda, Ganpur, Deverkonda, Nalgonda, Pangal, Bhongir, Medak, Mlangur, Mustafanagar, Murtazanagar, Ellore, Rajahmundry, Ellgandal, Warangal, Machlipatnam, Nizampatnam, Srikakul, Sidhout, Ganjikota, Goti, Koramkonda, Khmmam, Odankar, Sarvvapalli, Kanchi, Chingalpet (Madras), Chandergiri, Narsapur, Dandwari, Nusrathgarh, Tiryapal, Palakotah, Daradun, Walgondapur, Vellore, Jaydev, Tanjavur and Trichinopally.

The Detention of Non-Enemy Civilians Escaping to Britain during the Second World War

Thousands of civilians from Allied and neutral countries reached Britain during the Second World War. Nearly all who arrived between 1941 and 1945 were detained for interrogation – an unprecedented course of action by Britain which has nevertheless seldomly been studied. This article focuses on the administrative history of this process and the people it affected. It demonstrates how certain parts of the state treated non-Britons with suspicion throughout the war, long after fears of a ‘fifth column’ had subsided. At the same time, others saw them favourably, not least because many either offered intelligence, intended to volunteer with the Allied Forces, or work for the war industry. Examining how these conflicting views co-existed within a single detention camp, this article thus illustrates the complex relationship that existed between non-Britons and the wartime state, which perceived them simultaneously as suspects, assets, and allies. By making use of the thousands of resulting interrogation reports, the article also offers more detail than currently exists on the gender and nationality background of those who reached Britain, as well as about the journeys they took to escape occupied territory.

Building Borders

This chapter traces the creation of the Canada–US border from the American Revolution until the beginning of the Civil War. It outlines the international agreements signed by European nations—the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of 1818, Anglo-Russian Treaty (1825), and the Oregon Treaty (1846)—which established British, American, and Russian territorial claims on paper. By comparing this administrative history of the border to the stories of Tom Mutceheu (Cree), Feather (Assiniboine-Soto), and Joe Louie (Coast Salish), the chapter emphasizes the diverse ways that Indigenous people and colonial powers conceptualized and enforced territorial divisions. Finally, it looks at how violence, dispute, and the boundary survey process shaped how both countries approached their national boundaries and their relationships with Indigenous people.

Zur Geschichte der Dienstrechtspolitik im Innenministerium

The ruptures and continuities that the German civil service policy has experienced are impressively illuminated in the contributions by Andreas Wirsching and Frieder Günther on the history of today's Department D "Civil Service" in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Building and Community. The starting point for this account of administrative history is the tradition of the civil service. Since 1949, there has been a continuous, but by no means conflict free development. The range of tasks in the department has been subject to considerable fluctuations over the decades. Ansgar Hollah takes a look at the future goals of service law policy against this background of administrative history. With contributions by Dr. Frieder Günther, Ansgar Hollah and Prof. Dr. Andreas Wirsching.

Wieder gelesen: Cornelia Vismann, »Akten« (2000)

This Relektüre revisits Cornelia Vismann’s book Files: Law and Media Technology almost 20 years after its initial publication. Situating the book in the media historical and intellectual constellations in which it originally appeared, this article provides an overview of Vismann’s approach to legal and administrative history and sheds light on the book’s reception.