TYBA-History-SEM-6-Paper-6-Introduction-to-Museology-and-Archival-Science-English-Version-munotes

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1 MODULE - I
1
MUSEOLOGY

Unit Structure:
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Museums – Origin
1.3 Museums - Definations
1.4 History of Museum Movement in India
1.5 Summ ary
1.6 Questions
1.7 References
1.0 OBJECTIVE S
After goingthrough this the stude nts will be able to:
1. Understand the meaning of museoulogy.
2. Trace the origin of Museum.
3. Understand the Museum movement.
1.1 INTR ODUCT ION
The study of the methods of cleaning, processing and history greath,
present status, their for probable future developme nt and their
responsibility to the society is known as museology. It is a broad term,
which covers both theoretical and practical aspects of museum
administration. The study of museums is vital because we are the
products of the past. It is only when we study the past that helps in the
better understanding of the present and the future.
1.2 MUSEUMS – ORIGIN
Museum is a Latin word derived from Greek. It was applied to the
sacred place museion meaning a ‘temple of Muses.’ The Muses were the
Greek Goddesses of art an dlearning.
According to the Romans the Museums were meant to be research
institutes. munotes.in

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Introduction to Museology
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2 1.3 MUSEUMS - DEFINATIONS
A simple Oxford Dictionary definition may be as follows :
“A place where objects of historicl interest are colled and
displayed.”
The definition of term “m useum” although originarily was “housing
and preserving the nation’s heritage”, it was continually analysed and
revised to suit its functions.
By the 19th century “museum” was defined as “an institution providing
instruction and enjoyment and serving for the preservation of
objects for future generations”. T his definition included new elements i.e.
instruction and enjoyment thus shifting the emphasis from merely
preservation to imparting knowledge through entertainment.
A more or less similar idea was expressed by Markham : “Services that a
museum can render to any community may conveniently be groped as :
i) Collection and preservation
ii) Interpretation
iii) “Educational Services” the museum thus “being there for objects
exists for the people”
According to John M.A. Thompson, “A museum is a non – profit
making, permanent institution, in the service of the society and of its
development and open to the public” (ICOM 1974). The phenomenon of
the museum here is of a comparatively recent origin, yet seems vague in
the present context.
A comprehensive definition given by the UNESCO is as follows : “A
museum is a permanent establishment, administered in the general interest
for the purpose of preserving, studying, enhancing by various means and
in particular, of exhibiting to the public for its delectation and instructive
groups of objects and specimens of cultural values, artistic, historical
scientific and technological collection, botanical and zoological gardens
and acquarium etc.”
1.4 HISTORY OF MUSEUM MOVEMENT IN INDIA
Mention has been made to the term “Chitrasala” meaning picture gallery,
in the ancient Indian literature. Very little, however, is known about the
scope and nature of this gallery.
Similarly at the Buddhist sites of Bodhgaya, Amravati, with labeled
sculpture, the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavar were all rich in
information and gave excellent documents. Yet they only served as
components of museums but not museums in India. It can therefore, be munotes.in

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Museology
3 conveniently said that, the oldest m useums in our country came in the
form of Picture galleries and “Museum – cum –temples”.
However, museum in the real sense of the term was established in India
with the advent of the Europeans. Sir William Jones and N athanial
Wallich associated with Asiatic Society of Bengal may indeed, be
considered as the founding fathers of India’s museum movement.
The history of museum movement in India can be broadly divided into
four groups based on different periods.
i) Museum movement under East India Company (1784 –
1857):
The year 1796 witnessed the first museum collection when the Asiatic
Society of Bengal founded 1784, felt the need to house all the curiosities
accumulated in Calcutta. In 1814, a museum was established by the
society. It had two sections, namely.
a) Archaeology, Ethno logy and Technology Section. b) Geology and
Zoology Section.
The beginning was made by the society with the sole intent ion of
collecting the miscellaneous materials of art and archaeology and was
rather slow in its collections. The people of India themselves were not
interested in the preservations of the past. Moreover, the museums were
“non-profit making institutions and naturally were in low priority in
Governmental development plans. Nevertheless, the collections grew in
numbers which needed quick sorting out, preserving, documenting,
displaying and publishing. Inspite of their slow progress, by 1857 , a
dozen museums were opened in India, some of the important ones being.
a) The Central Museum (established by the Society of Madras) at St.
George.
b) The College Museum (established by Sir William Carey, the
pioneer missionary) at Calcutta.
c) The Victoria Museum (established by Sir Bartle Frere, the then
Commissioner of Sind) at Karachi.
d) A Museum in the (established by the Society of Bombay) Town
Barracks, Bombay.
However, the museum work suffered a setback as a result of the Revolt
of 1857. This period brought bitterness and distrust between the rulers
and the rules.
ii) Museum movement in India during the Victorian era and under
the pr incely states (1857 – 1898):
A healthy trend in India’s museum movement during this period was the
interest taken by the Princely states in the founding of the museums
which were established during this period were founded by the Princely munotes.in

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Introduction to Museology
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4 states and were normally called the Maharaja Museums. Mention has been
made about some of them.
a) A museum at Trivandrum (built by the Maharaja or Travancore)
b) A museum at Bangalore (established by the Maharaja of
Mysore) Museums were also founded at Jaipur, Rajkot, Udaipur,
Vijaywada by the Princely states.
Besides the work done by the Princely State s, the period also
witnessed the birth of “Archaeological Survey of India”. In the year
1861 , the survey of India felt the need to put archaeological investigations
on a firm footing. Mention here must be made to the efforts of Sir
Alexander Cunningham who succeeded in discovering the Sunga Stupa at
Bharhat in M.P., besides discoveries of other large archaeological objects.
In 1874, the Government Museum at Mathura was built. In it were
collected all the Mathura sculptures. The collections were mainly the
result of efforts of a British collector F.S. Growse. Between 1887 and
1897, museums were founded in the name of Queen Victoria. One among
them was the Victoria Technical Institute at Madras.
Thus despite the political upheavals we find that during the years between
1857 and 1898, museums grew in numbers. H owever, the museums
concentrated on archaeological research.
iii) Museum movement in India under the British officials (1898–1928):
This period began with the Viceroyalty of Lord Curzon. After his arrival
in 1899 , Lord Curzon took keen interest in the preservation of India’s
monuments. Naturally he fully suppo rted those activities which were
conne cted with the discovery of archaeological materials of India. In
1990, in the first trip of Taj he was pained to see the famous Taj in a
sorry state. He, therefore took it up as a hobby to preserve India’s vast
and rich heritage. He appointed Sir John Marshall as the Director Gene ral
of Archaeological Survey of Indian in 1902. So the credit of setting up
site museums goes to John Marshall. Markham and Greaves rightly
observed the importance of such site museums: “It has been the policy of
Government of India to keep the small and movable antiquities
recovered from the ancient sites, in close connection with the remains
to which they belong, so that they may be studied amid their natural
surroundings”.
In 1906, the long cherished dream of Lord Curzon was fulfilled
with the founding of Victoria Memorial Hall at Calcutta. However, it
was formally opene d in 1921 :
Some of the museums founded between 1898 and 1928 were as
follows:
a) Museum at Baripada (1903)
b) Museum at Saranath (1904) munotes.in

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Museology
5 c) Museum at Agra (1906)
d) Museum at Chanbra (1908)
e) Museum at Delhi Fort (1909)
f) Museum at Gwalior (1910 )
g) Museum at Bijapur (1912)
h) Archaeological Museum, Gwalior (1922)
i) Museum at Lahore (1928)
iv) Museum movement and popu lar participation (1928–1947):
Despite the fact that Indian freedom struggle was intensified during this
period it witnessed a rich crop of museums all over the country.
Active participation in the founding of museums was taken not only by
the Government, but also by the Indian states, learned societies, civic
bodies and private individuals. D uring this period, Markham was the
Secretary of the British Museums Association and Hargreaves, the
Director General of Archaeological Survey of India. There were as many
as 105 museums spread all over the country. But Markham – Hargreaves
reports after a survey showed that museums did not maintain a proper
record, curators were not trained and they were lacking in funds.
The name of a few museums established at this time is given below:
a) Taxila Museum, Punjab (1928)
b) Historical Museum, Satara (1930)
c) Rajwada Samshodhan Manda l (1932)
d) Sri Chitralayam, Trivendrum (1935)
e) Temple Museum, Sriangpatnam (1935)
f) Raja Raja Chola Museum, Tanjore (1935)
g) State Museum, Gauhati (1940 )
The museum movement, however, received a set back between 1939 and
1945 as a result of Global struggles in the form of Second World War.
Still, tireless efforts were made by wheeler, the Director General in 1944
of archaeological survey of India, to reorganize site museums under
Independent museums branch.
The changing role of museum movement in independent India (1947
onwards) :
India achieved its freedom in 1947. The constitution of India included the
subject “museum” in the State list. As a result, except the ones which
already existed unde r the central control, all others were brought under munotes.in

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Introduction to Museology
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6 state control. However, a further classification on the basis of control of
museums was made. It is as follows:
a) Museums controlled by Government
i) National level
ii) State level
b) Museums controlled by Local Self - Government
c) Museums run by autonomous bodies.
d) Museums controlled by Private Institutions
e) University museums
These archaeological museums occupied the most important place in
India’s museum movement even after Independence. Mention may be
made to the Archaeological museums at Nagrajukonda organized in
recent years. It is the first Island museum and as excavated sites, which
were submerged under Nagarjuna Resevoir Water.

The post independence era witnessed a transition from agriculture to
industry, rural to urban and traditional to m odern society. Naturally,
the scope of the museums was widene d. Museums catering to all classes
of society were established.
Education through museums gained impetus in the museums
movement in free India. The changing role of museums educating the
masses at large divided the museums into different categories, namely.
 Rural Museums
 Urban Museums munotes.in

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Museology
7 New museums on new subjects, new themes and new areas were started.
The post - indep endence era also witnessed another great change i.e.
transition from quantitative growth of museums to qualitative growth.
Efforts to reorganize the museums on modern li nes with improved
methods of display were made.
The need to have trained personnel for qualitative growth was felt.
Museology as a subject for the list time was introduced in Indian
Universities. Below are given some of the universities offering
Museology.
a) Department of Museology, Calcutta Universities, Calcutta.
b) Department of Museology, Bharat Kala Bhavan, Varanasi.
c) Department of Museology, Universities of Baroda, Baroda.
d) Department of Museum Studies, Birla Institute of Technology and
Science, Pilani.
e) Department of Science and Culture, Aligarh Muslim University,
Aligarh.
Foreign scholarships began to be awarded to meriotorious students for
further studies in M uselogy in U.S.A. and Europe.
Conferences, meetings held by Museum Associations and C entral
Advisory Boards at short intervals stressed on the improvement of
museums as educational institutes. In the year, for the first time, an
International Council of Museum meeting was held in Delhi and was
attended by leading museologists of International repute.
After independence, a countrywide museum movement for preserving all
vestiges of the past and the disappearing present hs gained momentum.
Now it is left in the hands of individuals in India to make efforts to take
pride in their own cultural heritage and involve themselves in the
preservation of their cultural heritage. Sarkar H. rightly says that, “It is
an indisputable lesson of history that a cultural and social resurgence has
to be spearheaded by the people and not by Government and not by
Government alone”.
TYPES OF MUSEUMS
The changing role of museums as powerful instruments in i mparting
knowledge to the public establishes the fact that there ought to be all
types of museums for all types of people, at all levels and at every nook
and corner of the county.
According to Wittlin Alma S. museums should cater to three types of
people. There should be :
a) Museums for students.
b) Museums for general public.
c) Museums services for children. munotes.in

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Introduction to Museology
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8 i) Archaeological Museums : Archaeological has occupied an
important place in India’s museum movements. Its main aim is know
our past so that we can guide ourselves for the future. Archaeological
excavations throw light on the development of art i.e. stone, sculpture,
cons, bronze, skeletons, animal bones etc. Archaeological survey gained
impetus with Lord Curzon’s government and placed the surveys on a
permanent footing.
Archaeological may be divided further in various department like
prehistoric archaeology, historic archaeo logy, Numismatics, epigraphy,
paintings, and manuscripts in various languages namely Arabic, Persian,
Sanskrit etc., Arms and Armous, Decorative arts, Textiles etc. helps us
for the proper understanding of the past heritages of our country.
ii) Art and Craft Museums : The sole aim of Art and Craft museums is
to exhibit the collections of fine art, rich Indian painting metal work,
ivory work, ceramic work, wood carvings, enamel work etc. Indian with
its rich cultural heritage and a history going back to times immemorial
has a vast collection of arts and craft which are displayed in the
museums of our country. For example, a rich collection of Bidri work
is found in Hyderabad and an excellent collection of enamel work and
metal work at Jaipur.
Art galleries exhibit the collection of fine art, mughal art, Ajanta picture,
paintings by contemporary artists etc. Baroda state museums and picture
gallery has the best collection of western paintings. Also a good
collection of works by British artists is found at the Victoria memorial,
Calcutta, The museum at Trivendrum displays the Ajanta paintings.
iii) Natural History Museums : Natural History museums preserve the
rate collection of flora and fauna. A collection of birds and animals
of different regions is very educative. Darjeeling museum and seven
college museums are devoted entirely to natural history. Some of these
museums run a regular “Nature Education Programme”. The natural
History museums some years ago showed specimens in bottle, show
case and looked artificial. Now they are shown more realistically and
attractively with the modern techniques of colour photography, electronics
etc.
iv) Personalia Museums : Personalia museums are established and
named after personalities. These are founded in memory of a leading
personality. The history of personalia m useum in India begins with
the post - independence period. The museums of this type cherish the
memory of men who have been models in some form or other. They
could be effectively used in propagating the message of secularism,
national integration etc. For example : The Gandhi Smark Nidhi
established museums at various places in Indian to propagate his ideas.
The other examples of Personalia museums are Nehru Memorial New
Delhi. The Lal Bahadur Shastri Museum, Delhi, The Netaji Subhash Bose
Museum, Calcutta, Chattrapati Shivaji Museum, Satara, The Sardar Patel munotes.in

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Museology
9 Museum, Surat, The Fabindranath Tagore Museum Shanti Niketan
and Carey Museum Serampur.
v) Ethno logical Museums: India culture is rich and varied with
classification of human beings into social and cultural groups. Exhibition
of the various tribes, their mode of life, the musical instruments,
ornaments, weapon s in utmost essential to preserve them for future
generations.
The Madras, Nagpur, Baroda and Bombay have interesting ethnological
collections. The Indian Museum in Calcutta has Ethnological gallery and
is divided into two head s, one is to illustrate the life and habits of the
primitive tribes of India and the other pertaining to particular aspects of
their life and culture.
vi) Science and Technology Mu seums : In a developing country like
India, the importance of science can hardly be denied. Science and
Technology museums are expensive and to minimize the expend iture, co-
operation of rich industrial houses may be sought. Museums may not only
be put up in smaller towns but also may have mobile units to popularize
scientific knowledge to educate the people. The Birla Industrial and
Technological museum at Calcutta and Vishveshwaraya museum at
Bangalore are the well established science and technology museums in
our country.
vii) Defence Museums : A defence museum acts as a memorial, a training
institute, a recreation centre as well as a living history. Defence museums
will not only collect, preserve and exhibit the different arms and armours
but also inculcate a felling of awareness about our defence among our
people. It pays a tribute to those who laid down their lives in the war. The
Kharagavasla and Darjeeling M useums cater to the needs of student
trainees.
viii) Agricultural, Forestry Mu seums : India is primarily an agricultural
country. The scope of agricultural museums includes forestry, hunting,
fishing, horticulture, sericulture, tobacco culture. Some of the best
museums dealing with agriculture or forestry are found in India. Mobile
agricultural museums hold demonstrations to educate the rural masses
about the use of fertilizers, machines, better grains etc. Example-
Coimbatore has an agricultural museums which has a rich collection of
soil profiles. Centres of Silk or Jute industry also may have museums, in
their close proximity, so that the rural people are educated about
these products in different states of manufacture.
ix) Health and Hygience Museums : Health and Hygience
museums play a vital role in educating the people in imparting
knowledge on basic cleanliness, health hazards, vaccinations, family
planning etc. Open mobile units helps reach the common man.
Thus, today the concept of museum has assumed considerable
significance. While the general museum houses varied collections,
there are more spcialised institutions which i nclude museums of munotes.in

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Introduction to Museology
and Archival Science
10 science, natural history, ethno graphy, everyday art, glass technology,
patho logy, anatomy, books, dolls and textiles at historic sites. Fortresses or
palaces and buildings.
Thus, museums, as repositories of India’s culture, display collections of
artifacts, scientifically classified under provenan ce, date, material and
size, but which take visitors on a quick but fulfilling journey across
ancient civilizations and imperial dyanasties to view for themselves the
wonde r that was India.
List of Museums in India:
Classification of important museums on the basis of its functions is given
below :
No. Category Examples
1. Archalogical Museums a) Archeological Museum, Mathura
b) Archeological Museum, N alanda
c) Archeological Museum, Bijapur
2. Anthropology
Museums a) Anthropology Museums, Gauhati
b) Anthropology Museums, Ranchi
c) Anthropology Museums,
Lucknow
3. Art Museums a) National Gallery of Modern Art,
Delhi
b) Ashutosh Museum of Indian Art,
Culcutta
c) Dogra Art Gallery, Jammu
4. Childern’s Museums a) Motilal Nehru Bal Sangrahalay,
Luchnow
b) Bal Bhavan, New Delhi
c) Sri. Girdharbhai Childern’s
Museum , Amreli
5. Craft Museums a) Craft Museum, Thpar House Delhi
b) Gurusday Museum, Thakurpukar,
Culcutta
6. Defence Museums a) Air Firce Museum, Delhi
b) National Defence Academy,
Khadavasla
7. Palace Museums a) Fort St. George Museum, Madras
b) The maharaja of jaypur Musuem,
Jaipur
c) Rana Pratap Museum, Udaipur munotes.in

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11
8. Forest Museums a) Forest Research Institute Museum,
Dehradun
b) Gass Fo rest Museum, Coimbatore
c) Forest School Musuem, Shivpuri 9. Natural History
Museums a) National History Musuem,
Darjeeling
10. Science & Technology
Museums a) Science Museum, N. P. L. New
Delhi
b) Vishvesvaraya Industrial and
Technological Museum,
Bangalore
c) Central Museum, Pilani
11. Persoalia Museums a) Gandhi Smriti Museum,
Bhavnagar
b) Nehru Museum and Liberary, New
Delhi
c) Mani Bhavan, Sangrahalay,
Mumbai
12. Temple Museums a) Sri Meenakashi Sundavesara
Temple Musuem, Madurai
b) Birla Museum, Birla Temple,
Bhopal
c) Sri Venkateshwara Museum,
Tirupati
13. Multipurpose museums a) Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai b) National Museum, New Delhi
14. Health and Hygience
Museums a) Provinicial Hygience Institute
museum, Lucknow
b) Health Museum, Baroda
15. Specialized Museums
Institute, Culcutta a) Museum of Central Glass and
Ceramic Research
b) Calico Museum of Textile,
Ahmedabad
c) National Philatelic Museum, New
Delhi
16. Medical Museums a) Gauhati Medical College,
Museum, Gauhati
b) Lady Hardinage Medical College
Museum, New Delhi
c) Stanley Medical College Museum,
Madras
d) Medical College Museum, Guntur munotes.in

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Introduction to Museology
and Archival Science
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17. Miscellaneous a) Cottage Industries Museum,
Guahati
b) Transport Museum, New Delhi
c) Engineering Museum, New delhi
d) Himalaya Mountaineering
Institute Museum, Derjeeling

1.5 SUMM ARY
The origin and growth of Museum is discussed in this unit. It is very
essential to understand the museum movement to the students therefore, in
this unit the detailed history and the development process of museum
movement is given in this unit. After revievi ng this unit, the entire culture
of this country is reflected through the various museums in India. Thus,
the role and importance of the museum is very essential to understand the
student.
This unit will be highlighted all the important aspect related to museum
including its origin and growth of Museum in India through its movement.
1.6 QUESTIONS
1) Define the term Museology. Give a brief history of the museum
movement in India.
2) Trace the growth of museums in India between 1796 and 1947.
3) Discuss the development of museum movement in India after its
independence in 1947.
4) Write short notes on the following:
a) Meaning, origin and definition of the term museology and
museums.
b) Development of museums during British era.
c) The growth of museums between 1784 and 1857.
d) The period of popular participation from 1928 to 1947 in the
growth of museums in India.
e) The changing role of museums in independent India.
1.7 REFERENCES
 Banerjee, N. R., Museum and Cultural Heritage of India, Agam Kala
Prakashan, New Del hi, 1990.
 Dwivedi V.P, Museums and Museology: New Horizons, Agam Kala
Prakashan, New Delhi, 1980. munotes.in

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13  Markham S. F., The Museums of India, The Museum Association,
London, 1936.
 Sarkar, H, Museums and Protection of Monuments and Antiquities in
India, Sundeep Pr akashan, New Delhi, 1981.
 Thomson John M.A. and Others, Manual of Curatorship: A Guide to
Museum Practice, Routledge, New York, 1984.
 Hooper -Greenhill, Eilean. 1994. The Educational Role of the Museum.
London: Routledge Publication.
 Belcher, David. 1991. Exhibition in Museum. Washington:
Smithsonian Institution Press.
 Museum Association of India. 2010. The Arena of Indian Museum
(monograph). New Delhi: Museum Association of India (MAI).
 Simmons, J.E 2020. History of Museums

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14 2
ROLE OF THE CURATOR
Unit Structure:
2.0 Objective s
2.1 Role of The Curator
2.2 A Curator - His Responsibilities
2.3 Training and Basic Qualifications
2.4 Role of The Gove rnment for Better Curatorship
2.5 Summary
2.6 Questions
2.7 References
2.0 O BJECTIVE S
After going through this unit, the student will be able to:
1. Understand the role and responsibility of Curator.
2. Know the basic trainings and qualifications of the curator.
3. Understand the role of government for better curatorship.
2.1 ROLE OF THE CURATOR
The dictionary meaning of a Curator is “a Person in change of museum
or other collection” or “one who takes care of museum or exhibition just
as a manager does”. In that sense, a curator is the most crucial person in
the set-up of a museum. The success of failure of any museum depends
solely upon him. Therefore, he can be rightly called the ‘guardian’ or
‘caretaker’ of a museum. This term is derived from latin language and
was used for the first time in 1661.
A curator is expected to be a man with a sound academic background, a
tremendous imaginative power, readiness to work hard, deep dedication
towards the institution, a high sense of responsibility, knowledge about
management, a formal training, interested in research activities and last
but not the least, a through knowledge in museology.
2.2 A CURATOR - HIS RESPO NSIBILITIES
Needless to say, a Curator has a Shoulder various responsibilities. They
are as follows :
a) Collection of museum objects. munotes.in

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Role of The Curator
15 b) Documentation of objects.
c) Preservation of specimens.
d) Conservation.
e) Presentation of exhibits.
f) Publication and research work.
g) Public relations.
h) Relationship with colleagues.
i) Ethics and integrity.
j) Good administration
a) Collection of museum objects :
Collection of museum objects is the first and most important functions of
a museum. Collection of museum objects is a difficult task. The objects
that are brought to the museum may be authentic or fake, they may have
proper documentation or may not; they may be legal or illegal, their price
may be very high or low. They may have to be acquired in various forms
like loans, gifts, exchanges or sales.
The Curator has to be in the Collection of objects. He should take quick
decision while acquiring museum objects. While collecting the objects,
there may be many agencies like auctions, dealers, agencies, suppliers,
etc. He should never obtain items from illegal sources because this
world result in open criticism if they are acquired by stealth or fraud. If
he collects objects similar to those already existing in the museum, he
should immediately supply a detailed information about it to the
governing body.
He under, no circumstances should compete this with his institution with
regards to his private collection. He should always bear in mind. He is a
part of the wider society and work for the benefit of the society.
b) Documentation:
A systematic documentation of collected objects is fundamentally a
curatorial work. A curator is accountable for all the objects in charge of
the museum. Documentation is an important duty of a museum because
of several considerations. First of all, it is essential for academic
purposes. A good documentation system should keep all information
about the object and help the needs of the user. The user may be a curator,
research worker or the public.
Secondly, documentation enables the museums to take precautions
against take objects. Malpractices at state, national or even inter -
national level may be minimized by keeping proper records. munotes.in

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Introduction to Museology
and Archival Science
16 Thirdly, documentation is utmost important in case of theft or illicit
exports etc. because a proper registration enables the museum to
establish absolute identity.
Fourthly, it helps for the museum jobs like conservation of objects,
storage of materials, auditing and insurance of objects etc.
Therefore, as soon as an object is acquired an accession number should be
assigned to it. There should in general, be three types of documentations
like initial documentation done as soon as the object is acquired. Item
documentation giving a full record of details of the objects and control
documentation giving information about the movement and location of an
object. Documentation, however is difficult task. It is the responsibility of
a curator to have a through knowledge of documentation procedures and
methods.
c) Preservation:
The objects brought into the custody of museum authorities, should at
once be preserved against physical deterioration. This task is not only a
tedious one but requires trained personnel. It is the responsibility of the
curator to appoint experts, provide proper facilities, laboratories, funds,
storage places and preserve the ‘cultural property of various kinds.
The curator also should take care to safeguard the specimens against
fire, thefts and physical damages. He should see to it that perishable goods
are kept in air - tight boxes and identical objects in safe custody.
d) Conservation:
As already stated earlier, the curator should ensure good storage
conditions, proper handling procedures and good laboratory
facilities for conservation of objects. A museum consists of organic and
inorganic objects, vertebrate materials, geological materials, biological
collections, paintings etc. each in need of a different treatment for its
restoration and longer life. The curator has to call upon the services of the
trained staff or professionals for routine conservation and maintenance.
e) Presentation:
A curator should be a good organizer and planner. He s hould
remember while putting up the objects on display.
a) Not to overcrowd the objects in show cases.
b) To display noteworthy objects in a conspicuous manner. c) To label
each object in an attractive manner.
c) To change the arrangement from time to time.
d) To install modern techniques like metal detectors, smoke
detectors, alarm clocks etc.
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Role of The Curator
17 f) To organize lectures, group talks, competitions for visitors.
It is thus, the responsibility of the curator to make it an institution
which educates the public through - entertainment and make it a place
wish to visit again and again.
f) Publication and research work:
It is obligatory on the part of the curator to publish the results of the
research work done in the museum. He should also publish handlists,
guidebooks, posters, picture post cards, Annual reports, monographs,
directories etc. periodically which may be handy for the general visitors
to the museum. Catalogues and dissertations giving a detailed information
on the holdings of the museum also should be published for the benefit of
the scholars.
For this, the curator should have love for research work. He s hould
maintain a good reading room and an up-to-date library both for general
public as well as for research scholars respectively. It need arises, he
should be able to guide the research scholars in their study.
g) Public Relations:
Visitors to the museum are drawn largely from all classes - upper, middle
and lower social status thus making the museum public extremely public
extremely heterogenou s in character. The public also comes from all
age levels, from different economic, social and educational background.
A curator, however, is a link between the museum and society. His role,
therefore, becomes utmost significant because he is an constant touch
with the public. He as the custodian of the museum should answer their
doubts satisfactorily with courtesy. To be precise, he should be a good
teacher.
h) Relationship with colleagues:
The relations of the curator with his colleagues ought to be pleasant and
encouraging. He shall understand each person’s talent, flair and capacity
to work in the museum and make special efforts to achieve an integrated
team - work for its success. He, as the central figure in the museum
builds everlasting relationships with his colleagues and his superiors.
i) Ethics and integrity:
It goes without saying that the curator should be a man with high morale
and character. His ethical problems began with the act of acquiring
materials for his museum and end with being fully acquainted with laws
of the museums. He should be very clear that acquiring, collecting or
owning of any object of the museum for his private use is highly
unethical. To be precise, he should have a clear concept of the powers
and responsibilities delegated to him.
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Introduction to Museology
and Archival Science
18 j) Good administration :
A curator must be a good administrator. He should be able to deal
efficiently with financial management, personnel management, the
management premises. The attitude, training and knowledge of a curator
is utmost necessary at all levels of administration.
2.3 TRAINING AND BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
The immense and varied responsibilities required of a curator
demand that he should be established scholar with the right temperament
and aptitude for such work.
The educational qualifications required to the post of a curator are as
follows.
a) He should hold a post – gradua te degree in the faculty of Arts or
Science and more preferably in the specialized subject of museology.
b) He also should have two years experience in subjects such as
anthropology, archaeology etc.
c) A diloma course in the subject of museolgy may also be considered
for smaller museums.
d) The curator should have administrative abilities.
e) The curator must know national language, international
languages in to regional languages so far as possible.
The duration of course in these universities is generally two years and
admission is thrown open to students who hold Bachelor’s degree in
Arts or Science. Admissi on for institutes of sci ence and technology is
open ed to graduates in Engineering or Technology. Almost all
depa rtments of museology are established with close collaboration with
the museums of those particulars cities. These museums provide all
facilities for practical work.
Besides the formal courses of training given in the above mentioned
universities, the museums have come forward to conduct short term
courses in museology. The duration of such courses varies from two
months to nine or ten months.
The university Grants Commission conducts workshops on teaching and
research work in museology.
2.4 ROLE OF THE GOVE RNMENT FOR BETTER
CURATORSHIP
To make the post of a curator an attractive one, the Government should
take some more steps, namely the curators should be given a respectable
salary.
a) Scholarships for training the curators should be granted for the
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Role of The Curator
19 b) In service training and practical instructions should be provided for
curators.
c) Curators should be sent to foreign countries for attending
conferences and discussions.
d) Proper funds should be made available to them for keeping the
museums up-to-date.
2.5 SUMMARY
With an increase in the activities in the museums, the scope of jobs has
also increased amazingly. Engineers specialized in M etallurgy, mining
are now taking interest in taking up jobs here. The ‘Museums
Association of India’ - a strong organization of persons in the
museums profession works for the success of museum community. ICOM
is another International Organization which constantly works for the
activities and progress of museums all over the world.
Thus, ‘museology’ as a subject is gaining importance. The government is
shouldering the responsibility of appointing the right type of curators in
the museums. though there is yet a long way to go, much has been
achieved too. Really, the magic of museology is already working wonde rs.
2.6 QUESTIONS
1) Explain the role of a curator as the custodian of a museum.
2) Write the duties and responsibilities of a curator.
3) As a living force of the museum, what qualifications should a
curator fulfil? What role does a government play for better
curatorship?
4) Write short notes on the following :
a) Responsbilities of a curator.
b) Collection and documentation of objects – a curators skill. c) Training
and basic qualification expected in a curator.
2.7 REFERENCES
 Banerjee, N. R., Museum and Cultural Heritage of India, Agam Kala
Prakashan, New Delhi, 1990.
 Dwivedi V.P, Museums and Museology: New Horizons, Agam Kala
Prakashan, New Delhi, 1980.
 Markham S. F ., The Museums of India, The Museum Association,
London, 1936. munotes.in

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Introduction to Museology
and Archival Science
20  Sarkar, H, Museums and Protection of Monuments and Antiquities in
India, Sundeep Prakashan, New Delhi, 1981.
 Thomson John M.A. and Others, Manual of Curatorship: A Guide to
Museum Practice, Rou tledge, New York, 1984.
 Hooper -Greenhill, Eilean. 1994. The Educational Role of the Museum.
London: Routledge Publication.
 Belcher, David. 1991. Exhibition in Museum. Washington:
Smithsonian Institution Press.
 Museum Association of India. 2010. The Arena of Indian Museum
(monograph). New Delhi: Museum Association of India (MAI).
 Simmons, J.E 2020. History of Museums

 
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21 3
TYPES OF MUSEUMS
Unit Structure :
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Types of Museums
3.2 Summary
3.3 Questions
3.4 References
3.0 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit , the students will be able to:
1. Understand the types of Museums .
2. Trace the catero ries of m useums in regionwise.
3.1 TYPES OF MUSEUMS
There are various types of museums so that education becomes active and
not passive become intimately conne cted with the life of the people.
Naturally to become a dynamic force, the museums have to alter and
modify their aims, objectives and their internal structures to fit the
changing conditions. This at once brings us to topic of the types of
museums t be discussed. In fact, no one single formula holds good for all
types of museums. Different categories of museums, different regions in
which museums are established al need a different formula to be followed.
To be precise, there ought to be museums for all types of people, at all
levels and at every nook and corner of the community.
Broadly s peaking, m useums m ay be divided into the following
categories depending upon the need of the community in general. They
are :
i) Rural Museums ii) Urban Museums
However, it should be remembered that they are not in water-tight
compartments. The programmes for rural museums may be brought under
the urban museum group and vice versa. The techniques used to educate
the rural public should be simpler and easier.

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Introduction to Museology
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22 Rural Museums:
Majority of our population lives in villages. Therefore, it is utmost
necessary to make museum programmes so interesting to the illiterate
villagers that it creates ‘museum – mindedness’ in them.
Some of the museums for the benefit of rural peop le may be as follows:
a) Agricultural museums
b) Health and Hygiene museums
c) Personalia museums
d) Natural history museums
e) Art and Craft museums
f) Scientific museums
g) Children’s museums
h) Folk museums
i) Forest museums etc.
Urban Museums:










Museums for urban public may be as follows:
a) Archaeological museums
b) Anth ropology museums
c) Science and technology museums
d) Natural History museums
e) Health and hygiene museums Museums for General Public
Rural Museums
Agricultural
Arts & Craft
Archaeology
Health & Hygiene
Multipurpose
Natural History
Science and Technology
Urban Museums
Archaeology
Book Museums
Children’s Museums
Defence
Ethnology
Health
Medical
Natural History
Philatelic
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Types of Museums
23 f) Children’s museums
g) Personalia museums
h) Book museums
i) Defence museums
j) Medical museums
k) Engineering museums
l) Specialised museums
m) Multi-purpose museums etc.
As stated earlier, any museum urban or rural should take into
consideration the total circumstances – buildings, finance, personnel,
community and make museum programme truly an educational one.
Let us now discuss about some of the types of museums and their
functions.
Agricultural Museums:
Indian is an agricultural country and it is needless to say that priority
should be given to agricultural museums. Agriculture encompasses areas
like hunting, forestry, fishing, sericulture, horticulture, tobacco culture
etc. The museums in villages need not really be huge buildings. Even a
small ‘community centre in a village can serve the purpose together
with the display of materials connected with agriculture, films can be
shown, stories can be narrated and competitions can be held and prizes
awarded.
In the interiors of the country the mobile vans with visual material are
sent with a view to afford both recreation and education to the rural
community. These mobile museums can hold demonstrations abut the
users of fertilizers, bette r grains, machines, co-operative stores,
conservation of soil etc. Centres which have industries of silk, wool, jute
can have their own museums to education the rural people about these
products and their stages of manufacture. Thus, various programmes
for the villagers are boun d to broaden, the horizons of knowledge and
ultimately bring improvements.
An example of agricultural museums if at coimbatore which has a rich
collection of soil profiles.
Examples of forest museums are (a) Forest Research Institute Museums,
Dehradun (b) Gass forest museum, Coimbatore and (c) Forest School
Museum, Shivpuri.

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Introduction to Museology
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24 Health and Hygiene Museums:
Health and hygience museums both for rural community and urban
community are important. Mobile museums ca do wonde rs by
imparting knowledge on various topics like cleanliness, C ontageous
diseases, vaccinations, family planning, health hazrds etc. Street plays,
demonstrations film shows are useful to educate the people about health
problems, dangers of uncleanliness and ways of preventing the diseases.
Trained doctors can be sent to different localities for freed check – ups
and also to vaccinate the children and educate the public through proper
guidance.
Museums of this type can undoubtedly, if not eradicate, minimize
the unhygienic and dirty conditions in which most of our rural and urban
communities suffer and make them better citizens.
Archaeology Museums:
Art and archaeology have always been given the highest priority in India.
India with its past history and culture dates back to times immemorial and
naturally is rich in archaeology.
Archaeology is in the form antiquities, sculptures, coins, paintings,
manuscripts, arms and armour etc. and India has all of them in
abundance.
Unfortunately, the Indian people were important to their rich agricultural
heritage and very little importance was given to their preservation.
However, the modem museums of today are careful to bring together all
archaeological material scattered at various places and preserve them for
future.
Of late archaeological museums at sites are established. They also are
called site museums. Some of the examples of site measures are Red fort,
Delhi, Tipu Sultan’s palace, Srirangapatna, the old Palace at Delhi.
Site museums in their natural circ umstances are much influential and
impressive and save the trouble of transportation of materials.
Students should be encouraged to visit archaeo logical museums and get
educated about the importance of archaeological materials. The teachers
should transmit their knowledge abou t the fundamentals of our culture
and traditions so that the children who are going to be the citizens of
tomorrow learn to take pride in their country’s schools an have their own
mini -0 archaeological museums and replicas of antiques may be
exhibited.
Craft Museums:
Craft museums explain about art and culture of the people. They give a
better understanding of the people of varying can be held. Prize –
winning entries should be displayed so that they are encouraged.
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Types of Museums
25 Natural History Museums:
A collection of flora and fauma is the area of natural history museums. A
collection of variety of birds are animals are preserved in these museums.
Not only animals and birds but local soils, local minerals, stones,
botanical specimens etc. also are preserved in the N atural History
Museums. Some of the natural history museums run ‘nature
education programme.’ The Natural History M useums at Darjeeling is an
example of this type of museum.
Personalia museums:
Personalia museums are established in memory of men who have ben
leading personalities in different fields. The also are named after
the respective personalities for whom they are established. For
example The Mani Bhavan Sangrahalaya in Bombay has preserved all
the collections of Gandhiji. Similarly Nehru Memorial Museum in New
Delhi is a good example of Personalia Museum.
Personalia exhibitions in schools can be organized with minimum
expenses. The children can be asked to collect material on a leader.
Others can be asked to collect photo graphs, prepare charts and get
information from all possible sources. These could be displayed on the
walls. The children can also be taken to the personalia museums. Such
activities in schools not only make them aware of the life led by the
leaders but they also help in propagating the message of national
integration.
India has many perrsonalia museums scattered all over the country, some
of them being The Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose museum in Calcutta,
Shivaji Museum in Satara, The Sardar Patel Museum in Surat, The Carey
Museum in Serampur etc.
Echnological Museums:
Ethnological is ethnical or actually conscious.
Peop le everywhere are fast in adopting the modern methods of life style
and this indirectly is destroying the local habits, dresses, customs and
religious practices of the people which is centuries old. It therefore
becomes the duty of ethnological museums to keep alive this Indian
culture which is so rich and varied by preserving the ethnological
specimens like the local dresses, ornaments, weapon s, utensils, musical
instruments etc. The Madras, Nagpur, Baroda and Bombay have
interesting ethnological collections. The Indian Museum in Calcutta has
ethnological gallery and is divided into two head s, one is to illustrate the
life and habits of the primitive tribes of India and the other pertaining to
particular aspects of their life and culture.

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Introduction to Museology
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26 Science and Technology Museums:
Science and technology is imperative.
In the development of any country, science museums need a lot of funds
and therefore, private sectors also should be encouraged to either establish
their own small museums or atleast install their machines being produced
by them.
The Science and Technology museums can have the most effective
presentation methods by using latest press-button techniques and
working models. Attractive educational programmes an also be
conducted by them. The methods of mobile exhibitions in museo-busses
can also impart knowledge and make known to the people and students,
the principles of science and technology and their uses in our day-to-day
life.
Often museums have mobile units attached to them which tour to rural
areas to popularize the knowledge of science and also help in throwing
light on the advantages of using new method s to improve agriculture and
small scale industries.
The following are some of the important Science and Technology
museums in our country. Science Museum N.P.L., New D elhi, the
Vishveshwaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Bangalore, The
Central Museum, Pilani, The Birla Industrial and Technological Museum
Calcutta, etc.
Defence Museums:
A defence museum acts as a memorial, a training institute, a recreation
centre as well as a living history. Such museums collect, preserve and
exhibit the different arms and armours. The inculcate a feeling of
awareness about our defence among our people. They also pay tribute
to those who laid down their lives in the war. Presently, there are
museums of this type at Kharagvasa, Dehra Dun and Delhi. Many more
of this type need to be opened in more places to arouse keen interest in
the defence of our motherland among the common people.
Children’s museums:
Ideally, the children’s museums should include all activities in art fine
or decorative, nature, science under one roof because only such a museum
can offer to a child a variety of interests. Such museum should have in
them workshops which give an ample community for children to
actively participate and develop interest and skills individually. One thing
should be remembered – Formal teaching in these museums must be
completely avoided.
Very often larger museums have separate children[‘s sections with
worksho9ps attached to them. If funds do not permit at certain junctures,
steps may be taken to establish specialized museums for children in
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Types of Museums
27 general education. Thus, children who are the citizens of tomorrow
must be paid due attention and their talents should be tapped when
young.
Specialised Museums:
Specialized museums are established by the Government or by rich
peop le to cater to the tastes of scholars. They may be of any type. The
museum may be a collection of botanical, zoological or geological
material displayed with anthropological and archaeological materials so
as to show the relation of nature with man. The museum may be
specialized pertaining to a specific industry giving a pictorial view
through models of the advancement made in it. Some of the specialized
museums that may be named the museum of Central Glass and
Ceramic R esearch Institute, Calcutta, Calico Museum of Textiles,
Ahmedabad, N ational Philatelic Museum, New Delhi, nagarjunkonda
site museum at Nagarjunkonda etc.
Medical Museums:
Medical museums are immensely helpful in giving practical instruction to
the medical students in various aspects of medical science. Such museums
are normally attached to medical colleges and not open to public.
Efforts, however, should be taken by Medical Institutions to pool in
all their resources and build up a large and common museum so that
the medical students from different colleges can more together in a
common museum for educational purpose and derive greater benefit from
the trained museuolgical personnel.
Multi-purpo se Museums:
The oldest and largest museums with traditional display methods are
multi-purpose m useums. They are multi-purpose in nature holding a
mirror upto the achievements of the nation in various fields of life.
Although priority is given to national collection, it is supplemented with
collections of other important countries of the world. These museums are
generally very large and are split up into sections.
Similarly multi-purpose museums ar also established at state level for the
understanding of the state in its phases. The Prince of Wales Museum,
Bombay, National Museum, New Delhi, The Indian Museum, Calcutta.
The Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad are some of the important multi-
purpose museums.
Other Museums:
Besides the ones discussed above, there also are miscellaneous museums,
like the Rail Transport Museum in New Delhi Which is controlled by the
Ministry of Railways, The Calico M useum of Textiles at Ahmedabad
which is unique. Museums like the Meenakshi sundareshwara Temple
Museum at Madurai and Birla Museum, Birla Temple in Bhopal are
perfect examples of Temple Museums.stories about Maharajas and munotes.in

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Introduction to Museology
and Archival Science
28 their fabulous wealth have fascinated people for centuriendependence
era, many palace museums came into existence. Some of them ‘Maharaja
Jaipur Museum at Jaipur, Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum at Baroda,
Maharaja.
Jiwaji Rao Scindia Museum at Gwalior, R ana Pratap Museum at
Udaipur, Fort St. George Museum at Madra.these museums present the
great collections of these Maharajas and represent the glory of Indian
art. The Next important museum is the National Sports Museum at
Patiala which collects and preserves the trophies, sports momentoes, old
sports, badges, souvenirs of nationa and of international importance. The
Himalayan M ounta ineering Institute of Darjeeling has preserved
momentoes of almost all Everest expenditions.
Categorical List of Museums in India
Sr.No. Category Examples
1. Archaeological
Museums a) Archaeological Museum
b) Mathura
c) Archaeological Museum
Nalanda
Archaeological Museum
Bijapur
2. Art Museums a) Samlaji Museum and
Picture Gallery, Baroda
b) Patnaa Museum, Patna
c) Traditional Painting of
Orissa, Orissa State museums,
Bhubhaneshwar
d) National Gallery of modern
Art, New Delhi
3. Anth ropology museums a) Central museum of
Anth ropology, Calcutta
b) Anth ropology Museum,
c) Ranchi
d) Anth ropology Museum,
Gauhati
Anth ropology Museum,
Lucknow
4. Natural History museum a) Natural History Museum,
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Types of Museums
29 5. Forest Museum a) Forest Research institute
Museum, Dehradun
b) Forest School Museum,
Shivpuri
6. National war Memorial-
cum-Defence museums
(arms Museum) a) National Museum, New
Delhi
b) Salar Jung Museum,
c) Hyderabad The Alwar
Museum, Alwar
d) (Rajasthan)
e) Air Force Museum, Delhi
National defence Academy,
Khadak Vasla
7. Personalia Museum a) Mahan t Ghasidar Memorial
Museum, Raipur
b) Victoria Memorial Museum,
Calcutta
c) Shri. Pratap Singh Museum
and Library, New Delhi
d) Mani Bhavan Sangrahalaya,
Mumbai
8. Crafts Museum a) Thaniavur Art Gallery,
Thaniavar
b) Birla Academy of Art and
Culture, Calcutta
c) Crafts museum, Thapar
House, Delhi
d) Gurusaday Museum,
Thakurpukur Calcutta
9. Palace Museum a) Salar jung museum,
b) Hyderabad Forest St. George
c) museum, Madras
The maharaja of Jaipur
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Introduction to Museology
and Archival Science
30 10. Temple Museums a) Birla Museum, Birla
Temple, Bhopal
b) Shri. Venkateshware
Museum, Tirupati
c) Sri. Meenakshi Sundavesara
Temple M usuem Madurai
d) Saibaba Temple Museum,
Sheerdi 11. Science and Technology
Museums a) Central museum, Pilani
b) Science museums, N.P.L.,
New Delhi
c) Vishvesvaraya industrial
and Technological museums,
Bangalore
12. Multipurpose museums a) Indian Museum, Calcutta
b) State museum, Lucknow
c) Madras State museums,
Chennai
d) National museums, New
Delhi
e) Prince of Wales Museum,
Mumbai
13. Health and Hygiene
museums a) Provincial Hygiene Institute
Museum, Lucknow
b) Health Museum, Baroda
c) Grant Medical College
Museum, Mumbai
14. Specialized museums a) Calico Museum of Textile,
Ahmedabad
b) National Philatelic
Museum, New Delhi
c) Museum of Central Glass
and Ceramic Research
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Types of Museums
31 15. Medical museums a) Gauhati Medical College
Museum, Gauhati
b) Lady Harding Medical
College Museum, New
Delhi
c) Medical College Museum,
Guntur
d) Stanley Medical College
Museum, Madras
16. Children’s Museums a) Bai Bhavan, New Delhi
b) Sri Girdharbhai Children’s
Museum, Amereli
c) Motilal Nehru Bal
Sangrahalaya, Lucknow
17. Misc ellaneou s museums a) Transport Museum, New
Delhi
b) Engineering Museum, New
Delhi
c) Himalayan Mountaineering Institute Museum,
Darjeeling

3.2 SUMMARY
It is clear from the above discussion that various types of museums are
not just before house of collecting, preserving and displaying materials
but are centres of community activity accomplishing the noble task of
raising the level of general knowledge of the community suited to their
needs and functions.
3.3 QUESTIONS
1) Discuss in brief the Types museum in India after India attained
independence.
2) Describe the changing role of museums in India after 1947.
3) Enumerate the types of museums as educators cum
entertainers.
4) Write a note on urban museums.
5) What are the different types of museums that cater to the village
community?
6) Write short note on : munotes.in

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Introduction to Museology
and Archival Science
32 a) Archaeological Museum.
b) The changing role of museums in independent India. c) Science
and technology museums.
c) Health and Hygiene museums.
3.4 REFERENCES
 Banerjee, N. R., Museum and Cultural Heritage of India, Agam Kala
Prakashan, New Delhi, 1990.
 Dwivedi V.P, Museums and Museology: New Horizons, Agam Kala
Prakashan, New Delhi, 1980.
 Markham S. F., The Museums of India, The Museum Association,
London, 1936.
 Sarkar, H, Museums and Pro tection o f Monuments and Antiquities in
India, Sundeep Prakashan, New Delhi, 1981.
 Thomson John M.A. and Others, Man ual of Curatorship: A Guide to
Museum Practice, Routledge, New York, 1984.
 Hooper -Greenhill, Eilean. 1994. The Educational Role of the Museu m.
London : Routledge Publication.
 Belcher, David. 1991. Exhibition in Museum. Washington:
Smithsonian Institution P ress.
 Museum Association of India. 2010. The Arena of Indian Museum
(monograph). New Delhi: Museum Association of India (MAI).
 Simmons, J.E 2020. History of Muse ums





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33 4
METHODS OF COLLECTION AND
CONSERVATION OF THE OBJECTS IN
MUSEUMS
Unit Structure:
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Methods of Collections
4.3 Conservation of The Objects in Museum
4.4 Summary
4.5 Questions
4.6 References
4.0 OBJECTIVES
 The present unit aim at introducing the primary functions of the
museum i.e. collection of museum objects and their conservation
methods. To serve the aim, unit set the following objectives

 To introduced the recommended the methods of collection of museu m
objects

 To familiarize conservation methods of museum objects.
4.1 INTRODUCTION
The idea of museum started with a notion to store the moveable objects of
heritage. It is highly considered as the source of information. Therefore
without collection and ma terial source museum is incomplete. The
museums, until it was considered as the storage house of heritage objects,
there were hardly any regulating authorities and guidelines to control the
mall practices, illicit trade, etc. of museum object. But, with th e time
several legal and ethical guidelines were provided for the collection and
care of the museum objects.
4.2 METHODS OF COLLECTIONS

The present heading focuses to provide a brief outline of collection and
acquisition policy prescribed by the Governme nt of India, State Agencies
as well as other international bodies like ICOM, UNESCO, and other
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Introduction to Museology
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34 4.2.1 Purchase:
The collection of newly established museum is either purchased collection
or donated collection. However, no matter whether the museum is freshly
started or has a history of a century or two; it’s essentially require to
update its collection. Purchase is the easiest mode collecting museum
objects. The funds to purchase the specimens are followed into two
different modes; firstly every in dividual museum as per its budget and
requirement plans the funds to purchase the objects. Here, museums
require a through planning both maintaining and storing the specimen
along with thorough financial planning for the same.
The second mode allows museum to approach both government and non -
governmental agencies to purchase the specimens. The governmental
agencies do not furnish the purchase order till the expert committee
sanctions or agrees for the same. Thus, for the government run museum to
purchase an y museum objects requires the formation of an expert
committee which will assess the demand of purchase. The Committee as
well as the museum authorities require to follow the check list before
sanctioning or demanding any specimen to purchase. These check lists for
objects are:
a) Historical and cultural value of the object
b) The present and past ownership of the object
c) The status excavation or exploration in which the object was unearthed.
d) Documentation and Recording status of the objects
e) And lastly the legal validity of the object (not process through illicit
trade)
Finally, after t he satisfactory report purchase order sanctions to the
museum authorities. The governmental agencies which are engaged in
providing funds to the purchase of museum specimens are:
a) The National Art Treasures Fund
b) The museums departments of Central and State Government
c) Art purchase committees
d) Scientific survey committees etc.
The method is rigorously followed in the government run museums; where
as private museums are to so me extent are able to purchase the museum
objects without much hassles.
4.2.2 Exchange
Exchange is the most rational way of acquiring objects for the museum
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35 objects between museums is co-ordinated through the central agencies of
museums . In practice, exchanging objects is desired for several reasons.
a) The Paucity of Funds: Although funds are allotted to the museums by
the respective Governments, yet the fact remains that these funds are
hardly sufficient to run the Institution. The sorting prices also make it
difficult, to purchase every object.
b) The Shortage of Storage Space:The museums always encounter the
repetitive specimens. It increase s the pressure both on museum
repository a s well as on displays. Thus, exchange specimen gives an
opportunity to exchange the repetitive specimens.
c) D anger of Fake records: Certain objects are bound to found at
selective geographical and cultural zones. Hence, it’s quite difficult to
encounter these object s in a sm all museum. The sacristy as well as
attractiveness of these objects turned create replicas. Eventually the
trend of replicating original pieces increases the nuances in identifying
the difference between the original objects and replic ate one. Thus,
exchange of museum objects assist to control the replication of objects.
4.2.3 Loan
Both exchange and purchase of objects adheres to the permanent
ownership of the object. Sometimes both the museum as well as the
donor is not agreed to lea ve the ownership of the museum objects. Thus,
the loan facilitates museum to collect objects without financial burden.
The only expected criteria in loan process is to return the object to its
original owner on a stipulated date.
Generally loan is of two t ypes:
a) Permanent Loan
Permanent loan is more or less like donation of the object to the
museum, it differentiated based on the ownership. It means though the
object is transferred to the museum the final ownership of the objects
remain s with the original ow ner.
b) Short Term Loan
The objects a re transferred to the museum for specific time period
ranging from one year to 99 years. In this cases museum is bind to
return the object to the original owner on a given date.
The major lacuna of the short term loan is the owner considers the
museum are the display ing medium store house for the objects and
hardly shares any responsibility of the objects.
4.2.4 Donation
Many museums came into existence due the donations of objects, and it is
donations itself which enhanc es the collection of museums. Therefore,
museums many times initiates the donor program. The donation at a very munotes.in

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36 large extent reduces the financial burden of the museums. However, the
acceptance of the donations is entitled to three considerable aspects:
a) Firstly, whether the museum really require s the donations of specimens.
Especially, with the consideration of storage capacity and resources to
maintain the objects.
b) Second but an essential criteria to follow is legal ownership of the
object.
c) Third is wheth er the museum and its authority are in the position to
accept the donations.
The only drawback of the donations is the owner/donor may put
conditions on its display and storage.
4.2.6 Gifts and Bequests:
Gifts and bequests are quite similar to the donati ons, however it
differentiate from donation on the ground of conditions. The gifted objects
are not bind with any conditions. So, for museum instead of donations
gifts are an easy method of collection. At several instances the gifts are
inherited property of the owner. The Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, is an
ideal example which began with initiation of the bequests of Salar Jung
III. Similarly, the Department of Archaeology and the Zoological
Survey of India, the Geological Survey and the Scientific departments
helped the state and other smaller museums by of offering specimens as
“gifts”.
4.2.7 Field Collection:
The government of any nation starts various departments to maintaine
heritage; alongside are appointed several office s to record document s and
to take care the heritage. These de partments and officials conduct cultural
surveys, explorations and many times excavations too. In India, especially,
the Archaeology Survey of India and Archaeological Survey of India both
the central and state departments co nduct these on field research of
heritage. It eventually ends with unearthing the antiquities and
explorations and survey reveals precious cultural heritage. Whereas the
zoologist, botanist, and geologist reveals the unique and precious
specimens a represe ntations of natural heritage.
In all these field methods, specimens of the natural as well as cultural
heritage are collected. The governmental institutions are the primary
bodies to maintain these collected material s. Hence many times these
objects are e ither handed over to the state or central museums; or
maintained by University or institutional museum. In case of excavated
sites the On -site museum s are constructed to keep and preserve the
excavated culture d material e.g. Dholavira Site Musum, Ter Musue m,
Paithan Museum and so on.
Altogether field collection also helps in enhancing the collection of
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37 4.2.8 Acquisitions as per the Treasure Trove Act:
According to the Indian Treasure Trove Act, 1878 CE and the Antiquities
and Art Treasure Act of 1 972 CE, the cultural heritage unearthed from the
soil is owned by the government of India. Thus, the acts give power to the
state authority to acquire the specimen s which are reported as a sudden
discovery while digging soil for any domestic or public wor k. Both acts
empower the collector to acquire the objects. However, the Ancient
Monument and Remains Act of 2010, allocate the power to Director
General of Archaeological Survey of India. The Director General may
assign the duty to any adjacent officer. Th us, both Collector and Director
General are immediate authorities to take immediate steps for the
acquisition of objects. Once the object is receives it either handed over to
the museum or stored in concerned museum.
The major drawback in the acquisition i s, at seve ral instances specimens
are hidden from the authorities in belief that government may not only just
acquire the objects but may acquire the land form owner. Thus, the
thorough awakening is required among localites.
To sum up, the museum has nume rous methods and means to collect the
museum objects. The only limitations in the collection of object are to
handle the problem of ownership, finding finds for the purchase and most
important hurdle is to maintained and care the objects in museum. Thus
the second part the present unit concerns with conservative treat to the
museum objects.
4.3 CONSER VATION OF THE OBJECTS IN MUSEUM
The heritage both natural and cultural is non -renewable resources, it even
cannot replace; therefore to preserve and conserve t he museum objects is
fundamental duty of museum. However, to maintain the life of objects is
strenuous task, as objects are partially or entirely composed with the
material which readily responds to the moisture in the atmosphere. Thus,
the moist of atmosp here as well as the sunlight to some extent deteriorate
the museum object. The problem of speedy deterioration of museum
objects is quite common in India. Thus both the international
organizations like ICOM, ICOMOS, UNESCO and other as well as the
central and state au thorities provide guidelines for the care and treatment
of the museum object. The care of the museum objects are classified into
two broad category i.e. preservation and conservation. The present sub -
unit concentrates to provide a thorough unde rstanding on conservation
techniques and methods applied for the museum objects.
‘Conservation is one of the most important functions in a museum, and is
listed as the second fundamental objective defining a museum: “to
acquire, conserve and educate” (Dona heu, 2014). Conservation is simply a
treatment or repair of the object to improve the life of object and further
deterioration. It is believed, the conservation is multidisciplinary field. The
disciplines such as humanities, arts and craft; sciences and te chnology
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38 Generally, conservators and museum curators need to update their skill as
per the advancement in science and technology. Thus, ‘Conservation is an
expression of contemporary value s which defines and maintain the
perceived significance of material culture’ (Saunders, 2014).
Considering both elements i.e. socio -cultural value of the object and the
advanced technological support the conservationist and curator need to
provide the sui table treatment to the objects. At present the conservations
techniques are classified into five broad categories. These categories are
aided by the disciplines of chemistry and bio -chemistry; biology
especially bio -technology and micro -biology; few elemen ts of applied
physics electrification; and many more other disciplines too. The methods
of conservation are as follows:
i. Mechanical Treatment:
It is simplest method among all the treatment. The aim of this method is to
remove the deteriorating layer from th e object and avoid the further
damage to the object. Thus, very few chemical with minimal PH value are
used in this method; and major crust depend upon the instruments like
chisel, scalpel, etc to remove the layer.
ii. Chemical Treatment:
The treatment is use d when the mechanical treatment do not produced the
expected results. Thus, the method suggest to prepare suitable solvent or
chemical solutions depending on the material of the objects and
requirement of the conservation. The method may harm the objects.
iii. Electro -chemical Method:
The method used to stop and heal the corrosion of the objects. In few case,
the method help rejuvenate the object. The method mostly recommended
for the inorganic material and essentially avoid the organic objects from
the treat. The method generates the hydrogen within the material with help
of acidic action. It helps complete removal of the deteriorated layer and
smoothen the surface of the objects.
At present nearly every national museum runs their own conservations
laboratorie s to name the few, the laboratories of Salar Jung Museum,
Hyderabad and National Museum, Delhi are just not assisting in
conservation but provides training to upcoming conservationists.
The purpose of conservation is to reveal the objects at maximum capac ity
and to remove it. Therefore, conservation treatment requires a thorough
process of care, like:
i. Chose the simplest method of conservation, preferably mechanical.
ii. The complete program should in advance planned
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39 iv. All the treatments should be very well in control; especially in case of
chemical treatment the use chemical should be as minimal as it should
not harm the object.
v. After the chemical treatment requires intensive washing to remove
chemicals thoroughly.
vi. Unless until it is essential to remove the crust, the crust should not
remove.
4.4 SUMMARY
The unit one in the module II – Museum covered the term museum along
with functions. The elementary component of nay museum is its
collections t herefore, the units discussed the methods of collections, and
simultaneously highlighted the methods both legal and ethical, of
collections as well as it briefed the challenges encountered in the
collection of the objects. The second part of unit one discu sses the
profound function of museum while taking care of the museum object and
i.e. conservation. Thus, the unit assisted to understand the term
conservation and how it is different from the preservation. Further unit
explained different modes and methods of conservation. It equally stressed
on the precautionary steps to be followed during the conservations
process.
After, the conservation techniques, its necessary to understand the material
of the objects and also need to understand preventive care requi red for
these material. Thus, the unit second of the present module will provide a
thorough learning on the preservation techniques along with display and
exhibition methods and types.
4.5 QUESTIONS
1. What are primary functions of museum?
2. Explain the method s of collecting museum objects?
3. What is conservations?
4. What are the suggested precautionary steps of conservative treatment?
5. What are the suggested methods of conservative treatments?
4.6 REFERENCES
 Museum Association of India. 2010. The Arena of Indian Mu seum
(monograph). New Delhi: Museum Association of India (MAI).
 May, Eric and Mark Jones (eds). 2006. Conservation Science UK:
The Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing.
 Szczepanowska, Henna. 2013. Conservation of Cultural Heritage:
Key Principles and Appr oaches. London: Routledge Publication munotes.in

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40  Stolow Nathan. 1997. Procedures and Conservation Standards for
Museum Collection in transit and on Exhibition. Paris: United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
 Thorat, B.R. 2001. Principles of Museology, Archaeology Archival
and Library Science. Mumbai: Himalaya Publishing House.
 Simmons, J.E 2020. History of Museums
 Indian Treasure Trove Act, 1878
 Antiquities and Art Treasure Act of 1972
 Ancient Monument and Remains Act of 2010

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41 5
PRESERVATION TECHNIQUES AND
TYPES OF EXHIBITIONS
Unit Structure :
5.1 Objectives
5.2 Introduction
5.3 Causes of Deterioration o f Museum Objects
5.3 Preservation Techniques
5.4 Types o f Exhibitions
5.5 Summary
5.6 Questions
5.7 References
5.0 OBJEC TIVES
The aim of this unit is to introduce various preservation techniques
presently performed at the museums as well as selective types of
exhibitions.
To pursue the aim, the unit frames the following objectives:
 To introduce term preservation and explain difference between the
conservation and preventive treatment method
 To explain the various causes of deterioration of museum objects
 To familiarize the various material or fabric of museum objects
 To explain the recommended preservation techniques applie s for
museum object to prevent from the deterioration
 To introduce types of exhibitions of museums; and its significant
criteria and benefits.
5.1 INTRODUCTION
“Anything absolutely anything – from a flint arrowhead to spacecraft,
from a dugout canoe to th e Queen Mary - may end up in a museum, and
the museum must know how to care for it.”
(Philip Ward, 1991).
There were constant debate s and discourse s on the functions of museums.
In the very beginning museums were considered as the storage house to
keep the heritage of human kind. The Renaissance period onwards,
museum’s duties and functions were moved farther from collection of the
objects of cultural past to care and maintenance of these objects. The munotes.in

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42 scholars of Enlightened period thoroughly discu ssed the role of museum
as is far more significant that just as management and care services. It
believes the primary function of the museums is to maintain the original
form of the object and to conduct research to explained and interpret the
material cul ture, to name few the scholars like C.J. Thomsen, John Ruskin,
William Morris and many others contributed in the understandings of past
human lifeway’s with the help of museum objects. William Morris
recommended the preventive care method for the cultural heritage. He
strongly criticised the repair and restoration method because he believed,
due the repair and restoration the heritage might lose its original form and
meaning. Thus, 20th century CE onwards, the functions of the museum is
just not remained to care and maintained the antiquities but it initiated the
preventive care or preservation techniques. The museums henceforth is
considered as the temple of past material culture and museum authority
essentially meant to maintain the dignity and originality of the museum
objects. Therefore the preventive care or preservation methods are
significant and primary function of the museums.
Preservation simply means to provide minimal treatment to retain the
present form of the objects. Preventive treatment is hi ghly confine d to the
elements such as cleaning; storage and exposure of the objects to lights,
air and dampness; etc. Therefore in preservation, the use of any external
agents like chemicals, etc, is highly non -recommended. The
Archaeological Survey of India, in its national policy of conservation and
preservation defines the preservation as “…. preservation as the
maintaining the status -quo of the objects….. not allowing any changes
either through deliberate human interventions or due to action of natural
agents of decay to its fabric or its immediate environment..” (National
Policy of Conservation, 2014). The definitions itself stresses on minimum
handling of objects as well as defines the duty of museum no t to expose
the objects to any natural agents such as light, air, etc which might
deteriorate the conditions of the objects. Therefore for any successful
preservation, museum objects should be classified on the basis of its
material secondly also require to understand the reasons of deteriorating of
the m useum objects.
The pres ent unit is divided into two parts; the first part is focused on the
preservation techniques applied to maintain the current state of the objects;
the second part will cover the exhibition of the museum objects.
The material or fabri c of objects and deteriorating causes of the objects are
very essential to study before to begin with the preservation techniques.
Broadly the museum objects are classified into two categories organic and
inorg anic. The organic objects are wood, bamboo, iv ory, bones, textile etc.
These objects are highly de teriorating objects and require regular checks
and frequent preventive treatments. The inorganic objects are mostly made
up of metal and stone. However as per its component every metal do es
have its own s helf life. The metals suffer with the problem of rusting
which constantly needed cleaning, whereas stone object s suffer with
weathering. Thus, the preservation techniques varies as per the material of
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43 require to study. The first part of unit is divided into two parts. The first
part will discuss the cases of deterioration of the museum objects and
second part will provided thorough measures to control the corrosion of
museum i.e. pr eservation techniques.
5.2 CAUSES OF DETERIORATION OF MUSEUM
OBJECTS

The museum objects are either recovered from archaeological excavation
and explorations; or in fewer cases these objects are transferred from one
generation to other as part of heritage; or if it is a collection of modern
period then its records are maintained for the reference of collection of
rare species. In all the circumstanc es, the objects already suffer damages.
Thus, to prevent further decay of the objects it is essential task of the
museum. Among all the preventive measure to control the causes of
corrosions is essential one. These causes of deterioration are further
classified into two categories viz. natural causes and human -made causes.

5.2.1 Natural Causes:

a. Museum Climate and S urrounding:

The climate has powerful impact on objects as the objects tend to establish
equilibrium with their surroundi ngs. Temperature and humidity are the
main component of any climate. The changes in the humidity and
temperature resulted into deterior ation of the objects.
The relative humidity (RH) is defined as:

RH = Amount of water vapour present in the air
Maximum amount of water possible at the same temperature

The rise in the humidity level favours the reproduction , rapid s pread of
the micro -organisms like fungi and other bacterial elements which hamper
the life of organic objects of museum. The objects of wood, cotton, silk,
leather, loses it crisp in wet or humid climate. Even the inorganic material
espec ially, metals and stone corrode faster in the humid climate. In the
contrast, the dry climate wooden and stone objects develop cracks.

Thus, the museum tries to provide a stable climate with constantly
monitored humidity and temperature level. The recommended temperature
is 18 -20° C and humidity level between 40 -65%.

Generally, air -conditioning (AC) is easiest method to control the climate
of museum, however it is expensive. Thus, limited galleries or rooms or
selected areas may have the facility of air condition, it wi ll reduced the
expenses. Apart from air -conditioning, the humidifiers, dehumidifiers and
hygrometers are other such instruments which assist to balance the climate
of museums.

Though, the museum storage facility tries to provide as much controlled
climati c conditions yet its surrounding affects the life of objects. munotes.in

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44 b. Atmospheric Pollution:
The atmospheric pollution i s largely found in three varieties . dust, dirt and
pollution. These elements vary in different regions. Pollution develops due
to the burning o f fuel such as wood, coal, any oil. It increases levels of
sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, etc.; which resulted
into speedy deterioration of the objects. The only method to protect
objects from the pollution is by providing hermetic sea ling. However, the
sealing expensive and cannot be applied to whole museum.

Dust and dirt are the other two elements which are beyond the control as
they enter in museum with air, dust storms, and winds and also with
visitors. Even the sweeping of floor s preads the dust all over the objects.
Thus, mopping and vacuum cleaning are suggestive methods of cleaning
the museums.

c. Light:
Light whether natural or artificial is major threat to the objects. The light
contains electro -magnetic energy which in long ru n affects the life of
objec ts. The sunrays contain maximum ultra -violet radiations, hence the
objects of textiles, paper, wood, bones, paintings are affected the most.
The sunlight is difficult to control as it changes throughout day. Thus,
museums major task is balance the sunlight. As well any bright artificial
light including photographic lights deteriorate objects. Suggestive steps to
control the decay of object due to the lights are

 Control the sunlight and minimise its intensity. The artificial ligh ting is
the best way to control the light. In artificial lighting, to manage
harshness of the light fluorescent tubes, spot lights, louvered lights are
used.

 Expose objects to the light for minimal period.

 To avoid photographic light, eliminate the phot o-chemically active
radiations, especially ban on the use of photo flash.

d. Micro -Organisms (Fungi):
Micro -organism like fungus or fungi are most harmful cause for the decay
of object s. It generally develops in humid climate. The reproduction of
fungus is r apid and sometimes beyond of control. Therefore constant care
and cleanliness is required. The only method to control the impact of fungi
is regular monitoring of the objects and cleaning of the objects. Secondly,
the objects like paper, sound recordings, textiles, wood, etc should keep in
dry room.

e. Insects:
Insects are one of the most dangero us enemies to organic object. They eat
the organic material like paper, textiles voraciously. The construction of
building as well as material used in the constructio n plays vital role to
prevent insects.
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45  Objects should be kept in steel shelves or insect proof materials
 If any wooden materials are used to make frame then it should be
treated properly.
 Regular paste -control, fumigation, and use of insecticides should
conduct at the museum

f. Fire:
It is an accidental but most damaging cause for deteriorating of the
objects. Both organic and non -organic objects, however objects like
papers, textiles vanishes etc. in the fire. It’s difficult to control the fire but
preventi ve steps to follow to avoid the fire.
 Fire extinguish and fire detector should be installed
 Source of water supply should in easy access.
 Enough entry and exit doors to evacuate staff, visitors and also objects.
5.2.2 Human -made Causes
Human made causes of decay of museum objects are Storage, handling,
packing, transfer on shifting the objects etc. many others. Incorrect
handling, especially handing objects without gloves, or cotton; use of
rough surface to keep the objects, etc. damages the object. Thus, it always
recommends the use of gloves, padded trays or trolleys for handling
objects. Storage, aspects which may damage the objects especially,
inadequate and inappropriate allocation of space, arrangements of light
and display frame, atmospheric changes in storage places causes for
corrosion of the objects. Transfer or shifting and packaging of the object
may misplace or lose the objects even damage or break the objects. To
control the damage, the correct labelling is recommended; containers are
recommen ded instead of plastic or cotton bags for packaging.
Thus, museum objects are sensitive to climatic or atmospheric changes;
external agents like fungus, insects, pollutions, dust hampers the life of
objects; accidents like fire may destroyed objects at gr eat scale; sometimes
inappropriate handling poor knowledge of storage may challenge the life
and authenticity of the objects. The deterioration of the museums beyond
control. Therefore preventive treatment is an essential function of the
museum
5.3 PRES ERVATION TECHNIQUES

The preservation of museum objects is strenuous and most significant
function. Every museum objects require special care and treatment. Thus,
the preservation techniques changes as per the material or fabric of object.
Generally, museum objects are classified into categories organic and
inorganic. The present part discusses suggested preservation techniques of
each material.

5.3.1 Organic Material:
The organic objects are comprised of wood, paper, cotton, textile, animal
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46 a) Wood and Bamboo:
Wood is widely used material since prehistoric times at the same it is
highly decay due to biological and chemical attacks. The micro -organism
like fungi; insects, humid climatic co ndition affect the wood. Constant
change in temperature may effect to break the wood or fall into the pieces.

There are several methods of preservation of wood and bamboo:
 The solutions like hydrocyanic gas (HCN), carbon disulphide (CS2);
vapour and kero sene and crude creosote solution is used to preserve
wood and bamboo objects.

 Stable humidity level is important criteria to improve life of the objects.
Hence, if the wooden and bamboo objects are found in damp condition,
then before to give any treatmen t the object is naturally dried without
exposing sunlight.

 To maintain the humidity level, the object is embedded in layer saw
dust layer.

 In dry conditions, the object s are covered with damp cloth and kept in
polythene bag or sheet.

 If the object is very wet, then it is dried with glycerine or vinyl acetate
or shellac in alcohol. However, drying process should be very slow.
 Hot paraffin wax used as a resistance against dampness.

 To fill the pores and to provide strength, glue or gelatines are used.

b) Paper:
Museums keeps paper in invariable forms like drawings, paintings, etc.
Micro -organism like, fungus; and insect like bookworms, cockroaches,
white -ants, silver fish, etc are the greatest enemies in the maintenance of
paper. Thus, followings steps a re follows to preserve paper:

 Maintain the relative humidity between 40 % and 60%. To control the
temperature, air -conditioning is highly recommended.

 Constant use of air -filter, to make rooms pollution free.

 Regular fumigation is recommended

 The shelv es, cupboards, drawers and books should treated with
insecticides such as DDT.
 Other remedial measures such as sprinkling phenyl, setting tobacco
leaves and camphor tablets in the cupboard, shelves etc. will assist to
reduce the spread of insects and fungu s.
 Various types of pictures like mural paintings, oil paintings, prints,
drawings all are regularly treated to avoid deteriorating by regular munotes.in

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47 cleaning, removing dust, careful brushing, applying alcohol with
cotton, applying mixture of benzene and petrol to remove grease spots,
retouching the photo-prints with water- proof inketc.
c) Animal skin:
Animal skin used for numerous purpose in very ancient times. It is stated
that until the cotton and other textile came in to use, animal skin serve as
the major comp onent of human culture as water carrier, sails, robe, cover -
ups, etc. Later leather became common commodity for all kinds of usages.
To maintain leather or animal skin in museum is a tedious task. It easily
reacts to the changing atmospheric conditions and temperature; it develops
dampness, cracks, etc. Insects and bacteria easily attracts to animal skin,
thus, to protect object from the micro -organism and insects are major
concerns.

 Maintain the humidity level between 40% and 60%. The temperature of
the room should maintained and controlled. It is highly recommend to
use air -conditioning.

 If the skin objects are decaying the surface develops crack, then the
object should strengthen by sticking strong material at the back of the
object.

 Frequent use of insecticides DDT. It also suggest to change the
insecticides as insects develop the resistance to the particular poison.
 Use of fungicides to control the bacteria and fungus

 Paintings of hides should treated with mixture of 60% pure castor oil
and 40% al cohol. The mixture must be prepared 24 hours before the
treatment for its effective result.

 A rag is soaked in 5% carbolic soap water, then use to sponge fine
leather.

 Lastly, the leather dressing will help to increase the life of objects

d) Textile:
The u se intertwined or spinning thread found from the proto -historic
period. The excavation at Rakhigarhi reveal evidence woven cloth in the
Harappan period. Normally, wool, silk, cotton thread, are used to make
textiles; thus, it equally prone degrade due to i nsects, micro -organism,
humidity and atmospheric changes. But, the dust and dirt is major problem
in maintenance. Thus, cleaning of textile is major challenge. The
preventive treatment for textile is as follows:
 To wash in distilled or rain water.
 Textile objects are soaked in solution of Benzene or petrol for removal
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48  To clean carpets, curtains, and others, vacuum cleaning or soft bush is
recommended.
 For washing textile like silk dry cleaning is preferred whereas in case
of textile like cotton, jute steam cleaning is recommended.
 To remove the fold or crumpled is essential; because textile easily torn
at the folds. Textiles laid on a glass plateor poly then esheet and the
folds are sprayed so that they get relax.

e) Bone, Ivory and Shell:
Bone, shell, ivory fall in animal product categories. These are mostly use
as either ornaments or decorative objects. Though they animal product but
compare skin they more sturdy and permanent. The major preventive
treatment with bone, ivory and shell is cleaning.
 Use of brush to clean and remove the dirt .
 The presence of salt may corrode the obje ct faster hence if the object
are sturdy then use soap and water is for washing. However, use soap
and water is highly avoided in case the objects fragile and not
permanent
 Acoating of Vinylacetate dilutedinm ethylatedspiritsorshellac
oralcoholis given to streng then them.
 The inner side of skull is cleaned by the use of cotton so aked in one or
two drops of dilutecreosote solution.
 Wax,Quick fix act as some of the bestadhesives to join the broken parts
of a bone.
 Objects are kept ina favourable c ondition with controlled temperature,
humidity and light to avoid warping and splitting.
5.3.2 Inorganic Materials
Apart from the organic material, the inorganic material secures the highest
number of the museums objects. They are made of metal like gold, bronze,
silver, iron, copper; stones; glass; bricks; terracotta; precious and
semiprecious stones; etc. Though micro -organism and insects may not
hamper on the life of these objects yet, the atmospheric conditions;
changes in humidity level and temperature may cause the weathering,
rusting and breakages of the objects. Thus, these objects are also require
care and preventiv e treatment.

 Metals:
Metals for maheterogeneou s group of materials like gold, silver , coppe r,
lead, tin, iron, bronze, etc. Almost all metals are extracted from their
oresbysmelting and refining. However, metals are prone to attacks
according to their position in the electro-chemical series and may result
into the rusting of the objects. The treatment of one metal differs from the munotes.in

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49 other in the process of preservation. This treatment is more complicated
when different metals are combined to produce analloy.
 Gold:
o It is cleaned with soap and warm water
o The nitric acid is used remove the black stains
o A solvent, 10% of dilute ammonia mixed with 90 % of water, use to
remove incrustation of calcium carbonate.

 Iron and steel: The corrosion is faster in iro n than any other metal;
coastal area or exposure to salt water make corrosion process faster
than any other geographical belt. To clean the rust it requires two
different process.

o To soften the rust Paraffin oil or penetrating oil or petroleum jelly or
lubricating oil or lanolin mixture etc are use.

o To remove rust either oxalic acid or citric acid half neutralised with
ammonia is use.

o To prevent form the rust electro -chemical method with zinc and sodium
hydroxide (NaOH) is used.

 Copper and Bronze: Prev entive treatment of copper and bronze
followed three steps:

o Objects are washed with distilled water and after with sodium
sequicarbaonate.

o To maintain colour of the objects they are kept in the boiled distilled
water, then brushed under the running wate r with dilute ammonium
sulphide.

o Lastly, to prevent from the rust, solvent of sulphuric acid (5 -10 % and
15-20%), citric acid (5%) and nitirc acide (1%) is applied on the object.

o If the object is in the state of complete corrosion, cold solution of
sulph uric acid is used.

 Silver: It generally affected due to mineralization.
o The dilute ammonia helps to remove silver chlorides.
o Alkaline glycerol use to remove coppaeralts.

 Stone:
Stones are multipurpose material; it is used from tools to ornaments;
househ old slabs to memorial stones; depiction of art to inscriptions. Thus,
stone is most permanent material in the museum yet to control the
weathering process and its cleaning is must.
 Washing is recommended to remove soluble and insoluble salts
 Recommended u se of adhesive for repairing of the objects
 Impregnating with wax to minimise the weathering.

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50  Glass:
it is more sturdy and permanent material. It does not affect with any
climatic change or insects or micro -organisms. The only problem of class
is breaka ge. Glass can be easily break and is very fragile. Its preventive
treatment is to handle with care and clean
 Glass can be clean with water and soap.
 To remove dull ness of glass a solvent of 1% of dilute sulphuric acid
diluted with distilled water is appli ed.

 Clay and Terracotta:
After stone clay is widely used material. Clay is used in three different
forms baked clay called as terracotta, it is mainly used as bricks, ceramic,
artefacts like figures and figurines. Second form is sun baked, brick is
mostly found in this form. Lastly the unbaked, object with unbaked clay is
rarely found. All three forms required different preservation techniques;

 Baked Clay or Terracotta is hardened with help of mixture of bee wax
75 & and resin 15% and carnauba wax %.

 Sun-baked Clay is require to remove salt form the object. Thus, the
object is wither wrapped blotting paper; or giving a coat of thin
celluloid varnish, once the coat is dried object is washed with distilled
water.

 Unbaked specimens are most fragile. Thus, o bject is baked in furnace.

 Enamel:
Enamel is a form of glass, it varies in colour and translucency.
 It is washed warm water
 If required soap and water is use to wash the object.
 If required, mixture of petrol and benzene is use to remove stain from
the objects
The preventive treatment of the object is endless process. The advanced
technology updated the preservation methods too. However climate,
humidity and atmospheric pollution are the immediate challenges in
preservation techniques. Hence museum curat or, keeper and other official
need to update in techniques and technology; and the constantly require to
monitor the object.
The second section of the present unit discusses another important
function of the museum i.e. exhibition and types of exhibition.
5.4 TYPES OF EXHIBITIONS

Taken as a whole, museum collections and exhibition materials represents
the world’s natural and cultural common wealth. As stewards of that
wealth, museums are compelled to advance an understanding of all
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51 to be resources for humankind in all their activities to foster an informed
appreciation of the rich and diverse world we have inherited
(American Association of Museums, 2000)

Exhibitions is the most s ignificant, powerful and directs visual
communication in every museum. Thus, exhibitions are one of the primary
function of museum and its communication method. The museum are
meant to provide a vibrant experiences of the resources it stored. In words
of V erhaar and Meeter, ‘An exhibition is a means of communication
aiming at large groups of the public with purpose of conveying
information, ideas and emotions relaying to the material evidence of
human beings and his or her surrounding with the aid of chiefl y visual and
dimensional method (Verhaar and Meeter, 1989). The postmodernist
thought put major pressure on the museum as it believes, heritage both
natural and cultural owns by every individual and aim of museum should
provide easy access to every individ ual on resource of heritage. Thus, to
achieve the requirement of 21st Century CE, and to reach to every
individual as well as to meet the requirement of visitors; museum
developed various types of exhibitions. The present past of the unit
discusses the typ es of exhibitions along with its purpose to serve.
Exhibitions are broadly categories into four categories viz Permanent
exhibitions, Temporary exhibitions, Mobile exhibitions, and On -Site
exhibitions.

5.4.1 Permanent Exhibition:
Every museum runs its ow n permanent exhibition. The permanent
exhibitions at museum are display galleries of the museums. The
masterpieces and rare or unique objects are all time kept is display
galleries. Tentatively life of permanent display is three to ten years in the
display galleries. The aim of the permanent exhibition, is firstly to exhibit
museum collection; secondly to maintained the aesthetic purpose of
museum and thirdly fulfil the requirement of the visitors.

All the display objects in whichever type of exhibition th oroughly
documented, but in case of permanent galleries, these object well
researched and information of these objects are verified. The information
of the objects must be well arranged in simple and active voice. The
display galleries well maintained and organised with enough lights.

The display collection must be rotate and replaces without disturbing the
aesthetic sense of the museum and classification of the collection. The
rotation and replaces will benefit the museum in two ways firstly the
reserve c ollection will move put from the store rooms or repositories;
secondly the updated and new collection will attracts the visitors. Thus,
permanent display are significant mode of conducting research and care of
the objects as well as creating awareness amon g the visitors and people at
large.


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52 5.4.2 Temporary Exhibitions:
The temporary exhibition displays the objects less than five years. It is
semi -permanent mode of exhibition. It is organised in three broad
categories i.e. short term, medium term, and long term.
 Short term – exhibition organised for a day or week or a month or two.
 Medium Term – it ranges from three to six months.
 Long Term – it is a placed on a contractual place. The tentative
duration of this type exhibition is less six months to three y ears. The
museum galleries are sometimes shifted to new places either due to the
construction or renovation of the museum or the museum might
contracts with other institutions for the display; in such cases long term
exhibitions are arranged.
Temporary mu seums are arranged with selected theme. It provides wider
platform to museums for its publicity and collection. Therefore every
museum including national and international museums are interested in
arranging temporary exhibitions.
5.4.3 Mobile Exhibitions :
The idea of mobile exhibitions started after 1990 CE onwards. The main
intentions of this exhibition to reach to all remote and secluded area of the
country. The van or bus similar vehicle is used to display the sample
collection of the museum. Many time s the collection arranged with theme
either bind with period or ideas or element of heritage. Advance planning
is an essential criteria of mobile exhibition. The vehicle is on a move from
a day to a week covered the designated area or places. The vehicle a long
with the museum personnel roam around to various remote places and
assist visitors to understand the collection. Now a days every museum runs
its own vehicle as a significant element of public out -reach programme.

5.4.4 On-Site Exhibition:
The archa eological excavations and geographical exploration, botanical
survey and many such expeditions reveals the heritage of humankind.
Several times, localites are unaware of these resources hence and
exhibition at the sites are arranged to created awareness am ong the local
peoples and nearby communities. These exhibitions are temporary but at
selected sites these permanent. The Archaeological Survey of India
recommends the on -site museums for every significant site such as
Dholavira Site Musuem, Ter site Museum are name to few.
Exhibitions are arranged to serve the requirement of visitors as well as it
essentially meant to publicise the resources of information. Permanent
exhibitions at several instances has its own limitations to achieve these
aims; hence, tem porary and onsite museums assists museums to secure its
means. The temporary onsite exhibitions are helpful to organised the
display of specialised interests such as which are governed with theme of
education, language, folk culture and traditions, and so on. It helps to
cover the vast range of audience from children to old age group; from
subject expert to common people; so on. The mobile exhibitions are an
excellent medium to create awareness, spread knowledge, and provide
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53 museum to achieve its goal i.e. display its collection to the common
people.
5.5 SUMMARY
To summarize the unit two provides glimpses of preservation techniques.
The museums have vast collection of objects and th ese collection
voraciously increasing, to maintain collection is quite tedious task. Thus,
preservation techniques assist for the maintanicae and care of the museum
object. However, every single objects are made of different materal and
facric as well as i t serve different aesthetic and social values, thus, every
objects require separate preventive care. The unit, therefore, segregated
museum objects depending on its material and explained the
recommended preservation techniques.
The second part of the uni t, discusses ways of displaying museum
collection. Museums, with advance of time, introduced several modes
mediums to displays its collection. There fours major types exhibiting its
collection; they are permanent, temporary, mobile and on -site exhibition.
Through all these types of exhibitions, museums are trying to connect with
peoples. Thus, the unit covered the two important functions of museums
firstly, care and maintains of the object and secondly to serve peoples by
displaying its collections among al l kinds of people
5.6 QUESTIONS
1. ‘Exhibiting theobjects inan attractive way is an important function
of a museum’-Elucidate.

2. Givea brief account of the presentation techniquesina museum.

3. Writeanoteon thetypesofexhibitions.
4. “Exhibition is a well - defined work of art in a m useum”- Discuss.
5. Write a note on the following:
a. Planning of museum building.
b. Permanent museums.
c. Temporary museums
d. Important museums of India.
5.7 REFERENCES
 Ward, Philip 1991. ‘Conservation: Keeping the past Alive’, Museum
Interpretati onal, 43, no. 1.
 Hooper -Greenhill, Eilean. 1994. The Educational Role of the Museum.
London: Routledge Publication.
 Dean, David. 1994. Museum Exhibition: Theory and Practice.
London: Routledge Publication. munotes.in

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54  Belcher, David. 1991. Exhibition in Museum. Washi ngton:
Smithsonian Institution Press.
 National Policy for Conservation, 2014. Government of India.
 Museum Association of India. 2010. The Arena of Indian Museum
(monograph). New Delhi: Museum Association of India (MAI).
 May, Eric and Mark Jones (eds). 200 6. Conservation Science UK:
The Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing.
 Szczepanowska, Henna. 2013. Conservation of Cultural Heritage:
Key Principles and Approaches. London: Routledge Publication
 Stolow Nathan. 1997. Procedures and Conservation Standards fo r
Museum Collection in transit and on Exhibition. Paris: United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
 Thorat, B.R. 2001. Principles of Museology, Archaeology Archival
and Library Science. Mumbai: Himalaya Publishing House.
 Simmons, J.E 2020. History of Museums
 Indian Treasure Trove Act, 1878
 Antiquities and Art Treasure Act of 1972
 Ancient Monument and Remains Act of 2010


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55 6
CHANGING ROLE OF MUSEUM: IN -
HOUSE AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES OF
MUSEUMS
Unit Structure :
6.0 Objectives
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Changing Role of Museums
6.3 In-House Activities of Museums
6.4 Outreach Activities of Museums
6.5 Summary
6.6 Questions
6.7 Refere nces
6.0 OBJECTIVES
The present unit aims to explain role of museum in past and present. It
also aim to explain the various activities conducted by museums to cope
with ever changing role of museums.
To achieve the aim unit is set with following obje ctives:
 To provide glimpses of role of museum in the past

 To highlights present role of the museums in contemporary society and
academics

 To familiarize the various In -house activities carried out by museums.

 To introduce the several outreach programmes of museums.
6.1 INTRODUCTION
Museums are showcases of past to present cultural development of
humankind. In the beginning, before the concept museum emerged, the
culture materials were gathered and stored without gathering information
of these objects. Gr adually, these objects treated as evidence of human
existence; further this collection treated as showcase of status -quo. Till
13th and 14th Century CE, i.e., till time of Renaissance period, objects were
wealth of an individuals. Hence remained in the she lves of elite group;
commoners were far behind to realise its significance. The Renaissance
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56 collection treated as the evidence to verify information history and culture
of humankind. 18th Century CE onwards museums were treated as the
temples of knowledge; preservation, and conservation and restoration of
the museum and its objects became major arena of Museums. The 20th
century CE led the movement of human rights, especially cultural rights as
well as the indigenous knowledge, changed the whole perception of
museum from temple to institutions of learning.
Thus, museum tried accompanied with the goals of every century. It
always serve ever changing needs of humankind. The present unit focus es
on the changing role of museum through the ages. The unit will also
provide insights on the methods developed by museum to equipped with
modern requirement especially in -house activities and outreach
programmes.
6.2 CHANGING ROLE OF MUSEUMS
Human being s Museum is a human -made creation, explicitly use to
cherish beauty of human creativity, existence of surroundings; and it is an
expression of human emotions. Thus, museum and role of mu seums in
human life is beyond any imagination; however the relation be tween
human and museums is interrelated, intra -exchangeable, and
interdepended. Overall, both human society and museum shares a strong
ties; museum is constantly changing its role to support and survive with
ever changing requirement s of the human society. Hence, the present part
will give glimpses of role of museum in association with societal need
from ancient time till modern period. To benefit the learners, it is divided
into four period such as ancient, medieval, modern and post -modern
period.
A. The firs t ever recorded museum was the Mouseion of Alexandrea. It
mainly started to preserve the evidences of the Greek’s exponential growth
in science and technology as well as in philosophy. Thus, it displayed the
statues of thinkers, surgical instruments, etc; and reference collection of
contemporary botanical and zoological samples. In brief the museum of
Alexandria is an ideal example to showcase the requirement of the Greek
Republic. It is displays values of extreme respect and care towards Greek
nation’s sta te. Thus, the museums in ancient period, played role of
exhibiting power and engaging people to believe in the governance. The
role of museum to spread the message of rule is continued even in the
Roman Empire. Therefore, in ancient time’s museum were hard ly
considered as the source of education.
B. Medieval Period:
Museums in Medieval period, played multiple roles, from the warehouse
of treasure hunters to proud showcase of an elites to a messengers of
political and religious ideas. Similarly, museums receiv ed mixed reactions
from the common people; it was hardly ever an attraction for the common
people. Thus, instead of museums, the rooms of the private collection
were massively increased in medieval period. It turned as place of biased munotes.in

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57 collections scavenged from various places. Therefore, museum objects in
medieval period became precious decorative elements and not as source.

The late medieval period due to t he imperialistic policies of Europe,
changed perception of museums. Age of discoveries gave rise to newer
class of intellectuals; Museums were finally emerged as storage house this
newly discovered knowledge. Yet, its access for common public is
confined. Intellectuals and discoverers were visiting surveying new lands
such as America, Africa, Indian sub continents, and many more; it gave
opportunity to visit and collect objects these newly discovered land. Thus
of the late medieval period changed the role s museum s as galleries of
reference collectio n. Many universities started of their own museum of
these reference collection such University of Leiden, University of
Heidelberg, University of Pisa and so on. The perception of museum
changed to storehouse of information.
In the medieval period the role of museum became almost . Common were
people were never ever concerned about the role of museums. It was part
and parcel of luxurious lifestyle. Thus, though museum objects received
enormous attention from collectors, treasure hunters, scavengers, and
intellectu al elites; yet these objects were kept away from public domain.
C. Modern Period:
The modern period saw endless voyage of discovery, which for many
revealed the world as finite and knowable….. ( Kelvin Walsh, 1992).

Unanimously the renaissance period is considered as the beginning of
modern period i.e. 1 4th Century CE onwards. The significant elements of
modern period are scientific temperament, discovery of truth, verification
of knowledge, and heritage for all. The society is drastically changed from
renaissance period onwards, and so the role museum al so changed.

The period brought major c hange in the academics and research . if actual
data, tangible material are considered the important source of information.
Museum henceforth not remained as source of reference , collection of
storage of precious obje cts, but it is considered as resources of knowledge.
Thus, museum in modern period drastically changed its role. The first
aspect introduced in museum was a careful preservation and conservation
of the objects, secondly museums played active role in discip linary
science and social sciences. Thus, several specialised museums such
Charleston Museum founded in 1773 CE to collect natural history
material; Danish National Museum started in 1816 CE to collect
archaeological findings; and many more. Even the state-run museums
emerged like Smithsonian Museum started in 1846 CE by the USA
government. The rise of scientific temperament and reasoning played a
major role in display of the museum collection. Sir CJ Thomsen, curator at
the Copenhagen Museum introduced Thr ee Age System theory through
classifying the museum collection. The legacy was followed in many other
museums too; the research and finding logical relation among the museum munotes.in

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58 objects became a major task of the museums. The role of museum now
more focused on display techniques.

The modern period also initiated the idea of heritage for all, thus common
people were found entry in museum without any hassle. Thus, the role of
museum henceforth changed to educate people and create awareness for
heritage. Museums played a very vital role in the emergence of antiquarian
and culture history stage in social science.

D. Post -Modern Period:
The post -modern period intensifies the experiences. The late 19th Century
and throughout the 20th Century CE witnessed the massive development in
science technology. It even influenced the daily life of people , such the
invention of television, automobiles, radio, etc. Therefore society changed
its mode of learning from passive to active; and self -experiences became
mode of learning. Apart from these technological advances the world
suffered with World Wars, end of colonialism, emergence of third world
countries, separation or emergence state on the grounds of heritage, and
many other such aspects. The complex world dynamism, changed
conscience of the learning. Learning is bind with self -experiences, and
individual sensitivity. Thus, the role museums changed to serve newer
demands of the society. Thus, museum became the crust of the knowledge.
Museums extensively changed communication methods. Museum began
to provide first -hand experiences to learners, the science and technology
influenced every sphere of the museums. Eventually museums turned as
the centre of education.

The period also witnessed the emergence of newly independent state.
Majority of the state separated or became independent on the grounds
heritage. Museums, therefore, became an integral part to depict the
heritage of state. Many regional museums emerged during this period.
Both Wars destroyed the heritage to great extent, and this created the
awareness of heritage. Thus, museum received the heritage value and were
protected with legal norms.

The museums are considered as community centers. The museums became
centres for educating the people.

Museums in post -moder n period developed multifaceted elements in its
functions. To fulfil these aims, museums developed several program both
in-house and outside the museum.
6.3 IN-HOUSE ACTIVITIES OF MUSEUMS
Due to and experiential learning, the post -modernistic element, mus eum
began several activities. The main purpose of these activities are
community engagements. Some important activities are as follows:

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59 A. Exhibitions:
The exhibitions are the primary function of the museums. Unit two has
thoroughly discussed the exhibition s. The made of language and
communication is changed to make the exhibition experimental . Language
became more active, playful to engage visitors. Several technological
means are introduced such as informative audio, use of augmented reality
(AR) to provid e animatic effects, and so on.

B. Cultural Activities:
Very few museums are exhibiting intangible heritage, therefore museums
should arranged activities to provide platform for folk artists. The
activities like dance, drama, music, and many are arranged on t he theme of
culture.

C. Films and Documentares :
 Every museum should have auditorium. Museum should prepared
film on its collection and must run in its auditorium to educate people
on the collection of museum.
 Museum should use auditorium to run documentaries on the culture
and heritage.

D. Promote Research Activities
 Museum should g ather information of its collection
 Should promote comparative studies of museum object
 Support scholars and intellects to conduct research on museum
objects
 Arrange lectures of em inent as well as young scholars.

E. Workshop and Seminars:
 Museums should o rganise workshop to provide opportunity to handle
objects
 Subject experts and practitioners should be invited to deliver lecture s
 Indigenous artists should be invited to introduce th e indigenous
techniques of craftsmanship.
 Museum should , at least once in a year , organise a seminar on themes
like culture, heritage, museums etc.

F. Training and Internships:
 Encourage young scholars museum should provide internship
programs
 Museum should , run its own short term courses or certificate courses
on museums studies, preservations and conservation techniques,
museum management, etc.

G. Activities for Children:
Museums are centric to adult population and hardly pay an attention to the
children. In order to remove this drawback the museums should arrange
the following activities for the children.
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60  Special exhibitions for children
 Encourage children’s educational tours
 Workshops, summer activities etc. should be arranged
 Competitions like essay writ ing, painting, art and craft on themes
associated with museum should be arranged.

H. Guide Service:
Every museum should provide guide service.
At present many museums are already conducting these activities like
National Museum of Delhi and Salar Jung Museum provide one year
courses; nearly all museum are arranging workshop s, guest lectures, etc.
6.4 PUBLIC OUTREACH PROGRAMMES
The role museums have immensely change in last three decades. Before
1980 CE museums considered as non -mobile organization and its
personnel had a very little interaction with outside world. However, after
1990 CE, the perception of museum changed and the museums became the
centers of providers of knowledge and center s of community engagement .
Therefore, museum are extending their activ ities beyond the four walls of
museum.
A. School, Colleges and Other Educational Institutions:
The museum visit are the part of School curriculam, but for the Students
staying in remote areas it is not possible to visit the museums. which are
located for away from their residencial area. secondly the financial
condition of all the students is not the same . Some students do not have
the ca pacity to pay the travelling and other expences. Again the college
students are not so to visit the museums so it is des iraed that the museums
should arrange such activities which will attract the students to them. Such
activities are given below.
 It should established good rapport with authorities of the school and
colleges.
 Museum official should engaged an interactive s ession in school and
colleges to encourage student to visit museums.
 The mobile and temporary exhibition can arranged at the premise of
school and colleges.
 Teacher of school and colleges should be oriented and trained.
 Special programmes or course for tea chers should be designed.
 Museum should prepare replicas of the display object and provide
these replica on loan to school and colleges.

B. Programmes for Rural and Remote Areas:
People from remote areas or rural areas are hardly aware of museu ms.
Thus, m useum should design thorough programmes for remote and rural
areas; the programmes must be planned as per culture, custom s, regional
affiliation of the people.
 Mobile exhibitions are most used method in museums
 On-site workshop should be arranged to create awareness.
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61 C. Programmes for Urban Centres:
Museums should organise various activities to highlight the importance
museums; such as:
 Museums should arrange box exhibits and mobile museums at various
commun ity gathering areas.
 Special day like Museum Day, Heritage Week, etc. should be
celebrated with the help of local support.
 On-site workshop s should be arranged.
 Modern means of communication such as television, social media,
radio, should be used reach to public.

D. Programmes for International Places:
The museum should n ot confine its territory, special programmes should
arranged for foreign lands:
 Special Exhibitions should be arranged e.g. the Government of India
organised the Festival of India in v arious countries and museum s were
provid ed an opportunity to display their collection.
 Museum should be member of professional organisation like ICOM,
MAI, etc.
 Museum personnel should arranged and participate in international
conferences.

E. Publicatio ns:
 Museum should publish its brochures, pamphlets etc.
 Series of monograph on the collection will benefit for the popularity.
 Booklet s and short -stories will benefit to attract common public.

F. Digital Programmes
Digital technology controls every sphere of human life. Museum should
find it as an opportunity and use it at its fullest.
 Museum should start virtual Museum
 Wherever it is possible the technologies like Augmented Reality (AR)
and Virtual Reality (VR) should be used.
 Social media platform must b e used.
 Museum should provide list of its collection on its website.
Museums may generate their own method s, mode to reach to the people
should be treated as M useum collection as public property. Without the
support from the community, people museum will c ertainly lose it
importance in society.
6.5 SUMMARY
Throughout the ages museums have drastically changed in their roles,
function s, and method s of communication. Museums as temples of
knowledge, received the importance of heritage and centre of education .
Till date museums successfully worked to serve requirement of the
society. they adapt technology and successfully use them in their working
whether for documenting the objects or improvising the display
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62 community engagement the museums are expected to deal with the
visitors with different background and as such the museums arrange such
programme which are good for all . It initiated various activities to engage
all kinds of visitors. Further, the museums are treated as the public
property and museum objects are considered as heritage. So, museums
developed public outreach programme s make heritage available to all.
From heritage to all now the heritage is considered as part of sustainable
develo pmen t
The wave sustainable development became strong after 2000 CE; as much
as it achieved status of fourth goal in United Nation’s 17 Goal
Programme. Heritage and museums are bind with concept of sustainable
development. Museum, in first decade of 21st century enters in its new role
i.e. sustainable development.
6.6 QUESTIONS
1. What are the affecting factors to change the role of museums through
the ages?
2. Narrate the changing role of museums ages.
3. Explain the importance of in -house activities of museu ms.
4. Give a detail account of in -house activities of museums
5. What are the reasons for initiating public outreach programs in
museums?
6. Give a detailed account of public outreach programs of museums.

6.7 REFERENCES
 Museum Association of India. 2010 . The Arena of Indian Museum
(monograph). New Delhi: Museum Association of India (MAI).
 May, Eric and Mark Jones (eds). 2006. Conse rvation Science UK:
The Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing.
 Szczepanowska, Henna. 201 6. Conservation of Cultural Heritage:
Key Principles and Approaches. London: Routledge Publication
 Stolow Nathan. 1997. Procedures and Conservation Standards for
Museum Collection in transit and on Exhibition. Paris: United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
 Thorat, B .R. 2001. Principles of Museology, Archaeology Archival
and Library Science. Mumbai: Himalaya Publishing House.
 Simmons, J.E 2020 . History of Museums
 Walsh, Kelvin. 1992. The Presentation of the Past: Museums and
heritage in the Post -Modern World. London : Routledge Publication
 Bast, Gerald and David Campbell (eds). 2018. The Future of
Museums . UK: Springer Publication.
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63 7
MEANING, SCOPE, OBJECTIVES AND
CLASSES OF ARCHIVES
Unit Structure :
7.0 Objectives
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Meaning, Scope, Objectives and Classes of Archives
7.3 Summary
7.4 Questions
7.5 References
7.0 OBJECTIVES
 To understand the meaning of Documents, Records and Archives
 To study the development and scope o f Archives
 To know the objectives of Archives
 To understand different classes of Archives.
7.1 INTRODUCTION
This unit trics to throw light all the meaning of archives their function,
different type of archives. It explains in detail how archives are a seri es of
documents created in corupt of man's development of earth. These
documents can be public or private. The archives may a very signi ficant
role in most or all the modern societies if there are no documents there in
no history !
7.2 MEANING, SCOPE, OBJEC TIVES AND CLASSES
OF ARCHIVES
Archival Science is a science of Archives. It deals with the problems
connected with documents, records and archives. The archival institutions
play a significant role in almost all the modern societies. The keeping of
archiv es, in fact constitute a significant aspect of man’s experiences in
organised living. Archives are documents, public or private, produced
during transaction of business of any kind and preserved by the institution
or individual. Producing or receiving them firstly for their own purposes
and in the longer term, for the benefit of research. In the absence of
archives, the story of our past i.e. History would remain in darkness
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64 to know about archives. What are archives? How they are created and
what are their uses.
As mentioned earlier, archives are a series of documents, public or private,
created naturally in course of man’s development on earth. Recording the
transactions of the ir own is the habit of human beings. They have recorded
their administrative, economic or religious transactions mainly to keep it
in memory or to keep as an evidence. Evidences of such records in ancient
times were engraved in form of inscriptions which a re found almost in all
parts of India. Initially, these records are found on various
objects/materials such as lithic, metallic, earthen or wooden objects,
pottery bricks, shells, ivory plaques etc.
Later on, paper was used for recording the transactions which was
regarded as durable material. The earliest paper was invented by Tsai - Lun
in about 105 CE. In the initial stages, paper was handmade but later on, it
was made by machine. With the availability of paper, these records of
human transactions grew in number. However, earlier archives have
survived by chance or by administrative enertia of past administrators.
Archives are a series of documents. In simple words, they are ‘dead
papers’ each mass or group of them proceeding from one single source
that once were ‘living’. Human beings are in habit of recording their
transactions mainly to keep its memory or to keep it as evidence. Number
of these records grow in with the passage of time. Although these written
records are not deliberate attempts. They a cquire value after a lapse of
time and become tools for the research in various disciplines like History,
Political Science, Economics, Sociology, Geneology etc. The growing
accumulations are directly connected with the functional activities of some
organi zation or Government agency. When the transaction is important
and its records are preserved by the concerned authorities, they become
‘Archives’. The Archival Science means the study of archives which deals
with the problems connected with ‘documents’, ‘r ecords’ and the
‘archives’.
In general, the terms differ in their original meaning, but a closer
examination reveals that they are closely related to each other. Let us
understand these terms in detail. These are:
1. Documents
2. Records
3. Archives

7.2.1 Documents:
The term Document is derived from the latin word ‘Documentum’
meaning ‘Proof’or ‘Example’ or ‘lesson’. During the middle ages, it came
to be called ‘Instrumentum’ which means something in writing. A
document literally means that which serves as evidence o r proof, written
or printed, has an inscription that can be read or a sign that conveys some
significance.
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65 The documents may be conventional, and of hand written form but are
increasingly in printed, typed, scripts or other form. Even picture,
photograph , charts, maps, seals, diagrams etc. form the part of documents.
Therefore, documents are conveniently defined as follows:

The word document is generally ‘used for papers - written or printed with
or without alphabetical or numerical signs such as maps an d diagrams
which form a part of or are attached to them.

In the words of John C. - “Documents are organic being the secretions, as
it were of an organism and reflecting in their ordered succession the
characteristic and history of the organization which pr oduce them”.

Documentary material is usually considered more important because it has
been considered as a primary source of information. Therefore, these
should be distinguishjed from secondary publications i.e. books, booklets,
periodicals, magazines e tc. produces from them.

However, not all, but some of the documents become archives and that too
when they cease to be in current business and are kept aside for long term
preservation. Some documents are preserved temporarily for some reason
or for the o ther and they are destroyed after a period of one or two years.
So, theses can not be treated as archives. Even the correspondence papers
and diaries (published or unpublished) which have no bearing on any
business transaction of either a writer or the rec ipient cannot become
archives barring a few exceptions. For example, a love letter in itself is not
an archive, but if produced before the Court, in divorce Proceedings,
become a legal instrument. When it is officially registered in the court file,
it beco mes a record of case and ultimately, becomes an archive.

7.2.2 Records:
The word ‘Record’ is derived from a latin word ‘Recordari’ which means
“to be mindful of” The word ‘Recordari’ is originated from a latin word
‘Cor’ which means ‘Heart’. The relation betw een the ‘Heart’ and ‘being
mindful of ‘ was connected and understood to be the seat of one’s memory
i.e. ‘to learn by heart’.

A record in the strict sense of the term means, “something committed to
writing in order to preserve the memory of the fact or e vent”. There are
many physical forms of records such as books, manuscripts, letters,
reports, papers, maps, photographs or any documentary material.

Further, the records are found in varied compositions. Some records are
found loose, while some others bo und. Various kinds of folders, binders
and envelopes are used to put them together. The records may be of
various sizes, i.e. big or small, lengthy or short. These records may be
brought under various filing systems. Sometimes, they are brought
arranged wh ile some other times they are brought disarranged. ‘Records’
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Introduction t o Museology
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66  In boxes
 In Bundles
 In Packages
 In Filing Cases
 In Shelves etc.

A specific activity may create a number of records. Of course, all these
records resu lting from a specific activity have a cohesive character and are
related to each other and have a collective significance. In the words of Sir
Hilary Jenkinson,
“Archives have a structure, an articulation and a natural relationship
between parts, which ar e essential to their significance. Archive quality
survives unimpaired as long as their natural form and relationship are
maintained.”
There are certain conditions which a document must satisfy before it is
satisfied as a record. These are:
 There should b e a record creator if records are to be created. The record
creator may be a government agency, an organisation, an institution, a
family, or an individual.

 Records should be created for a definite purpose. In other words, a
document in any transaction, commercial or government or private
becomes a record only when it is created in pursuance of a legal
requirement.

 Records should be preserved according to their utility. The utility of
records is generally termed as ‘Retention of value’

 The documents be come records properly. Only when record creators
create them with a definite purpose and preserve them properly
according to their utility by the creating agency.
Records may be official or personal. Official Records are of two types.
Some Official record s are created with a definite purpose and plan (such
as reports of experts in government file) reports of the survey etc. while
other records are created incidentally in the process of transactions as
memorandum, telephonic talks etc.
Personal records are created by individuals or institutions in their private
transactions (i.e. Non Official). However, unless these records are
preserved permanently to bear some evidence of transactions, they do not
become proper records.
All records are organic in charact er. The word ‘Record’ is often loosely
used but in the strict sense of the term , it refers to special types of
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67 In the words of PunenduBasu - “ Records are the books, Papers, Maps,
Photogr aphs, or other documentary material regardless of physical form or
characteristics made or received by a government agency, Institution,
Organisation, Family or Individual in pursuance of law or in connection
by that Government agency, Institution, Organis ation, family or individual
or its legitimate successors.”
7.2.3 Archives:
The term archi eves designates the organised body of records produced or
received by a Public, Semi Public, Institutional, Business or Private entity
in the transaction of its affairs an d preserved by it, its successors or
authorised repository through extention of its original meaning as the
repository for such material.
The term archives is derived originally from the Greek word ‘ APXELOV’
which means a ‘Public Office or a Residence of the Chief Magistrate’.
Later on, the term ‘APXELOV’came to be called ‘archeion’, ‘archivium’
in latin which later on gave birth to a French word ‘L -archive’ and ‘Les
archives’. English word’Archives’ has come from the French word.
Dr. Roscoe has suggested a series of terminology originating from
archives as follows:
 Archive - a depositary
 Archives - the records in an archive.
 Archivalize - to consign a record to an archive.
 Archivology - the science of administration of archives.

In English language, the t erm archives is used for three things as follows:
 The Records themselves,
 The building which houses them,
 The administrative set up.
In the Oxford English Dictionary, the term archives is used by two
meanings -
 A place in which public records or other h istoric documents are kept.
 A historic record or document so preserved.
A definition of archives is: “the archives consist of one or more groups of
documents no longer in current use, each group of which is in the custody
of an individual or a department in the ordinary course of business and
forms an organic whole, reflecting the organisation and history of the
office which provided it”.

Thus ‘archives’ is an organised body of records created or received by a
Government agency, an Office, a Family and h oused and preserved by
their legitimate successors as evidences of their existence, functions,
decisions and activities. Archives cover things as dissimilar in character as
records of -
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68  Judicial Court,
 Different departments of a Secretariate of the State.
 Treasury papers
 Local Minute Books
 Corporation Accounts Books,
 Hospital records, University records etc.
 Family Papers,
 Commercial records of correspondence,
 Staff reports of Business houses, pay rolls etc

Scope and Objectives of Archives:
7.2.4 Scope:
It has generally been accepted that archives have been in existence among
Oriental peoples and among Greeks and Romans since the written word
came into use.
Archival institutions in European countries had their origi n in Ancient
Greek civilization . ‘Archives t o the Greeks meant all accumulations
belonging to an office incl uding furniture and equipment’s .
Even in the fourth and fifth centuries BC the Athenians kept their valuable
documents in the temple of the ‘Mother of the Goddess’ i.e. ‘Metroon’ in
the Athen s. The temple included valuable documents in form of Papyrus
rolls such as -
 Laws and decrees,
 Treaties,
 Reports of meetings of the Senate and of the people,
 Decisions of the Criminal Courts,
 Manuscripts of plays by Euripides and Sophocles,
 The list of win ners in the Olympic games,
 Financial Records etc.
Along with these records, exceptional private documents occasionally
found a place there. This choice of a religious edifice as a place providing
both physical security and sanctity, recurs in the middle ages, when the
records of secular authorities were often safeguarded in monasteries. It is
highly probable that other cities also had their archives.
Almost all early civilizations which flourished in the river valleys such as
Indus Valley civilization, t he river cultures of Nile, Euphrates and Tigris
etc. had kept the record in their our way – seads, clay, tables is picto
graphs etc. The Romans and Greeks kept records by signs, pictures,
drawings, or engraving on variety of their materials like clay, wood , stone,
animal skin, leaves, walls of the rock -cut caves etc. The nature of these
records was either Governmental, economic or religious such as -
 The Laws of the Land, Land Survey and taxes
 Evidences of administrative actions
 Records of palaces, churches and temples
 Records of accounts in business transactions,
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69 In Rome, since the earliest times, records were kept in the house of the
king subsequently in the houses of the consuls. Later on, by about 5th
Century B.C., fo r the purpose of security, the records had been transferred
to a public building. The main archive was established by Valerious
Publlicola (509 BC)in the treasury of the temple of Saturn.National laws
and decrees, the acts of the senate, reports of offici als etc. were housed in
this temple. International documents were housed in in Capital.
Number of archives during the age of the republic states, was very huge
there were a number of other archives in Rome under various officials and
the emperor’s Archive i.e. Empire Archive (called as Tabularium
Caesaris) was created. In this archives, personal papers of the imperial
household and official records were housed.
In the medieval times record keeping became the concern of local
authorities. In comparison with ancient or modern times, small volumes
were produced in the medieval archives.
There is reference to a royal archives in England from 9th Century Ce. But
this formed a part of treasury and no fixed location. The first effort of
preserving exchequer recor ds was made by King Edward -I later on, Queen
Elizabeth established a state paper office in 1578 CE.
But the archives as they are understood today, date from the French
revolution. ‘The Archives Nationales’ and ‘Archives Departmentals’ were
established in F rance and for the first time, a unified administration of
archives which embraced all extent repositories and record producing
public agencies. The scope was later expanded encompassing the
preservation of all records of the Nation.
In year 1838, Under Eng lish Public record Act, all separate collections of
record were brought together and were placed under the master of rolls.
This archives department was named as ‘Public Record Office’. It was a
centralised office for the preservation of all public records of
parliamentary sessions.
In 1934, ‘national Archives was established in United States to house the
old records of the National government.
In mid - 20th Century, Asian countries were distinguished by new
development. The concept of ‘Archiive Keeping’ t ravelled from England
to India. In India, ‘Imperial Record Department’ was set up in 1891 by the
British. After independence, this institution was renamed as ‘National
Archives of India’. It has in its custody –Public records, maps, private
papers, microf ilms, books etc.
Thus, the scope of archives has expanded tremendously over the centuries.
Today the archival records are used by the researchers in various fields
such as the history, Literature, Political Science, Sociology, international
relations, and other subjects make use of archival material as a source for
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Introduction t o Museology
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70 Solicitors, town planner, Businessmen, Industrialists, Journalists etc. visit
archives for the reference work.
7.2.5 Objectiv es:
From archival points of view, records are useful for government as well as
people. The records are created for the following purposes.
 To document and agency's functioning.
 To product civil, legal and property rights of common citizens.
 To facilitate r esearch work.
The main objectives of the archival institutions may be described as -
1. To classify or arrange the documentary material and establish standard
of good management with respect to creation, organisation and
maintenance.

2. To preserve the documen tary material against physical damage and
safeguard it from being tampered by microfilming and computer
scanning and converting them into digitized files, particularly the
records of historical value.

3. To make it available for research work by providing a ccess to non -
current and non - confidential records to the researchers, scholars and
students.

4. Timely appraisal and destruction of which are outlived usefulness
records and thereby assisting government in its smooth functioning.

5. Publication of historica l documents for the reference of the Society.

6. Assisting and training private archives and individuals. Also to create
enthusiasm among them for the preservation and protection of valuable
records in their possession.
7.2.6 Classes of Archives:
Archives are naturally accumulated records produced during the
transaction of business of any kind. Creator may be government agency,
an organization or an institution usually these records created by different
agencies are classified into two main categories as follow s:-
 Official records:
 Non Official (Private) records :
1. Official records are created by offices and departments under the state
and Central governments. These official records can be divided into
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a) Public Records
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71 Public Records : The state (Country/ Nation) is the highest public body
and therefore, its records are known as public records. They are created by
offices and departments under the central and state governments. Almost
all the aspects are covered by the p ublic administration and reflect each
and every activity in which the state is engaged.
Exclusive public records are in the custody of National Archives of
India.Among the important acquisitions in recent years mention may be
made of -
 The 20th century rec ords of late foreign and political department and its
numerous agencies scattered over India.
 The Papers of the constutuent Assembly
 Papers of old Calcutta and Bengal Banks throwing light on India’s
economic history etc.
Semi - Public records: Semi -Publi c bodies are those. Which are not
Government departments or offices in the strict sense of the term but
which run the line of government office and follow more or less the same
procedure. Generally speaking they are the autonomous bodies like
Institutes, U niversities, Boards, Corporations, Industrial and commercial
undertakings, Banks, insurance and shipping companies, airlines etc. The
records created by these semi - public bodies or agencies are treated as
public records. They are classed as Semi Public records.
Public as well as semi -public records are complementary to each other for
the understanding of any activity.
Non- Official or Private Records: These are classed asprivate records.
Private records are created as a result of the activities of:
 Indiv iduals,
 Families,
 Private institutions or,
 Industrial and Business houses.
7.3 SUMMARY
Thus, in this unit we have taken review of Meaning, Scope, Objectives
and Classes of Archives: We have understood that based on the producers
or the creating agencies, the records are classified. Official records may be
classified into sub categories as per their subject and department.
However, the task of classification of private records in archives is a
difficult one. Classifying the stray documents, personal cases, estate and
property cases, wills made by individuals, business letters etc. becomes a
difficult one.
7.4 QUESTIONS
1. Define the term ‘Archives’, ‘Documents’ and ‘Records’.
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Introduction t o Museology
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72 3. “Archives are essentially records, bu t all records cannot become
archives” - comment.
4. Write a brief note on classes of Archives.
7.5 REFERENCES
 Basu, Punendu, Archives and Records:What are they? The National
Archives of India, New Delhi, (1990)

 Ponser Earnest, Archives in the Ancient World Harward University
press, 1972.
 Ghosh Sailendra, Archives of India, History and Assets , Firma K.L.
Mukhopadhyaya, 1963.

 Hari Narayan, N. The Science of Archives keeping, The State
Archives, Hyderabad.


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73 8
IMPORTANCE OF ARCHIVES: VALUE OF
RECORDS AS SOURCES OF HISTORY
Unit Structure :
8.0 Objectives
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Charetecistics and principles of archives
8.3 Features of Archival Collections
8.4 Importance of Archives Records and Their Values for the Different
Sections of the Society
8.5 Summary
8.6 Questions
8.7 References
8.0 OBJECTIVES
 To study characteristics of Archives
 To understand the importance of archives
 To understand Value of records as sources of history

8.1 INTRODUCTION
After understa nding the meaning of documents, records and archives and
knowing the development and scope of archives, objectives of archives it
is important to know about the different charac teristics and features of
archives. It is also nesessary to know the value of a rchives and records for
various people - e.q. historious , administrato rs and from the cultural point
of view the following units try to throw light on this :
8.2 CHARACTERIS TICS AND PRINCIPLES OF
ARCHIVES
The record or the archives are regarded as the h eritage of country. The
following are the characteristics of archives as given by Shri. Punendu
Basu.
 The first characteristic is the relationship that archives bear to a
creating agency are intended to reflect the policies, functions,
organizations and tr ansactions of that agency alone and nothing else, and
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74 administration, i.e. the archives of a given creator should in no
circumstances be intermingled with those of another creator.

 The second characteristic is the official character of archives or,
other words the fact of their being product or by - product of transactions
having legal effects. From the characteristics flows second major
principle that archives must remain in the custody of the creator of its
legitimate successor in order to ensure that no tempering has been done
with them from outside so that they may be acceptable in the court of law
as valid evidence of transaction.

 The third characteristic of archives is there uniqueness, w hich is
self-evident. A record is created for one specific purpose and none other.
Therefore the third Principle is one record may not be repeated anywhere
else.

 The fourth characteristic is the organic character of archives. As a
transaction progresses r ecord relating to it grow naturally. Each piece in a
file is a consequence of some preceding piece or pieces, and the former is
explained and elaborated by the la tter. Torn from each other or taken in
sequence different from that in which they were created , records cease to
tell a story or, what is worse tell a wholly inaccurate story.

In order to retain their quality of reflecting accurately what has gone
before and how the original order of records should in no circumstances
be disturbed to confirm to some logical pattern as followed in libraries or
some fancy pattern to suit the humour of an individual.

Thus one has to read the records in the order they were created otherwise
their would mean totally in different thing from the original

The sanctity of the original order is the fourth basic principle of archives
administration.
8.3 FEATURES OF ARCHIVAL COLLECTION
Some of the features of the archives are as follows:
 The archival collection can be called as a ‘whole’ i.e. the collection
becomes a who le when it ceases to be a ‘part’ even if a single paper is
preserved as an archival collection, it should in itself be treated as a
whole.

 The archival collections may be in the form of written or printed
documents, drawings, maps or charts.

 The archiva l collections should become official documents. In other
words, documents when cease to be in use and are preserved by an
administrative body they acquire an official status.
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Importance of Archives:
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75  Archives are created naturally. In the words of Sir Hilary Jenkinson,
“archives were not drawn up in the interest or for information of
posterit y” i.e. they were not created deliberately.
Thus, the archives are made naturally, in the course of performing
business duties and are the residium of business transactions. They are not
created for any kind of research work for the future generations. For
example, when laws were laid down by the Officials of the British
Government in India in the 19th Century, they never thought of a student
of 20th and 21st Centuries. Even, when registers o f births, marriages, and
buries were recorded by the Bishops, they did not do them with an
intention of being useful for a later historians or biographers but because
they wanted them for their own records.
All records, whether they are laws or minutes or records of business
transactions, they grow in numbers. Their order and arrangement is
determined by the Government authority once they cease to be documents.
H. Hari Narayan says, “Archival quality is that a document has been in the
custody of an unblemi shed line of responsible custodians”. The records
are so valuable that it becomes necessary to preserve them for the future
use of mankind.
Records are produced during the transaction of business of any kind and
preserved in the institution or individual. Different agencies such as
government business use of an independent body to create the records.
They are preserved firstly for the own administrative purpose and the
longer term, for the benefit of research. They remain as evidences of man.
In course of time, the records aot as primary sources for the reconstruction
of past history. Therefore, they must be used from the archival as well as
agency point of view.
From archival points of view, records are useful for government as well as
people. The records serve the following purposes.
 To document and agency's functioning.
 To product civil, legal and property rights of common citizens.
 To facilitate research work.
All the records have value, be they public or the private. They are
important sources from an a dministrative, cultural, research and personal
points of view.
8.4 IMPORTANCE OF ARCHIVES, RECORDS AND
THEIR VALUE FOR DIFFERENT SECTIONS OF
THE SOCIETY

1) Importance of Records:
The records are created mainly for the administrative proposes. The
administrat ion of any country is based on the activities of the politicians,
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76 agencies. These agencies are made up of a group of people who are
working together with common goal. To achieve this goal, i ndividuals as
well as groups perform activities and interact with one another in policy
making decisions, operational activities and facilitation services. In
running all these activities, the document are produced and use by the
creating agencies for futu re proposes.
In the words of Sir Hilary Jenkinson." Archives are on drawn up used in
the course of which itself formed a part and subse quently preserved in
there own custody for their own information by the person of personal
responsible for that transact ions and their legitimate successors".
Thus, the records are useful to which the administrator turns for
precedents for any action he contemplates, in which the diplomats and
administrators seek for authentic information about some diplomatic or
political transaction of long ago.
From personal point of view also records are given prime importance.
Usually the records, public as well as private records include the
government policy papers and other papers, court rolls, survey reports,
Personal documents like diaries, will papers, family papers etc. Whenever,
records relating to the problems such as family disputes, personal
privileges, personal business problems are available, we can study them
and provide valuable background information for solving current s imilar
problems, both public as well as private paper constitute an important
source material for the study of history.
Importance of archives and value of records as sources of history: -
When records are maintained in archival institutions, they become
archives. ‘Archives’ or ‘Archival Institutions’ play a vital role in
maintaining records of the past and as sources of history. History is
constantly in making. A public act of today becomes a historical fact of
tomorrow. The written records trace the cours e of development of that
matter to that conclusion, become archives. It can be the guide for future
activities of man a historian can study the culture of mankind only on the
availability of the written or oral records and therefore. The archives or
archiv al institution where the records of the past activity of mankind are
kept, indeed are the nation builders.
Not only from the historical point of view but for various other purposes
also archival institutions are essential. They are preserved because of the ir
continual utility forb the necessary governmental processes or for
protection of public and private rights and above all for research by
scholars and students. The records which are preserved the archives are
valuable for many reasons such as:
 Valuable from administrative point of view
 From cultural point of view
 From personal point of view
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Importance of Archives:
Value of Records as
Sources of History
77 All records be they public or private, have a great value, from official,
cultural and personal point of view. The records ar e the evidences of
transaction in the past. They are the only source of bygone days. History is
the guide to the future activities of man and records as a source of history
are of utmost importance. Obviously the value of Archives can be assessed
in terms of future use, some benefits to be derived at a future date.
Sir Hilary Jenkinson, when held the estimate post as a deputy keeper of
records in the British public record office said that,
"When archives cease to be of current use, their proper conservation
should still be regarded as an essential object of national concern, because
day and day only can give us that unimpeachable guidance for the conduct
in the present. The preservation of historical evidence should thus be
viewed not as a luxury, nor as som ething merely academically desirable
but as a national necessarily."
Value of the records from administrative point of view: -
The records are the sources through which the administrators can judge
whether the policies laid down are being executed in the de sired way or
not. Thus the records are must useful in the administrative field for
 They save the time and energy of the agency.
 They help the administrators to discharge their duties.
 They help in the standardization of various administrative procedures.
 They judge weather of policy laid down is executed as planned.
 They help in coordinating the activities of persons or groups of
persons.
 They hair to handle legal, civil procedures.
 They are useful for other public officials who wish to profit by the
alread y recorded experiences of the past.
Thus the Government or Public records possess a primary value.
2) Value of records from the cultural point of view:
History can be reconstructed only on the basis of historical evidence of
groups. This evidence can be go t in the form of the records of the
historical facts. We are unable to know the history and culture of any
people are communities, who have not left any record of their existence
and activities.
For the cultural development, records both - public and privat e are
significant. They act as mediators in the transmission of cultural heritages
from the past to the present. By studying those records, present generation
is able to understand man's intricate problems.
The developing countries undertake many developme nt programmes. To
enhance the effectiveness of these programmes, good official record
keeping is necessary. Because, only these records enable the government munotes.in

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78 authorities to take for the suitable steps to attain maximum utilizations of
previous experiences.
Records throw light on the developmental steps of different aspects of
women's life such as social, economic, political etc, hence maintaining
records is important.
3) Value of records from personal point of view: -
Records are valuable from personal poin t of view also. There is a close
relationship between the state and its citizens. The past records provide
information of civil, legal, financial and many other rights of the citizens.
Based on these past records, the state can decide its future policies. For
example, during the French Revolution, the Archives of Nationales of
Paris was established which is regarded as a first unified administrative
institution of archives. In this archive, all records of the revaluation were
housed. These records mainly de alt with personal property rights and such
other privileges. Later on, they proved to be very useful to guide the
government to protect such rights and privileges of the citizens.
4) Value of records from the research point of view: -
Records are preserved for their continual utility not only for the necessary
government processes and for protection of public and private rights, but
even for research by scholars and students.
The records, when cease to be a document of day to day administration,
acquire the value of research material to a scholar. The archives is the gold
mine into which the historian digs for material for his narrative of times he
is interested in.
Research workers usually have to spend time looking through old records
and even a modern de velopment, such as industrial chemical research has
to study the literary records of more than a hundred years ago, even for the
genealogist or a biographer or a historian, archival records form an
importance for material.
Records are the store houses of w isdom and give us guidance for solving
our current problem. They make us aware of how much our historians are
struggling to reconstruct our past history and how much easier the work
would be if enough volumes of archival material were available to us. This
makes us understand the role of archives as a raw material for research
which is unique indeed.
In India, since 1940, portal of the archives is kept open to all genuine
seekers of knowledge. Earlier strict rules were imposed for the use of the
archival re cords especially the public records. However, the rules govern
access to public records were liberalized in 1992 and all pre 1902, public
records where made available for research. To facilitate the use of these
records, more detailed reference index books such as land Revenue
records (1830 to 1859) were published in two volumes. Many more books
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Importance of Archives:
Value of Records as
Sources of History
79 1) Index to Select Committee and Secret Department Records (1756 -
80).
2) A "Manual of rules and regulating access to Achieve in India and
Europe "
To serve the scholars at a distance a more ambitious publication
programme was taken up. The archival department is progressing fast in
India.
8.5 SUMMARY
The archival institutions are in a strong position of supporting a broad
spectrum of research by th e Government as well as by the academic
community in almost all branches of learning.Thus, in this unit we have
studied characteristics of Archives, importance of archives and value of
records as sources of history
8.6 QUESTIONS
1. What are the principles of Archives?
2. Discuss the importance of archives and value of records as a source of
history.
3. “Archives are essentially records, but all records cannot become
archives” - comment
8.7 REFERENCES
 Basu, Punendu, Archives and Records:What are they? The National
Archives of India, New Delhi, (1990)

 Ponser Earnest, Archives in the Ancient World Harward University
press, 1972.
 Ghosh Sailendra, Archives of India, History and Assets , Firma K.L.
Mukhopadhyaya, 1963.

 Hari Narayan, N. The Science of Archives keeping, The State
Archives, Hyderabad.
 Millar, L. A . Archives: Principals and practices, Facet Publishing,
London, (2010).


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80 9
CLASSIFICATION OF RECORDS

Unit Structure :
9.0 Objectives
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Classification of Records
9.3 Different Types o f Records
9.5 Non Current Records
9.6 Summary
9.7 Questions
9.8 References
9.0 OBJECTIVES
 To understand the need of classification of records

 To study various types of classification of records

 To understand Pre -historic and historic records Public and p rivate
records

 To study Non -current records and its stages.
9.1 INTRODUCTION
In the earlier Unit (T) the details of the term record are given. It is
mentioned that records are found in varied compositions some are loose,
some are bound they may be of different sizes -small, lengthy or short .
Records can be official or person al. How to classify there and what are the
different classifications - classificatioins accordingly to the importance,
according to state of compilations etc. There details are given here .

9.2 CLASSIFICATION OF RECORDS

For smooth functioning of the archival library an orderly arrangement of
record s is essential. Research scholar or any other concerned should be
able find out the records of his own interest. Therefore, proper
organization of the records is very much necessary from utilization point
of view, classification helps in organizing the rec ords is an orderly
manner.
The word classification is derived from the Latin world 'classis'. It means
putting together like entities and separating on like entities. According to
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81 Classification of records means the process by which records in the
Archives are arranged. Archives records can be classified into many
categories such as: -
 according to the creator
 According to its form
 According to the legitimate use
 According to the state of compilati on
 According to subject matter
 According to chronological limits.
As studied earlier, archival records are produced during the transaction of
business of any kind. Creator may be government agency, an organization
or an institution usually these records c reated by different agencies are
classified into following categories:
9.3 DIFFERENT TYPES OF RECORDS
Public records: created by offices and departments under the state and
Central governments.
a) Semi - public records : These are not government departments o r
offices but run on the lines of government office and follow more or
less the same procedure, for example, universities, boards,
corporations etc.
b) Private records are created by individuals, families, private
institutions or business firms etc.
ii) Class ification of records according to the form: -
Here the records are classified textual cartographic and audio -visual.
a) Textual records : - These are usually written in some language and
script maximum of archival records fall under this category.
b) Cartographic records : - The records in the form of maps, graphs,
drawing or diagrams are known as cartography records and they are
usually found mixed up with textual records.
c) Audio visual records : - Audio visual records are films, gramophone,
tape-recorders, cassette s (audio and visual). These types of records are
found in the archives of ministries of information and broadcasting,
Central Bureau of investigation etc.
iii) Classification of the records according to the legitimate use: -
Here the records are classified into two categories i.e. open records and
closed records.
a) Open records : All such records which have been thrown open for
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82 b) Closed record: Records which are not allowed for the public and
resea rch scholars call as closed records.
The entire records of public and semi -public bodies cannot be thrown
open for research at least for a certain period of time, for administrative
conventions chronological demarcation is very necessary to determine the
records of open and closed period. In this regard, a period of 30 (Thirty)
years up to date is generally fixed as close the period. During this period,
records are not shown to the public. However, the period above thirty
years is treated open period and th e records which are thirty years old can
be thrown open for historical research with such conditions imposed by
the government.
iv) Classification of Records according to state of compilation :
Here classified according to the state of compilation i.e. semi current and
non- current.
All archiv al records have to pass through three different stages and
accordingly the classification of the records is done. Such three stages are
as follows: -
A) Current records: A file or document is in the stage of currency till
the business or transaction connected with that file or documents is not
over.
B) Semi - current : the period during which records remain in casual
consultation is now as semi current period.
C) Non-Current : the period when records are no longer required by the
creating agencies is known n as non -current period. The records in this
stage are more useful for the researchers than for the creators.
v) Classification of records according to the subject matter:
In this category the records are classified according to th eir subject matter.
For example, judicial records, educational records, survey records,
revenue records etc.
vi) Classification of records according to their importance :
In this classification, because are divided into three categories groups viz
‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’
‘A’ group records: in this group all the documents which deal with policy
matters, important divisions and organizational history and administrative
land markers are treated as ‘A’ class papers.
'B' group records: Those documents which deal with th e operational part
of a transaction or implementation of a policy are treated as 'B' class
records.
'C' group records: the documents which are created for a temporary
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Classification o f Records
83 vii) The classification of records according to chronological limits :
Here the classification is based on important landmarks in the
i) Social
ii) Political
iii) Economic or
iv)Administrative history of country
For example, pre independence and post -independence records, pre 1900
and post 1900 records , accident records, medieval records and modern
records etc.
Thus for the current and future use of the records, it becomes imperative
for a government agency to classify the records into classes for their easy
accessibility. F ollowing points should be remembered in the classification
of the records:
i) Records have to be selected and reduce to manageable proportions.
ii) Records should be classified systematically.
iii) Records should be filed properly.
9.4 PRE - HISTORIC REC ORDS
History is an enquiry into the past. It is the record of the growth of human
mind. Achievements of human beings in almost all aspects of his life such
as social, Economic, political and cultural all are studied in the history.
However, we should have some source of information of these
achievements. Because history can be reconstructed only on the basis of
historical evidences or sources. It is usually said 'If no record no history'.
History is mainly based on the literary record that is in form of doc uments.
However during the pre - historic stage, written documents were absent.
This was because the art of writing was unknown to man.'
The period preceding the historic period is known as pre historic period i.e
the period when the art of writing was unkn own to man. But this does not
mean that he did not leave any sources at all. The prehistoric people made
history in their own way. They have left the records of their existence in
the form of different types of objects, caves, stone tools, jewelries’, and
various types of other antiquities. Theses evidence are also called as
archaeological sources and day provide the information regarding
contemporary political, social, economic and cultural conditions.
Before the art of writing was invented records were ke pt by drawing,
pictures signs or engraving on materials like clay, wood, Rock walls,
caves, leaves, animal skins and wood.
But the concept of archives was not existing. No distinctions of records
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84 of records scattered in different forms. They silently speak of the
achievements as well as failure of man in almost all aspects of life of pre -
historic people. Therefore, the application of the term archives itself for
these records may sou nd in appropriate because the terms Archives even if
use in the broadest sense suggests that the arrangement of records in
usable manner and in a place suitable for preservation despite the facts that
ample records have been found in the world of ancient c ivilization.
All the sources or records of perishable materials have been lost through
the ages by -
i) Natural calamities such as -
 Famines,
 Floods,
 Fire,
 Migration,
 Foreign invaders etc.
 Damage by white ants.
II) Family asset, carried away to other places.
Though, most of the sources of organic nature have been lost, with the
help of studies and research conducted by scientists such as botanists;
zoologists, geologists, anthropologists and archaeologists inferences are
drawn and history is reconstructed. Es pecially, Archaeology plays a vital
role in the regard. Archaeology is a method of reconstructing the past from
the surviving traces of former societies.
The period between prehistoric and historic period is called as the proto
history period. This period is characterized by the absence of actual
written records but even then some traces can be noticed in form of some
kinds of signs or symbols.
The Indus valley civilization belongs to the proto historic period. The
earliest records in writing are attributed to the Indus valley people. They
certainly knew the art of writing as is seen from there seals and pottery.
Unfortunately the script is not yet deciphered and the information from
those literary records remains unknown to us.
In India, before the art of w riting was introduced, thoughts and events
were preserved in the form of memorizing. For example, the Vedas where
transmitted from mouth to mouth and they were not in the written form.
Therefore, the Vedic age in India is also regarded as proto historic.
In the historic period there are temple references to the art of writing and
writing material in ancient Indian literature. However when exactly the art
of writing was introduced in India is not finally decided.
Thus taking the note of the ancient archives as a whole it can be
conveniently agreed that our knowledge rest upon incomplete foundations.
Muller, J.A.Feith and R. Fruin in the manual for the arrangement and munotes.in

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Classification o f Records
85 description of Archives have given the task of the archivist in the
following words:
"The arc hivist deals with a body of archives, just as the paleontologist
deals with the bones of a pre - historic animal; tries from these bones to put
the skeleton of the animal together again."
Historic Records :
After the pre - historic and proto -historic period, the Historic period was
commenced. Historic period is characterized by the art of writing. Writing
as an instrument of human expression began to be used approximately
about 5000 B.C. Since history is a systematic record of important men and
events of the p ast and their activities in all field of life, and it is based on
information, which is supplied by the art of writing, the period for which
we get written records, is known as the historic period.
There are ample references to the art of writing and writi ng material in the
ancient Indian literature. However, the earliest written records were
engraved on stones in India and are known as inscriptions. As a matter of
fact, in India only during the third century B.C. that we get a clear
evidence of engraved re cords incised on rock or stone surface in the form
of the edicts of Emperor Asoka.
Though the art of writing was introduced in the early years, there was no
system of records - keeping. Whatever administrative documents in general
were found had no relatio n with one another and what was worse, that
they were disregarded as sources for future use. The clay tablets, the
papyri of Egypt are some of the large body of original record material that
has survived from the ancient world. These Ancient archives survi ved by
chance or due to administrative interest.
Different objects were used for writing the records (recording the events)
such as lithic, metallic earthen or wooden objects, pottery, bricks, Ivory
plaques, animal skin/leather, metal plates silk or linen cloth, leaves of the
tree for example palm leaf, birch bark, papyrus etc.
These written records are very useful for understanding the history of
ancient people. Some of these records throw flood of light on the ancient
civilization for example,
Papyri reco rd of Egypt: They throw light on the governmental functions
and activities, to financial administration, agriculture, and military and so
on. These Egyptian rolls papyrus also throw light on the story books,
drama, poetry etc. The earliest books were made from papyrus, which is
similar in composition to paper and is known to have lasted for two to
three thousand years in good conditions of storage.
Persian archives: Alexander the great conquered Persia and confiscated its
and named them as ‘royal skins’ for leather, also along with clay tablets
served Persians as a writing medium. munotes.in

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Introduction to Museology
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86 The ancient Sumerian writing is known as cuneiform; they cut or incised
their signs on stone or wood, or soft clay tablets. The people of the Indus
valley civilization, the oldest civilization of India also had evolved for
system of writing with each sign being a syllable with a fixed
pronunciation. Later on, the inscriptions of Asoka and many others have
become the definite records of ancient Indian history.
In India, initially, le aves, clay seals, stone, metal plates, ivory plaques,
earthen pottery etc. were used as writing material. Especially Birch bark
i.e 'Bhurja - patra' and palm leaf i.e. Tad -patra were commonly used as
writing material.
However, when paper was invented, it wa s regarded as a more durable
material in the past. The earliest paper known is supposed who have been
invented in China by Tsai - Lun about 105 A.D. In the British museum,
there is a piece of paper, from the Great Wall of China, which dates from
about this time. The early paper was made by slow hand operated
processes.
Some 700 years later the invention spread from China, moving in East to
Japan, South to India and West to Arabia and Arabia it was carried to
Bagdad, Egypt and Morocco, Spain and other Europe an countries during
the 12th century A.D.
Till recent centuries paper making methods in India remained as primitive
as it was introduced from China. Akbar introduced the manufacture of
paper in Kashmir because, during the Mughal period, record writing and
record keeping had developed in to an art. However, creation of archives
in the real sense of the term began in India only during the British period.
Obviously, most of the history of modern India is based on the records
created by British government. In t he absence of those archival records,
we would have remained in the dark about many historical facts and
events.
Thus the role of Archives as a raw material of research in history is very
important. The sense of national pride, National identity which is a s
indispensable to the vitality and stability of a country is dependent upon
the historical tradition, which can easily derived from archival material.
Only from the lessons of past, we can understand present days and think of
the policies of tomorrow. Thu s history is the guide to the activities of man
and therefore, historical records are very much essential in the absence of
search records in archival institution, the history of nation, cannot be
reconstructed on the sound footing. Historical records also bring us nearer
to our predecessors and enable us to understand their aims and aspirations
and even failures. Therefore, the historical records are store houses of
wisdom.
9.5 NON CURRENT RECORDS
For understanding the term non -current records one should k now the other
terminologies which are related to it. They are current records or stage of
currency, semi current records or stage of semi currency. munotes.in

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87 All archival records have to pass through three different stages and
accordingly the classification of the r ecords can be done.
i) The stage of currency: -
The document or a file is in the stage of currency till the business or
transaction connected with that file or document is not over, the file of the
document is not closed in this stage and the transaction go es on. The file
or document is said to be in the stage of currency.
ii) The stage of semi currency: -
A stage is reached when transactions with that file are completed and then
the file is closed. During this period only the creators of the file are the
legitimate users because even after its closure, the officials consult the file
for quoting present or for other useful data while handling the similar
cases. During this stage the file is called semi currency stage or in a stage
of semi -currency.
iii) Stage of non -currency: -
The third stage in the process of archives is non -currency. During this
period records are no longer required by the creating agencies. In fact,
semi currency period ends and non -currency period begins when the
creators of the file do not need the records even for casual consultation. In
this stage the records acquire research value and they are kept for the
benefit of research scholars. Therefore, the period when the file ceases to
be of any use to the officials, it is called non- currenc y stage. During this
stage the records can be used by the administrators, officials, researchers
as well as the public in accordance with the rules laid down by the archival
institutions. The non -current records become the government
responsibility. It bec omes obligatory on the part of the government to
systematically classify the records, file them and preserve them for
posterity.
Business Records: -
The world business means or transaction carried on between two or more
persons. Usually functional activitie s are carried on in either public or a
private office. Here decisions are taken, policies are fixed and the
procedure goes on. Everything of this is recorded as evidence of the
activity, usually business records are found in the form of: -
 Accounts books, w age books, passbooks
 Balance sheets
 Share certificates
 Production schedules,
 Pay rolls, attendance sheet
 Minutes of meeting etc…
Today is the age of competition and specialization. Ever increasing desire
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Introduction to Museology
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88 Therefore the need to preserve records is felt. In this regard a systematic
maintenance or records becomes very essential. Based on the previous
experiences, the business authorities can take further steps to improve the
efficiency of thei r business, because history is the guide to the further
activities of man.
Business records are not of a recent origin, but have their roots deep in
past history. The commercial business organizations of ancient times also
kept financial and other accounti ng records. There were professional
guilds i.e. commercial organizations which were called Negama. A special
future of the associations was the banking facilities provided by them. The
guild organizations of ancient India were well organized and served as the
modern banks as well. Naturally a proper record of the transactions had to
be kept by the guilds.
Even Kautilya gives us information that the Mauryan kings appointed 27
Adhyakshas to look after the economic activities of the state. There are
many refe rences to gold, silver and copper coins as the medium of
exchange and also bills of exchange which must have facilitated the
business activity. Many inscriptional records also throw light on economic
activities of ancient times. This information about anci ent Indian history
could be achieved only because of business records left behind by them.
Private Records: -
Private records are called unofficial records. These records are created as a
result of the activities of individuals, families, private instituti ons or
business houses. It includes corporate bodies, census schedules, passport
applications passenger’s lists, personal records immigration records etc.
When two individuals or institutions sign a contract of partnership, make
an agreement. Here the agre ement is made on a paper, which becomes the
record of that particular event. However, that record on paper does not
become an archive. But in case of dispute between two, when the case is
filed in the court, then that document becomes evidence and is filed in the
court, it becomes an archive, and may be used for future advantage.
A love letter can be another example of private records which itself is not
an archive but produced before the court in divorce proceedings, becomes
a legal instrument. It is enrol led in the court file and therefore becomes an
archive. Of course, these records are known as private records.
Like the above private records, the will made by an individual at the time
of his death, paper relating to property disputes in the family, case of
murder, suicide etc. All form important personal records, if filed in
archives. For future benefit, they may be consulted if a similar case arises.
Private records Become archives only when they are given an official
status by the government. Private re cords are very much beneficial as they
are private guidelines to the future generations. These private records
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89 records are usually consulted when such similar cases arise. They also
guide the government in fixing the future policies of the state.
The Indian National Archives is a primary or public record office and for a
long time it has only public records. However since independence there
has been a growing awareness that private p apers constitute an important
source material for the study of history. Unfortunately private papers do
not receive the case and necessary attention for their preservation.
Therefore, the department i.e. ‘National Archives ’ has embarked on a
program of acq uiring, mainly through donations -private papers of eminent
Indians. Now th e National Archives of India have made a collection of
private papers of eminent leaders such as Dadabhai Nauroji, Badruddin
Tayyabji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, G.S. khaparde, V.
S. Shrinivasa Sastri, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Dr. Rajendra Prasad,
M. R. Jaykar to name only a few. Even the papers of eminent scientist Dr.
shantiswaroop Bhatnagar brilliant Mathematician Ramanujam are also
available in the National Archiv es.
9.6 SUMMARY
In this way, we have studied thoroughly about the need of Classification
of Records, Its different types. Pre -historic records and even Public and
Private records. We have also seen different stages in non –current
records.
9.7 QUESTIONS
 How classification of records is done in the archival institutions: Why
it is necessary?
 State different types of classification of records
 What are Pre -historic and historic records? How do they help us in
reconstructing our past?
 Writ short notes on:
1) Public and private records.
2) Non-current records and its stages.
9.8 REFERENCES
 Ghosh Sailendra, Archives of India, History and Assets , Firma K.L.
Mukhopadhyaya, 1963.

 Hari Narayan, N. The Science of Archives keeping, The State
Archives, Hyderabad.

 Jenkinson Hilary, A Manual of Archives Administration, Oxford at
Clarendon Press, (1922)

 Millar, L. A . Archives: Principals and practices, Facet Publishing,
London, (2010).
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90 10
APPRAISAL AND RETENTION OF
RECORDS
Unit Structure :
10.0 Objectives
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Appraisal Of Records
10.3 Why Retain and Preserve Records ?
10.4 Schedule [Programme] For Retention of Records
10.5 Summary
10.6 Questions
10.7 References
10.0 OBJECTIVES
 To see how appraisal is essential for the management of archives.
 Meaning and Procedure of Appraisal of records
 To understand the meaning and need of retention of records.
 To know schedule for the retention of records.
10.1 INTRODUCTION
In the precious unit the classification of records is discussed in detail. The
classification is done as per various criteria. This unit as mentioned in the
objectives discussess the necessily of appraisal of records what is the
meaning of appraisa a great, what is retention of records. Records are
preserved firstly for the own administrat ive purpose and the longer term
for the benefit of research. Management of records means the general
administration of record keeping. The question arises here,

Management of archives , needs the framework to maintain records as
records are useful for government as well as for the people. The records
serve the following purposes.
 To document agency's functioning.
 To product civil, legal and property rights of common citizens.
 To facilitate research work.
From agency's points of view, records are valuable for various reason as
follows: -
● Values for administrative legal use for the government. munotes.in

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91 ● Values for the protection of legal, civil property and other rights of
citizens.
● Values for functional documentation purposes.
● Values for the purposes of research work.
10.2 APPRAISAL OF RECORDS
Appraising records means to fix the value of records. It is the most
difficult task before an archivist. In the modern complex world,
Government activities are increasing, which lead to an increase in the
records. The over growth of the records creates many problems in the
department of Archives. Especially, housing all the public records created
by the Governmental agencies has become a serious problem – becau se
the modern public records are voluminous. This makes the job of reducing
the quantity of public records, an urgent one. Overgrowth of the records
created many problems in the department of achieves, e specially, housing
all the public records created by the government agencies has become a
serious problem because the modern public records are voluminous. This
makes the job of reducing the quantity of public reports an urgent one. In
this task, appraisal of records becomes utmost necessary.
As a matter of fact we do not preserve all the records created by
government agencies. It is practically impossible to keep all the records
that are produced. Providing space to house them and maintaining them is
a great problem. Therefore we preserve only selected records which are
most valuable and most urgent and precious. Naturally to reduce the
quantity of records so as to make them more useful and purposeful is a
challenging task of an archivist. In this task, di fficulties in segregating the
useful documents from the less useful once. The practical solution to this
problem can be done by first differentiating systematic record retirement
program of public records from the creating agencies to the archives.
Here, t he question arises, what records are to be retired?
Appraisal Procedure: Before refiring the records archivist must
undertake program of appraisal of records. Record retirement program can
be undertaken through a systematic procedure, which comprises of the
following stages
i) Initial stage: -
 The segregating of the ephemeral records,
 The classification of records
 The first review of records
ii) Final stage: -
 The second review of records
 The retirement of surviving records to the national archives.
 Appra isal and appraisal standards
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92 The third step in the final stage of the record retirement program is the
Appraisal of records which is an important one. Appraising records
means -the appraisal of records which is done according to their historical
importance.
The retention of records depends on its value.
10.3 WHY RETAIN AND PRESERVE RECORDS ?
All records are not preserved. We preserve only selected records which are
most valuable. From archival point of v iew, records are useful to
government and people for the following purposes -
 To document an agency’s functioning
 To protect civil, legal and property rights of common citizens.
 To facilitate research work.
 From creating agency point of view, records are important as they are
valuable for administrative purpose, functional documentation and even
for research.
Therefore, these must be preserved.
A) Retention of records of administrative value
Paper of following category is normally be those required to be ke pt
indefinitely for administrators used.
 Papers containing evidence of rights or obligations for or against the
government e.g. title to property, claim for compensation etc.
 Papers relating to major policy decisions.
 Papers regarding constitutions functio ning and working of important
departments and committees.
 Papers providing lasting precedents for important procedures e.g.
administrative memoranda, historical reports and summaries, legal
opinions on import assets etc.
 Papers concerning rules, regulation s, departmental guides or
introductions of general applications.
 Papers pertaining to silent futures of organization and staffing of
government departments and offices.
vii) Papers relating to important litigation or cause celebration in which
the administ ration was involved.
B) Retention of records of historical importance: -
Paper of following categories should be specially considered valuable to
the historians.
 Papers relating to origin of department or agency of government and
their functions.

 Papers relating to a change of policy and its implementation.
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93  Papers relating to the more important aspects of scientific or technical
research and development.

 Papers containing matters of local interest of which it is unreasonable
to expect that evidence will be available locally.

 Papers relating to a well -known public or international event or such
other which gave rise to interest or controversy on the national plan.

 Papers containing direct reference to trends or development in political,
social economics or other fields.
Thus while appraising, the public records go through various stages
i.e.
 The segregating of ephemeral records.
 The classification of records,
 The first review,
 The second review,
 The retirement of surviving records to the national Archive s.
A few guidelines that should be borne in mind while evaluating
(appraising) the public records before its retention are as follows: -
 Though the rules are made down and standards set, they should never
be regarded as absolute or final. The standards can be little more than
general principles. In other words, the standard set will serve merely as
guideline to steer the archivist through the tedious task of appraisal.

 Appraisal standards should be applied with common sense and
moderation , extremes in decis ions should be avoided.

 Appreciation standards should not be applied with absolute
consistency. Each archivist may use per different criteria for evaluating
records of different periods because what may have been valuable in
the past may have no value at present but may become valuable later
date. J. H. Smith has rightly said that, "a great deal is said by some
people about rubbish but one investigator's rubbish may be precious to
another and what appears valueless today may found highly important
tomorrow ."
Therefore, complete consistency in judging informational is undesirable.
 Analysis is the essence of record appraisal. Evaluation of records
should not be based on intuition. Proper analysis of records should be
done taking into account all the availab le documentary sources on the
matter related to the records.

 Archival Institution is a large one, encompassing a number of
disciplines. An archivist obviously can be expected to have knowledge
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Introduction to Museology
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94 does not yield the required information; he should consult exports in
the subject. However, before seeking assistant from the specialist,
accumulate data, describe the various series to be evaluated, indicate
their nature, form and value, their re lation to their group and thus
complete the preliminary work.
Thus, an archivist should fulfill the role of as a moderator, diplomat,
scientist, scholar and make the challenging task of appraisal plain and
simple.
10.4 SCHEDULE [PROGRAMME] FOR RETENTION
OF RECORDS

When records grow in number, their utility is evaluated and some records
are retained while some records are disposed. The retention and disposal
of records refers to the practice of determining the period of time each
record must be retained before the record can be destroyed. This task is
undertaken when the retention value of the records is fixed. At this stage,
it is decided whether the records are to be transferred to Permanent
archives or to dispose it off.

Retention period of records i s linked with a retention schedule or retention
programme. Generally, the record creating agencies fix the retention
period of records. Retention period varies depending upon its type of
information, content and other related factors as per the rules, regu lations,
requirement of records for the creating agency. Retention period is
primarily fixed as per the need of the agency.

As per the retention programme, records are disposed/ destructed as they
have no longer value to the creating agency. When the pr ocedure like
evaluation, appraisal etc. is finalised, and the records are selected for
retention or disposal, the record is typically destroyed using a standard
destruction system. While the records of historical value are permanently
preserves.

Manageme nt of Records:

For the better functioning of any archives, it is necessary to divide the
documents into groups . However prior to the 19th century there were no
general principles for arranging records received at archives. But in
modern times, the first concern of an archivist is with the documents
themselves and to guard against their destruction. In order to deal with the
voluminous records efficiently. An archivist has to identify the record
units and arrange them based on sound principles.
To begin wi th the archi vist should divide records into groups sub groups
and series.
The creating agencies hand over their records to the archival institutions.
After accession of these records, segregated the groups of records which
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95
The Archives follow the standard guidelines for preservation and weeding
of official records. These are categorized into 4 classes:
Class ‘A’ - This class will be allotted to files in which important issues
have been disc ussed by the management authorities or files which include
orders set up important decisions general instructions, of important
decisions which are of a great value and for reference for the future
generations. These are very important documents and needs to be
preserved permanently.
Class ‘B’ - In this class records of government orders and instructions of
permanent nature are included. However, these are not required for
frequent reference after a certain period of time. Generally these records
are destr oyed after 20 years.
Class ‘C’ - The records in this class cover the records of secondary
importance. These can be preserved for a limited period of 3 to 5 years
and then to be destroyed.
10.5 SUMMARY
Almost all the countries in the world have their own archives where the
records are preserved. In India, management of archi ves (records) is a task
of the National Archives and Department of Administration, reforms and
public grievances. Both the agencies together formulate guidelines in
preparation of Rete ntion Schedule of records. Thus archival institutions
in India take care of Retention and preservation of records .
10.6 QUESTIONS
 What is appraisal of documents? Show how appraisal is essential for
the management of archives.

 Write a detailed note on the retention of records in an archival
institution.

 What are the guidelines that should be borne in mind while evaluating
(appraising) the public records before its retention

 Write in detail about what is the main purpose behind Retention and
Preservatio n of records?
 Write short notes on:

a) Purpose behind the management of archives.

b) Retention Schedule of Documents




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96 10.7 REFERENCES
 Ghosh Sailendra, Archives of India, History and Assets , Firma K.L.
Mukhopadhyaya, 1963.

 Hari Narayan, N. The Science of Arc hives keeping, The State Archives,
Hyderabad.

 Jenkinson Hilary, A Manual of Archives Administration, Oxford at
Clarendon Press, (1922

 Basu, Punendu, Archives and Records:What are they? The National
Archives of India, New Delhi, (1990)

 Ghosh Sailendra, Archives of India, History and Assets , Firma K.L.
Mukhopadhyaya, 1963.

 Schellenberg, T.R., The Appriasal of Modern Public records, The
National Archives Publication, No. 57 -5(1956)


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97 11
CONSERVATION AND PRESERVATION
OF RECORDS

Unit Structure :
11.0 Objectives
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Meaning of Consenation of Records and the Need for Construction
of Records
11.3 Rehabilitation of Records
11.4 Questions
11.5 References
11.0 OBJECTIVES
 Understand the meaning of conservation of records and its need.

 To study different factors that deteriorate our records.
11.1 INTRODUCTION
The previous unit was about appraisal and re tention of re cords. This unit
mentions conservation and preservation of records. It is about the meaning
of conservation, about the need for the conversation a records how records
deterianate, how they are recovered etc.

Most of the records are document ary material which are written to
perpetuate the knowledge of transaction. Paper forms an essential part of
records and archives. They are in the form of, bound volumes, files,
charts, sheets, manuscripts, books, photographs, drawings, maps, films etc.
These records ar e valuable for their research value. They are retained for
future use in the archival institutions in addition to being guides to private
and public agencies in the present.
11.2 MEANING OF CONSENATION OF RECORDS AND
THE NEED FOR CONSTRUCTIO N OF RECORDS
Preservation refers to maintaining materials in their original form or in any
other form (such as photocopy, print, digitized record etc.). Paper being
organic in nature, is a subject to damage by destructive agents. The
decaying process of pa pers depends upon the nature and environmental
conditions. There are several agents which bring about deterioration of
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98  Biological agents like fungi, insects and rats etc.

 Physical agents like heat, moi sture, light and humidity.

 Chemical agents like atmospheric pollution, acidity etc.
Besides, there are other factors that deteriorate the archival material. These
are:
 Natural calamities such as flood, earthquake etc.

 Destructive actions of man like de liberate dest ruction, putting them on
fire, mishandling etc.
An archivist puts efforts to maintain the physical welfare of archival
records. He has to preserve records from various factors responsible for its
decay. Let us see these factors and how to pr eserve record s from decay
which are as follows:
1. Atmospheric Factors: atmosphere which provides the environment
is the closest source of danger to the archival material. These are physical
agents that cause more damage. Let us see how do they damage and w hat
preservat ion methods are in case of these atmospheric features.

 Temperature: As a matter of fact, Variation in temperature is
harmful for the life of the paper particularly in tropical countries like
India. Here, the temperature fluctuates from one e xtreme to ano ther during
the year and even during a single day shows variations. Fluctuating
temperature is responsible for damaging of paper. In excess heat in
summer, combined with other factors like sunlight and humidity has
adverse effect of making the paper brittl e which will crumble into dust
with passage of time.

For preservation of records from temperature , steps are taken to reduce the
fluctuations as much as possible. Various experiments show that a
temperature between 65 degree Fahrenheit and 7 5 degree Fahr enheit is
best to maintain paper in healthy state. The archival institutions take care
to preserve records at this temperature [at least in case of the most
valuable documents]

2. Humidity: Humidity refers to actual content of moisture in air in so
many gram s of water to one cubic meter of air. High humidity and
stagnant air cause the growth of mild dew on records. In a humid
atmosphere, the danger to archival materials come from micro -organisms.
Paper absorbs moisture from moist air. Moisture is harmful to r ecords.
Therefore, controlling relative humidity is utmost necessary.

For controlling humidity in archival institutions:
 It is advisable to have air conditioners installed which ensure the
required temperature and relative humidity in the st ack rooms.
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99  Whe re, installation of Air Conditioners is not possible, at least
dehumidifiers may be used to extract water from moist air.

 The areas near windows should be double glazed as a safeguard against
heat, humidity, dryness and temperature.

3. Light: In a trop ical country like India, the abundance of sunlight
poses a problem in itself as sunlight contains quite high proportion of
Ultra - Violate radiation which is the universal destroyer of organic matter
and paper is no exception. It decreases the strength of p aper decreases and
it gets discolored, ink is faded and writing becomes faint. To prevent the
archival material from this problem some of the measures that can be
taken are:

 To provide rooms without windows with low power bulbs or ultra
violet lamps.

 To drape the windows with heavy curtains.

 To fit Ultra -violet filters to fluorescent light.
II] Chemical factors: Like atmospheric factors, chemical factors too
damage the records. These are dust, impurities, atmospheric pollution etc.
These are harder to dignose and to rectify than temperature and humidity
problems
 Dust: It creates a serious problem as it causes the growth of mildew.
It absorbs acidic substances from the atmosphere. If neglected for a long
time, dust can cause stains on paper . It makes pa per dirty and brings
discomfort to the users. Dust contains silica, carbon. Fungal spores and
organic matters are likely to be present in the atmosphere. It also carries
some or all of salts like:
 Sodium Chloride,
 Calcium Carbonate,
 Ferric Oxi de
 Alumina,
 Magnesium Carbonate,

Ammonium Sulphate etc.

Utmost care is to be taken to keep the Archival institutes away from dirt.
Regular cleaning is required.

 Impurities and Atmospheric Pollution:
Dust contains impurities. Main constituents of atm ospheric air and argon,
water, Vapour and carbon Dioxide are the main constituents. All other
gases present in the air are considered as impurities. These impurities are
in form of
 Sulphur Dioxide
 Carbon Monoxide, munotes.in

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100  Sulpher Trioxide,
 Hydrochloric Acid,
 Hydr oFluoric Acid
 Hydrogen Sulphide etc.
As a matter of fact, atmospheric air particularly in industrial areas and
populous cities contains larger quantities of these impurities. These are
very much harmful to the records. Therefore, it becomes necessary to take
precauti ons to prevent our records from impurities and atmospheric
pollutions as follows:
 By keeping the windows closed.
 By wrapping the records in acid free paper or acid free boxes. –
 By dusting the records carefully from time to time and remove ‘ cow
webs’ if any.
 By using air vacuum cleaners in large record rooms.
 By installing air -conditioning system.
III] Structural Factors: Paper, Ink, Leather etc. can be included among
the structural factors. Let us see what care is to be taken to prevent our
records whic h are inked on paper and leather is used for its binding.
 Paper: Permanence or longevity of archival materials depends upon
their physical and chemical composition. The presence of even a small
impurity is likely to bring down permanence of m aterial consi derably.
Composition of paper itself can be important structural defect. The
stability of paper depends upon the inherent impurities present in it. Paper
is made up of -

 Rag- Pulp: it is derived from vegetables and textile wastes.

 Parchment: An organic su bstance from skins of many animals.

 Wood Pulp : it is obtained from wood by mechanical process.

 Vegetable pulps : Leaves from a great assortment of plants, tree barks
etc.

 Chemical Pulps: Obtained through cooking with the help of chemical
agents thereb y eliminating an important part of the non - cellulose
components of the vegetable matter,
An important structural defect of paper is the composition of the fibres of
paper itself. Basic constituent of paper is cellulose, which is a stable
material. Increa sed acidity of paper weakens the cellulose of the paper.
The care is to be taken to protect paper from increasing acidity.
 Ink: For writing records, ink is used. The inks are varied in their
composition. A good ink does not decompose and fade with time. I t
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101 That means it should not damage the paper . It should not be acidic. If it is
acidic, it may be harmful to the paper.

 Leather: Leather used for bool binding is also a structural factor
which brings down the pe rmanence of p aper. Its stability depends upon the
method of tanning used. Here also acidity is of importance. A well -tanned
leather with slight alkalineity in its composition is quite stable.

 Oils: Another structural factor in the presence of traces of certain
oils is in its natural composition. It is a necessary factor. Once the oil is
removed, due to dryness and heat in the surroundings, the leather becomes
hard, inflexible and even brittle.
IV] Micro Organism and Pests: Micro -organism and pests are
formidable en emies of archival material. They bring about a complete
degradation of the material. In fact, they destroy records. These are
problem especially in tropical, humid climate which is a favourable
climate for them. They multiply quickly and cause irreparable damage
within a short time. Some of the micro -organisms and pests are:
Micro Organism: The micro -organisms are very dangerous to archival
material. These are broadly divided into two categories.
 Bacteria
 Fungi
Pests: The pests which infect a rchival mater ial are generally insects.
These are:
 Termites
 Silver Fish
 Wood Worms
 Black Beetles
 Cockroaches
 Book lice etc.
Preventive Measures : the best way to minimise the destruction caused
by the formidable enemies is adoption of preventive measures as follows:
 Fumigation is the safest and best preventive measure. Fumigation
helps in getting rid future groups of insects and pests. Fumigation
should be done to infected rooms also before placing the documents
back in place.

 Use of DDT Powder.

 Repell ents like Pyr ethrum, Sodium floride, Soda, starch mixture of
Naphthalene bricks should be kept on shelves.

 Necessary precautions should be taken while employing dangerous
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102 V) Other factors: There are many other factors causing damage to
archi val material. They are equally hazardous for existence of archival
material. These are fire, flood, earthquake and human beings themselves.
 Mishandling of records is responsible for its danger.

 Bombing in man - made wars, careless handling, tampering with records
with an intention to destroy them also cause destruction of records.

 Fire is hazardous to the records.

 Water leaking from ceiling is too responsible for damaging records.
Precautions:
 Utmost care is to be taken of the records. Obviously, we mu st prevent
records by avoiding fire chances, water leaking and man - made
dangerous activities etc.

 Records must be maintained in a good storage area. Having good
storage area is very much essential for preservation of records.

 Control of humidity and t emperature is the most important factor in the
storage.

 Ideal method for archiving is air -conditioning. However, in paucity of
financial resources, air -conditioning for at least valuable documents
should be installed.
11.3 REHABILITATION OF RECORDS
Bein g organic in nature, records face a number of from its decay in
various ways. Some records at the time of arrival at the archival
institutions, are found to be in a dilapidated condition and require major
repairs to put them in a proper condition before st oring it. Som etimes, the
records which are already stored in archives, need some attention.
Therefore, the repair work becomes an important task. There is need to
repair records which are damaged due to careless handling or due to
exposure to unfavourable conditions or damaged by insects and pests.
How the repairing work is done in the Archives?
Repairing work requires thorough knowledge of the nature of the
documents and various processes of repair. For this job, Repairers are
appointed. A repairer mus t have knowle dge of the materials and used for
creating records. He must be acquainted with various methods of repairing
documents and their respective merits and defects. He should be aware of
composition of various kinds of papers and inks and other mate rials.

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103 The following are some of the processes and treatments of repair.
Flattening:
Documents are generally kept in files. Sometimes, edges and corners of
paper in the files are damaged or folded. Prior to replacing them in a
storage area, they should be lightly s ponged. With cold water and pulled
out across the creases, never along them. Then the edges could be either
ironed on moderate heat or flattened by pressing it in two card boards for
few hours.
Minor Repairs:
Another method the minor repairs as follows:
 By pasting strips of good quality paper behind the torn portion.
 By selecting good adhesives that are affected by climatic
conditions(like gum, glue etc.)
 Damaged covers should be replace by new ones.
 Scattered holes and tunnels should be f illed by pape r pulp.
 Any creases in the paper should be avoided by ironing.

Major repairing of badly damaged paper:
Due to natural aging, structural decay or insect infection, documents
become fragile, soft or brittle that makes paper weak. It is diff icult to
hand le too. In such cases, the paper has to be given some reinforcement
which would facilitate its handling easier. Use of chiffon for
reinforcement is one of the methods used till date. Chiffon is white silk
gauze which is durable and not very ex pensive. The modern method of
reinforcement is the use of cellulose acetate and thin tissue paper.

Lamination:
Lamination is a process in which a document is embedded between sheets
of synthetic plastic film and or tissue. Lamination process involves ho t
sealing of a document with cellulose acetate foil.

Bleaching: - The removal of general discoloration becomes necessary to
give document a fresh appearance. This method is used very often to bring
documents to its original form.

Here, use of bleaching powder is mad e as bleaching agent. Damaged
paper is first soaked in solution of bleaching powder in water. Afterwards,
it is swashed in solution of water and hydrochloric acid.

Resizing:
It is the way to give back the paper its crispness and strength ba ck. After
the treatments of bleaching and de -acidification to any document the paper
loses its size and also becomes fragile. Then resizing is undertaken. For
resizing work, gelatin is used.

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104 Removal of stains:
Many times, our records, i.e. document mat erial do have stains such as
water stains, oil stains, and stains of paint, stains caused by fungi, moulds
etc. Different agents are used to remove these stains as follows:

Stain Removing Agent Type of stains
Pyridine Oil, fat and tar stains
Petrol Wax, and candle g rease stains
Hydrogen Peroxide Fly stains
Potassium Perborate Tea, coffee stains
Mixture of 2% Chloremine T, 5%
Oxalic Acid or 10% citric acid Iron gall stains
Sodium ForaldehydeSulphoxylate Ink Stains, Iron stains etc.
Water Water stai ns.
Sodium Chloride Stains caused by Fungi, moulds
etc.

Repair of Maps and Plans:
Maps and Plans are very important documents and these are consulted
frequently. Generally, the maps are prepared on heavy woven paper. They
should be repaired with li nen backed pa per. Fine meshed boulting cloth
also can be used for supporting the maps. It should be remembered that
damping the material before pasting is essential.
Leather Book Binding:
Leather is usedin archives such as for book binding. When leather decays,
it be comes hard and brittle. Decay in leather is traceable to the actin of
acids, particularly sulphuric acid. And it too is treated appropriately by
using caustic Soap for cleaning and by applying 7% of Potassium lactate
solution, rubbing leather dressing in i ts surface, and polishing etc.
Restoration of Faded ink:
Ink may be varied in nature. In course of time, these are faded. Good
quality inks remain forever. But some inks are faded. Various methods are
used to restore ink. These are:
 Writing which is fade d should be exposed to the vapour of ammonium
sulphide

 It may be treated with 2 -3 % solution of tannin acid or a saturated
solution of Gallic acid. This makes the iron oxide darker and the
writing becomes legible.

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105 Seal Repairs:
Seals are mo st valuable h istorical evidences and should be preserved.
They must be repaired as follows:
 The Shellac seals may be repaired with saturated solution of shellac and
alchohol (i.e. sealing wax of different colours),

 Broken seal should be repaired by mixin g 2 parts of pure bees wax to 1
part of resin powder. The mixture should be applied to the fractured
surface with a blade.

 Missing portions of a seal should be repaired with wax.
Thus a planned programme for the preservation of archival material is
very important fo r conservation and preservation of archival records.
11.4 QUESTIONS
1. Discuss various factors that are responsible for decay of archival
material depending upon their nature and what are the precautions
taken to preserve an d conserve the archival collection s?

2. Write short notes on:
a) Arrangement of records in archives.
b) Microorganisms and pests
c) Atmospheric factors responsible for the decay of records.
d) Repair of Maps and Plans
e) Methods of restoring dilapidated records
11.5 REFE RENCES
 Ghosh Sailendra, Archives o f India, History and Assets , Firma K.L.
Mukhopadhyaya, 1963.

 Hari Narayan, N. The Science of Archives keeping, The State
Archives, Hyderabad.

 Jenkinson Hilary, A Manual of Archives Administration, Oxford at
Clarendon Pr ess, (1922

 Basu, Punendu, Archive s and Records:What are they? The National
Archives of India, New Delhi, (1990)

 Ghosh Sailendra, Archives of India, History and Assets , Firma K.L.
Mukhopadhyaya, 1963.

 Jonson Charles, Thecare of documents and management of Archives,
Society for promoting Christian knowledge, London, (1919)
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106 12
DIGITAL ARCHIVES
Unit Structure :
12.0 Objectives
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Meaning, Necessity of Digital Archivities, Objectives of Digital
Archivesm What is Born Digital Records and Digitiged Records
12.3 Advantages and disadvantages of digital archives
12.4 Appraisal Methodologies, Digital Archival Services
12.5 Summary
12.6 Questions
12.7 References
12.0 OBJECTIVES
 To trace the development of digital Archives,
 To understand the objectives of digital archives,
 To study the advantages and disadvantages of digital archives
 To know about various issued related with digital archives,
 To understand digital archival services and its purpose.
12.1 INTRODUCTION
In the earlier unit we have seen conservation of records, the necessity of
conversation of records t he different factors that spail the records. But all
there are traditional ways of conservation. From late 20th to 21st century
newly created data is digital. That is born digital how to deal with this
digital data is discussed here.
Records have continuin g value, which can span a few weeks to a few
centuries. They can have the greatest of global significance, for example a
peace treaty, or be of a most personal nature, such as a love letter. All
records, including digital records, ‘record’ the thoughts, di scussions,
decisions and actions of the business or the organisation, whether that
organisation is a family or the great organisations like UNO.
In the 21st century the overwhelming majority of newly created
information is digital. The digital collections of collecting institutions such
as archives, libraries and museums consist of either digitised or ‘born
digital’ content (see the definitions in Attachment 3, ‘The business of munotes.in

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107 archives’). The belief that digital objects can be managed with the same
methodo logies developed over the years for physical objects is
misconstrued. While digital objects are easier to copy, transfer and re -
package, they present new risks and challenges, and are not inherently
easier to preserve, or give access to, over the long term .
In the present era of Information Technology(IT) digital media seems to
have overshadowed the print and analog media. The accumulated
knowledge of mankind in the form of books in the library and instructional
audio and video broadcasting, are unfortunate ly loosing their appeal
among the masses. Books becoming costlier and less affordable for many.
The present situation demands revolutionary changes in traditional
methods of Maintaining libraries and archives. The Conventional print and
non- print material including analog based material in archives can be
transformed in form of e -books, digital texts, graphics, audio, animation,
digital video etc. Digitizing is a process of converting any hard copy or
non- digital records into digital format.
A digital a rchive is a place of storage for the safekeeping of digital
information such as files documents, books etc. Digital archives are
frequently web based, but local data carriers can also be used as electronic
archive. It was due to the emergence of computer t echnology to manage
and administer the knowledge base, (which may be conveniently called as
digital resources) and the communication and multimedia technologies to
deliver information at a distance.
12.2 MEANING, NECESSITY OF DIGITAL
ARCHIVITIES, OBJECTI VES OF DIGITAL
ARCHIVESM WHAT IS BORN DIGITAL RECORDS
AND DIGITIGED RECORDS
There is difference betw een ‘born -digital’ records and ‘Digitized records’.,
Born digital Records: These are digital records that are created and used
in an ICT environment. Rela ting to a document/record or object that was
created and exists in a digital form.
Digitized records , i.e. digital records created by digitisation of selected
materials. Digitisation of Records means converting objects or records to
electronic format usua lly through digital imaging or electronic record
keeping.
Digital archiving
Digital archiving covers the identification, appraisal, description and
tagging, storage, preservation, management and retrieval of digital
records, including all of the policies, guidelines and systems associated
with those processes, so that the logical and physical integrity of the
records is securely maintained over time.
Digital archiving covers the spectrum of laws, policies, procedures and
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108 object or record. Digital archiving subsumes within it the critical function
of digital preservation.
Objectives of Digital Archives:
 Ensuring the long -term viability of digital collections is what the
Archives Dom ain means by the term ‘digital archiving’. It aims at
maintaining records in digital form forever.
 The main objective of digital archives is to store digital data that is
no longer required immediately, but is still considered important.
This may be the case for legal reasons, for instance, Documents
regarding laws, significant court cases and verdicts are necessary to
be maintained forever. They may be maintained digitally and
stored in digital archives.
 Analyze and design computerised design system to m anage
different forms of learning resources and also web based resources
available on internet.
 Acquire, transform and preserve the existing learning and general
resources in form of Print material into digital artefacts/ archives.
12.3 ADVANTAGES AND DI SADVANTAGES OF
DIGITAL ARCHIVES
Advantages of Digital Archives:
 The most significant advantage of digitized records is that the data
stored in the archive remains accessible and is available without
any time limits.
 Digital resources can easily be access ed on the internet from
anywhere, at any time and according to individual choice. Faster
access to all forms of information (digitized records) such as text,
graphic, audio, animation and video onsite and off -site resources
on computer.
 Simultaneous acces s to the same resources and facilitating storing
and printing the resources at users end is the great advantage of
digital archives.
 Resources in digital format can be managed and administered
easily as compared to traditional management system.
 Another advantage of digital archives is the preservation of
intellectual property.
Disadvantages and various Issues of Digital Archives:
 While digital objects are easier to copy, transfer and re -package, they
present new risks and challenges, and are not inheren tly easier to
preserve, or give access to, over the long term.
 Appraisal of records is utmost necessary even in case of digital
archives that are preserved in e -archives. Transformation of records
into e copies and putting it into open data leads to open d ata munotes.in

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109 movement. Archivists are not engaged in appraisal of digital data and
therefore, it is a great disadvantage in appraisal of digital records.
 Digital objects are difficult to preserve and manage over the long
term. Users expect access to collection co ntent to be delivered online
and are inclined to ignore collections that are not available online in
digital form. The hard copies of the record may be ignored by the
users.
 Challenges and issues regarding the long -term viability of and access
to digital collections are common to all collecting domains.
Issues: Financial, Legal and Technical:
 Digitization of records is very costly and time consuming. Getting
expert staff for this work and required resources is an issue.
 There are many legal issued while d igitizing records. These are
ownership rights and Copyrights. The Archives, where records are
maintained physically, may not be understood as having rights to
reproduce it. Earlier, it was understood that when the records were
handed over to the institutio n, it automatically had the right to
reproduce it.
 Digitization of records has added pressures on legislation to protect
records.
 Authentication of objects/ records is yet another major issue.
Generally, archival institutions store a vast collection of va riety of
materials. These could adopt the use of metadata principles to adhere
to the most current standards to maintain digital files intact and
reliable. It becomes helpful to the users in authentic searching and
preserving and maintaining records.
 Archival Institutions can protect their Digitized records by - Listing
full copyright information with the images on their websites, giving
controlled access with secure passwords. Providing unlimited access
to records if they are having true ownership etc.
 There are various technical issues:
 Computer Software and hardware keeps changing frequently. The
Institutions and users must be updated with new technologies.
 Establishing appropriate workflow, planning and training the staff for
digitization process is another technical issue. Any project on
digitizing material is a team work where librarians. Archivists,
administrators, curators, computer system analysts, computer
programmers, end users, photographers, scanning technicians,
scholars, cataloguers etc. t hese team members should get along with
each other and work together. With proper workflow only the
digitization project will be successful and completed in time.
 Another technical issue is that with rapidly changing storage devices,
longevity of digital information is facing problem. Digital records
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110 it stored and away from physical decay. If it is not refreshed in new
storage media, it may be inaccessible and lost in course of time.
 Utmost care has to be taken to preserve records by setting guidelines
and best practices for record keepers and users/ professionals.
 Sometimes. The digital information gets lost due to various technical
reasons. This is a great loss of the digitised recor ds. So the care has to
be taken.
Appraisal
Appraisal of digital records is a process of evaluating business activities to
determine which records need to be captured and how long the records
need to be kept to meet business needs, the requirements of organisational
accountability, and community expectations.
To cope with large volumes of digital objects, excellent metadata
frameworks and management systems need to be in place, to enable the
retrieval of digital records/objects from amongst large d igital collections
within acceptable time frames.
Archival institutions in particular, need to have intellectual and physical
systems designed, and in place, well before they can effectively take into
custody large -scale digital object/record transfers. I t is better for
organisations to be prepared in advance, rather than try to re -engineer
themselves having already created or assumed custody of large digital
collections.
12.4 APPRAISAL METHODOLOGIES, DIGITAL
ARCHIVAL SERVICES
Not all digital object s need to be kept for long periods of time, let alone
permanently. The ability to guide decisions on what to keep and what not
to keep, through the appraisal process, has been a core function of the
Archives Domain and it has methodologies and guidelines i n place on how
to embark on an appraisal process.
Digital Archival Services
The Archives Domain offers the following services in relation to digital
collections. It:
• ensures that digital records of lasting value are preserved so that they
are access ible, retain their integrity and survive technological and
organisational change over time (both mid -term and long -term)
• ensures that important digital records are identified through collection
development policy criteria and/or an appraisal process, and managed
appropriately
• provides access to and understanding of the archival resources to users
from distant places
• advises on how digital records, from creation onwards, should be
captured, managed and appropriately described so that they are
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111 In doing so, the wider society benefits by being assured that digital
records:
• are preserved and protected
• are accessible over the long term
• hold governments and organizations accountable
• meet legal obligations relating to the records.
Creation of digital collections and Precautions:
Creation: Digital collections of archival interes t can be produced by
government agencies, non -government organisations, religious
organizations, educational institutions, cultural institutions and
individuals .
Digital objects of archival interest can be text, sound, images or a
combination, and can come from a range of sources, including websites,
records management systems, email, virtual reality models, educational
packages, scientific datasets.
Precaution s: Many producers (organizations, Institutions etc.) of records
undertake digital conversion (of records) projects.The Producers must take
precautions while selecting collections of records for digitization. These
are:
 Selection of records should be based on the value of original records
and with a specific goal while selecting the collections for
digitization. Less demanded records should be avoided for
digitization.

 Precaution should be taken by the institutions to have a legal right/
permission to dig itize records.

 Prior to undertaking any such project, the staff involved in it must
study similar such cases.

 Cost of digitization and its benefit for the institutions and users must
be taken into consideration. After digitization of records, it must be
made available for the users.

The experts in the field must be the key decision makers while
selecting records for digitization.

Finally, digitization cannot be a substitute to original collections. It
cannot replace the original records. These are me re digitized copies
for the users at distant places.

The original archival institutions must take care about its original
collections. The records must be digitized, when it wants to destroy
the damaged collections.
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112 Digitized records , i.e. digital rec ords created by digitization of
selected materials. Digitization of Records means converting objects
or records to electronic format usually through digital imaging or
electronic recordkeeping.

12.5 SUMMARY

Thus, in this unit we have traced the developm ent of digital archi ves. In
the 21st century the overwhelming majority of newly created information
is digital. The digital collections of collecting institutions such as archives,
libraries and museums consist of either digitised or ‘born digital’ .We have
understood the issues and challenges of digital archives. W e have also
studied its advantages and disadvantages and precautions to be taken prior
to digitization of archives.
12.6 QUESTION
1. Trace the development of ‘Digital Archives’
2. Critically examine t he issues and challenges of ‘Digital Archives’
3. Write short notes on:
a) Advantages and disadvantages of digital archives
b) Precautions taken prior to digitization of archives.
c) Difference between ‘born digital’ and ‘digitized archives’
12.7 REFERENCES
 Berman D avid and Trant Jennifer, Authenticity of Digital Resources:
Towards a statement of Requirements in the Research process, D -Lib
Magazine. (1968),

 Mulla, K.R., Shivakumar A.S., Chikkamallaiah and Chandrashekhsra:
Digital Archives: Design and Development; Conference Paper, 7th
MANLIBNET Annual National Convention Held at Indian Institute of
Management, Kozhikode (on May 5 -7, 2005 ).

 Digital Archiving in the 21st Century : Archives domain discussion
Paper:Researched and written by National Archives of Australi a.

 National Archives and Records Administration Strategy for Digitizing
Archival Materials for Public Access. (2008)

 Millar, L. A . Archives: Proncipals and practices, Facet Publishing,
London , (2010).
 https: //psmag.com/ environment/ saving -our-archives -from-climate -
change.
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