|
Impressions of a Swiss Archivist in Edmonton
My name is Stefan Gemperli. I work as an academic archivist at the "Staatsarchiv" (also called Cantonal Archives) of the Canton of St. Gall(1) in eastern Switzerland. Beginning in October 2001 I will become archivist of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
Canadian archival science enjoys an excellent reputation in my country. Therefore I was extremely grateful that the Provincial Archives of Alberta (PAA) gave me the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the Canadian archival world for one month. At this point I want to thank Liana Haynes and Wayne Murdoch of the PAA for their assistance and expertise. During my stay I also had the opportunity to visit the City of Edmonton Archives and the University of Alberta Archives, including meetings with the directors of both institutions.
Some preliminary remarks: Like Canada, Switzerland is a very federal country. The more than 20 cantons, comparable to Canadian provinces, function as little states. Consequently a Swiss "Staatsarchiv" has to fulfill about the same functions as a one of the Canadian Provincial Archives. The "Staatsarchiv" of the Canton of St. Gall, situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, is therefore, above all, responsible for the safeguarding and the keeping of the records of the cantonal administration; the cantonal government; the cantonal parliament; and the cantonal courts of justice. In addition to that, the "Staatsarchiv" stores a considerable amount of private records. It comes to about 6 kilometers of records in the archives and about 200 pallets of material that would be considered semi-active.
When I describe below my impressions of my visit, I do it from my personal point of view, against the background of my work in the "Staatsarchiv" of St. Gall. Other archives in Switzerland may work in different ways and also have some different structures. I also don't claim to be comprehensive.
Of course from the beginning I was mostly impressed by the vastness here, including in the archives - but that is understandable given the size of this huge country.(2) There are just a few archives in Switzerland which can compare with the quantity of records in the PAA. But on the other hand, the Canadian archival structures or landscape aren't so different from ours: National Archives (CH: Bundesarchiv), Provincial Archives (CH: Staatsarchive), City Archives (CH: Stadtarchive), University Archives (CH: Universitaetsarchive) [...]. All of them are charged with their specific responsibilities, which are about the same in both countries. For example, the records kept in the PAA and in the "Staatsarchiv" are generally of the same two kinds: public records and private records. However, I think the PAA's policy of acquisition of private records is more active than ours. We normally wait until a private person or institution knocks at our door wishing to deposit their records in the archives. So the private records really play a secondary role where I work. I find it remarkable that, in Canada, donors can get tax credits when they bring their private documents to public archives. I also find it interesting that a lot of church records are held at the Provincial Archives. In St. Gall the two important denominations, the Roman Catholic Church and the Reformed Church, run their own archives, in spite of their status under public law.
The records of the PAA (and of the other two institutions I visited) are nearly all dated from the last hundred years. Swiss archives usually possess a remarkable amount of documents from the Middle Ages onward, because most Cantons or towns have a very long history and Switzerland wasn't touched by wars since the Napoleon area. Certainly, this is a great heritage but it could also become a danger, if the archivist's orientation goes just backwards and they forget modern records management.
Another obvious difference is in the kind of storage containers. In St. Gall we transfer the records (after receiving them in big boxes) into small (size DIN A4) acid-free boxes. In the PAA they stay in the relatively big boxes that they have already been managed in by the Records Center. This saves manpower and money and seems appropriate for the large volumes of records generated by modern day administrations.
One of my main motivations to join a Canadian archival institution was to learn about records management. In fact, in Alberta this area is developed to an impressive level. Different bodies (like the Records and Information Services Branch, the Alberta Records Management Committee or the Senior Records Officers) and instruments (like the records schedules) guarantee a high quality of provincial records and information management. So I am a little envious, for in our Cantonal Administration we are still far away from such a standard. But we also want to go ahead. For example, our archives have started to do training programs for the staff; nevertheless it is not easy to influence the important people on the strategic level of state hierarchy. Even all works to be done with the semi-active records falls on the "Staatsarchiv", costing us great resources in terms of personnel and time. In Alberta, in contrast, a professional Records Center fulfills this job. However, it seems to me that the PAA's sphere of direct influence on the province's records management policy is limited. I am sure that the ideas I got in this sector will influence my own work in St. Gall and later in Zurich.
Back to the Archives themselves: One of the contributions of Canadian archivists I admire most is certainly the development and use of the Rules of Archival Description (RAD). In my institution we are just slowly beginning to adopt ISAD(G). So I was glad to have an introduction to Canada's much lengthier experiences with records description. I find the principle of the "respect de fonds" and the use of clear hierarchies in the description (from "fonds" to "file") is exemplary. In my opinion our archives should also set greater emphasis in the description of "series". Until now we have probably concentrated too much on the file level. This file level work should be done by the administration itself. But some of the very detailed descriptions on the fonds level (e.g. history of the authorities), which are cultivated in Alberta, I don't want to adopt. They would need too many resources in my opinion.
Let us have a quick look at the use of the PAA's records by the public: I find it extraordinary, that the clients have the possibility to consult copies of the original photos in the reference room. So the archives openly makes available an item that people normally are most interested in - and this without touching the originals. I also like the fact that the PAA sells some services and products (e.g. T-shirts) for recovering costs and generating revenue. The whole Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) sector in the Alberta Government was another point I looked at with interest. I realized the extent to which the public, and the archives' work, is touched by FOIP. I wonder if our policy will go in the same direction. Until now, the conditions on access in the "Staatsarchiv" are pretty easy: free access after 30 years (personal files: also minimum ten years after the person's death).
During my stay I of course recognized a lot of day-to-day similarities between our two institutions. I will just mention some of them: genealogists are the biggest group of private users; the increasing number of e-mail requests; questions around fair fees; the fact that most finding aids are still in paper form; the problems to find and to introduce an adequate archival software; the lack of personnel in the archives on the one side, and the increasing mass production of records by our administrations on the other side....
I will take a lot of enriching impressions - and papers - back home. No question, my experience here was worth the visit.
1 German: St.Gallen [Sankt Gallen]
2 The Canton of St. Gall has about 450'000 inhabitants over a territory of
about 2000 square kilometers; Switzerland about 7 Million over a territory of
about 41,000 square kilometers.
Stefan Gemperli
Edmonton, June 28, 2001
Submitted by: Liana Haynes
Government Records Archivist
Provincial Archives of Alberta
top of page
| 
