Archives and historical accountability: Toward a moral theology of archives

Archivaria

Volumn 58, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 3-19

  O'Toole, James ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 34250205075     PISSN: 03186954     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (45)

1. Frank G. Burke, "The Future Course of Archival Theory in the United States," American Archivist 44, no. 1 (Winter 1981), pp. 40-46.
2. Hugh Taylor, "The Archivist, the Letter, and the Spirit," Archivaria 43 (Spring 1997), p. 10.
3. Terry Cook, "Hugh Taylor: Imagining Archives," in Terry Cook and Gordon Dodds, eds., Imagining Archives: Essays and Reflections by Hugh Taylor (Lanham, MD, 2003), pp. 16-27.
4. Jaroslav Pelikan, "Some Definitions," The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600) (Chicago, 1971), pp. 1-10.
5. John Macquarrie, Principles of Christian Theology (New York, 1966), p. 1, Macquarrie outline of these subdivisions of the discipline is in Ibid., pp. 35-36.
6. Wayne A. Meeks, The Origins of Christian Morality: The First Two Centuries (New Haven, 1993), p. 1;
7. Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (Notre Dame, IN, 1981)
8. James Q. Wilson, The Moral Sense (New York, 1993).The archival codes are most readily available at www.archivists.ca/about/ethics.aspex and www.archivists.org/governance/handbook.app_ethics.asp.
9. David E. Horn, "The Development of Ethics in Archival Practice," American Archivist 52, no. 1 (Winter 1989), pp. 64-71. The historical code is at www.historians.org/pubs/Free/ProfessionalStandards.htm.
10. H.W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (New York, 1944), p. 152.
11. Suggests precisely the opposite distinction I am drawing here, with ethics representing the larger "science of morals" and morality denoting the "practice of ethics." One always hesitates to disagree with Fowler, but I believe that subsequent usage, particularly in professional practice, has reversed these meanings.
12. Heribert Jone, Moral Theology, trans. by Urban Adelman (Westminster, MD, 1956; orig. pub. 1929).
13. Dominic Prummer, Handbook of Moral Theology, trans. by Gerald W. Shelton (New York, 1957; orig. pub. 1949).
14. Albert R. Jonsen and Stephen Toulmin, The Abuse of Casuistry: A History of Moral Reasoning (Berkeley, 1988).
15. Richard J. Cox and David A. Wallace, eds., Archives and the Public Good: Accountability and Records in Modern Society (Westport, CT, 2002);
16. Karen Benedict, Ethics and the Archival Profession: Introduction and Case Studies (Chicago, 2003).
17. Verne Harris, "The Archival Sliver: Power, Memory, and Archives in South Africa," Archival Science 2, nos. 1-2 (2002), pp. 63-86.
18. Cox R.J.Wallace D.A., "Introduction," Archives and the Public Good, p. 4.
19. Terry Cook, "'A Monumental Blunder': The Destruction of Records on Nazi War Criminals in Canada," in Cox and Wallace, Archives and the Public Good, pp. 37-65.
20. Alan A. Ryan, Quiet Neighbors: Prosecuting Nazi War Criminals in America (San Diego, 1984),
21. David Matas and Susan Charendoff, Justice Delayed: Nazi War Criminals in Canada (Toronto, 1987),
22. James McKenzie, War Criminals in Canada (Calgary, 1995).
23. Dawne Adam, "The Tuol Sleng Archives and the Cambodian Genocide," Archivaria 45 (Spring 1998), pp. 5-26.
24. Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market (Cambridge, MA., 1999).
25. Tywanna Whorley, "The Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the Politics of Memory," in Cox and Wallace, Archives and the Public Good, pp. 165-175.
26. Robin L. Chandler and Susan Storch, "Lighting Up the Internet: The Brown and Williamson Collection," Ibid., pp. 135-162.
27. Kevin Cullen, "Ruined Files Spark Allegation: Priest Says Bishop Called Springfield Diocese 'Fortunate'," Boston Globe (17 September 2003);
28. Kevin Cullen, "Diocese's Report on Sex Abuse Questioned," Boston Globe (21 February 2004).
29. Rick Lyman, "Presidential Campaign was Cited during Talks to Seal Dean's Papers as Governor," New York Times (27 December 2003).
30. Joshua Green, "Playing Dirty," Atlantic Monthly (June 2004), pp. 73-80.
31. Association of Canadian Archivists, Code of Ethics (Ottawa, rev. 1999), section A1.
32. Society of American Archivists, Code of Ethics (Chicago, 1980), sections III and VI.
33. James M. O'Toole, "Introduction,", Guide to the Archives of the Archdiocese of Boston (New York, 1982), xi-xviii.
34. Peter J. Wosh, "Bibles, Benevolence, and Bureaucracy: The Changing Nature of Nineteenth Century Religious Records," American Archivist 52, no. 2 (Spring 1989), pp. 166-178.
35. Timothy Garton Ash, The File: A Personal History (New York, 1997), pp. 7-10.
36. Elena S. Danielson, "Privacy Rights and the Rights of Political Victims: Implications of the German Experience," American Archivist 67, no. 2 (Fall/Winter 2004), pp. 176-193.
37. Charles R. Gallagher, "'Personal, Private Views': A Newly Discovered Report from 1938 Reveals Cardinal Pacelli's Anti-Nazi Stance," American Archiucist (1 September 2003), pp. 8-10.
38. Peter Godman, Hitler and the Vatican: Inside the Secret Archives that Reveal the New Story of the Nazis and the Church (New York, 2004).
39. Actes et, documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre mondiale, ed. by P. Blet et al. (Vatican City, 1965-1981). On the difficulties of the commission, see "Joint-Religion Panel to Study World War II Archives,"
40. New York Times (4 December 1999); "Jewish and Catholic Scholars Seek Pius XII's Files," Ibid. (27 October 2001);
41. "Panel of Historians Halts Study of Church Role in Holocaust," Washington Post (24 July 2001).
42. Association of Canadian Archivists, Code of Ethics, section C1; Society of American Archivists, Code of Ethics, section VIII. From their own perspective, historians obviously concur with this general approach. The code of the American Historical Association (Standards of Professional Conduct, section 1, "Scholarship") says that they should "advocate free, open, equal, and nondiscriminatory access."
43. The best treatment of the complicated dynamics of opening church records remains Owen Chadwick, Catholicism and History: The Opening of the Vatican Archives (Cambridge, 1978); the Galileo case is considered in chapters 2 and 3.
44. James M. O'Toole, "The Archival Curriculum: Where Are We Now?," Archival Issues 22 (1997), pp. 103-116.
45. A more recent analysis of the content of archival education programs is presented in Elizabeth Yakel and Jeannette Bastian, "Archival Education and Archival Knowledge," unpublished paper, International Council on Archives conference, Vienna, Austria, August 2004.