Arranging and describing archives and manuscripts

Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts, by Dennis Meissner, is the second volume in the Society of American Archivists’s (SAA) Archival Fundamentals Series III edited by Peter J. Wosh. Meissner is the retired deputy director of Programs at the Minnesota Historical Society, a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists (as well as its former president), and, along with coauthor Mark Greene, the creator of the “More Product, Less Process” (MPLP) innovation in archival processing methods. The intention of the Archival Fundamentals Series is self-explanatory—the series seeks to provide practical, baseline introductions to key concepts and functions of the archival profession. In addition to instructing readers in key concepts, Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts purports to provide practical methods (i.e., workflows and tools) for arrangement and description that can be applied equally to physical and digital formats. This volume in particular is written for new archives professionals to use as a blueprint for the most fundamental activities of the profession—arrangement and description of archival materials. Because this set of activities is also the one most likely to be performed by professionals who have not received classical archives training through an educational program, this volume’s utility as a ready reference tool is incredibly important. Based on the broad audience alone, this volume within the Archival Fundamentals Series must have the greatest clarity and accessibility to nonarchives professionals. Structurally, Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts is broken down into a brief introduction to theory and practice that provides critical context to the reader (“The Context and Significance of Arrangement and Description”), then principles of both arrangement and description (“Principles of Arrangement” and “Principles of Description”), and two chapters on mechanics of arrangement and description (“Physical Processing and Arrangement” and “Describing Materials”). Two final chapters are given over to nontextual formats, “Arranging and Describing Nontextual Formats” and “Emerging Trends and Theoretical Shifts” in arrangement and description, respectively. In addition to these basics, the book offers seven appendixes that include a glossary and examples of best practices in finding aid authoring, EAD encoding, a crosswalk reviews