Archives destroyed in the twentieth century
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- 4.2 Findings
- 5 IMPLEMENTED PREVENTIVE MEASURES 5.1 Introduction
- 5.2 Findings
4.1 Introduction Some cases of destruction of, and damage to, archive collections are well known and well documented.8 Other cases, most cases in fact, have not been documented and are known to insiders only. In several cases, reporters had to rely on third party information or on assumptions. It is impossible to list the causes of destruction and damage in a world-wide frequency and priority order, each region having its specific range of problems: war, fire, water, wind, mould, rodents, neglect, use, etc. However, man causes more destruction and damage than nature. Cover letters and inserted case-reports demonstrate the difficulty of sheltering archives from the hazards of nature, not to mention the even greater difficulty of sheltering archives from human related causes. Of importance for the future life span of records is the quality of record keeping during their administrative, active and semi-active phase. Many records have been and are still badly stored, mishandled and neglected by office staff and administrators. 4.2 Findings Environmental conditions, as shown in table 1986/1, are of prime importance for the proper preservation of archives. In most cases archive institutions do not have, or will not have, much of a choice when selecting a proper site for a new repository. In countries in the Pacific most habitable areas are near the ocean; in countries in arid zones drought is a fact of life.
In 1986, a large number of respondents reported problems related to humidity, variations in temperature and relative humidity. Assuming that the geographical spread of archives will remain the same for a very long time, one may accept those data as having long-term validity. Not surprisingly, all RAMP-studies on preservation and conservation of materials of any kind, or on training of conservators, present similar facts as those stated in the preceding table. Those studies provide a full spectrum of problems and possible technical solutions.9 One section in one of the RAMP-studies is of particular interest. It is on the impact of extreme low and high or alternating humidity and temperature; although it refers to cellulose materials like paper, it is mutatis mutandis relevant for any other material used for records of any kind. It illustrates in words the data presented in table 1986/2: Among (...) [the] natural causes [of deterioration] the alterations caused by the binomial temperature-humidity are of great importance. Water is an essential element for the good conservation of cellulose materials, since the fibres are bound together by means of semi-chemical bonds in which water helps to form the hydrogen bridges which hold cellulose molecules together. Lack of humidity will lead to the partial breakdown of these interfibre bonds, thus making the document fragile. Furthermore, dryness also makes these adhesives crack. Excess humidity causes decomposition by hydrolysis and provokes acid formation weakening the size and softening the adhesives. Abrupt changes in temperature and humidity produce dilatation, exfoliation and cracking in archive materials; micro-organisms proliferate when temperature and humidity levels are very high.10
All over the world insects (particularly termites and rodents) on the one hand, and high frequency of use on the other, complete the palette of causes of destruction and damage to archive collections. The findings of the 1994 questionnaire, see table 1995/2, present, again not surprisingly, a similar view of the causes of destruction and damage. It is interesting to note the influence of `leading questions' on the outcome of questionnaires. However, hundreds of forms presented `free answers' and thereby `respondent-selected' causes. The total of analyzed forms has been set at 1291. Many answers have been simplified. Otherwise the total could easily have been 10 to 20 times higher. For instance, how does one deal with the information from China presenting data on about 3,000 repositories, fires (both accidental and criminal), flooding (both from outside and from inside), earthquakes, armed conflicts (1911-1950), civil disorder (1966-1970), resulting in the destruction of about 1,369,500 shelf metres of records, another 150,000 shelf metres having been seriously damaged? How does one qualify the destruction that occurred during the First World War, the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War and the wars and armed conflicts of Vietnam, Afghanistan, Liberia, Rwanda, former Yugoslavia?
Since the figures presented no significant difference between causes of destruction and of damage, the results of questions B3 and C3 have been totalled. Not surprisingly records form the overwhelming majority of materials destroyed or damaged. A superfluous conclusion is the necessity of excluding any foreseeable and excludable hazard when planning an archive building or running an archive service. Special attention should be given to the least defeatable cause of destruction and deterioration: neglect and lack of commitment. The scores for armed conflict are extremely high, not only in Europe but also in Asia. A world without war gives better insight in the ranking of `ordinary' threats to collections. For the purposes of illustration, an imaginary calculation is presented below in table 1995/3.
Omitting war, the ranking of significant dangers for archives are: fire, accidental and criminal; water, from outside and inside; earthquakes; civil disorder; inherent instability; bacteria, insects and rodents; mould and humidity; bad storage; neglect; lack of restoration capacity and bad restoration; destruction by administrative order or merely unauthorized destruction. The high percentage of `administrative order' in column Asia is related to `armed conflict'. At the end of the Second World War, a great number of record groups were destroyed all over Japan.
(iii) staff and user training programmes to promote and encourage correct handling and transport of materials; (iv) security measures and contingency plans for disaster control and recovery; (v) protective measures such as boxing, binding and wrapping, to reduce wear and tear on materials; (vi) a substitution programme for replacing valuable or very brittle originals with surrogates such as microforms; (vii) conservation treatments to repair damaged originals; (viii) disposal programmes for materials of no further use; (ix) procedures for reproducing originals; (x) procedures for the exhibition of materials within the institution or whilst on loan to another organisation. The physical environment in which materials are stored will have a significant effect on their life span. Environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, light and atmospheric pollution can affect documents of any kind. Preventive measures should aim to achieve the best possible conditions for storing and using items. The process of decay can be slowed down considerably by creating favourable storage conditions taking into account the general level of air pollution, the possibility of creating a controlled climatic environment and the cleanliness of the storage accommodation.12 `Greening' of archive buildings13 - i.e. use of low energy and low technology engineering; use of low toxicity, environmentally friendly construction materials; use of recycled materials; low running costs - should get top-priority on the professional research list. 5.2 Findings One may expect repositories built especially to keep archives to be more appropriate for meeting optimal storage conditions than adapted buildings. Some of these adapted buildings may provide perfect climatic conditions. However, it will be an assiduous task to meet other requirements such as protection from fire, theft, leakage, etc. All buildings need proper maintenance and properly trained staff to service equipment regularly.14 As shown below in table 1986/3, too many archive repositories have served other masters before. Archive repositories may have been built for the purpose of their current use but, in several cases, archivists have not been consulted during the process of selecting site, designing the building or selecting its equipment. In other cases archivists have been overruled by administrators or architects, happily constructing memorials instead of repositories. Most findings need further debate. For instance, regular maintenance is not always identical to proper maintenance. A building may be equipped with general air-conditioning or individual air-conditioning per room, with humidifiers or de-humidifiers. But do they meet the exigencies of a proper climate in all rooms, 24 hours per day, 365 days a year? Will the budget suffice to meet the costs of the electricity needed?
Monitoring of climatic conditions needs equipment, staff, training and discipline. Use of the results of those checks should be implemented as part of the preservation policy. It is uncertain what causes the low score on the question of using the results of checks of temperature, relative humidity and air quality.
The findings as presented in table 1986/5 predict a massive loss of records in future due to insufficient technical facilities. The same question `over the past 5/10 years, preservation conditions in your building have remained unchanged, improved, deteriorated' raised in 1995 most likely will result in a change for the worse, from `unchanged' to `deteriorated', possibly even from `improved' to `unchanged'.
Some 50% of archive repositories do not have a conservation workshop or microfilming workshop. Surprisingly, as shown in table 1986.6, the scores for conducting systematic policies with a view to improving preservation conditions are much higher.
The total of answers on the 1994 questionnaire studied for this chapter was 624 (see table 1995/5). Many forms show a relationship between the cause of damage and destruction and resulting action. Fires result in better fire alarms, fire fighting systems and the use of fire-resistant building materials. Earthquakes lead to the introduction of possibly earthquake-resistant designs and building materials. Mould leads to intensified fumigation programmes, climate control and systematic monitoring of repositories and holdings. Regrettably a too well known phenomenon, `disaster', does not find its counterpart in a high score of `disaster preparedness'.15 The frequency of damage through water or fire requires solid disaster prevention planning, coping strategies and recovery plans. However, these plans should be realistic. In several countries it does not make much sense to rely on instructions about having access to stocks of hundreds of plastic boxes, thousands of plastic bags, refrigerated trucks and stores, in order to start a freeze-drying process in the event of water damage. Realistic disaster preparedness schemes should provide several options for recovery, e.g. varying from labour intensive air-drying to labour extensive vacuum freeze-drying.
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