No Innocent Deposits

Richard J. Cox is a Professor of School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh.

...this volume contains rich examples of the various kinds of archival practices, dubious decisions, inadequate methods, and limited professional assumptions about the function of records in society. It is also replete with wide-ranging ideas taken from the literature on museums, libraries, and other memory institutions. Thus, this work references a vast array of fascinating studies and perspectives on 'collecting' from both within the archival profession and from institutions in other parts of the heritage sector....Cox makes some telling points about the importance, indeed, the urgency of appraisal. Cox is virtually unmatched in the sheer mass of information he collects and proffers to archivists through his published studies. He brings to his writing aseemingly inexhaustible storehouse of knowledge of instructive cases, histories, news, and stories about record keeping practice and the strategies and conventions of such preservation bodies as libraries, museums, and other memory institutions. A readerneed only glance at the footnotes and bibliographies in his numerous publications to appreciate wide reading. (When does he take time to sleep?) Indeed, Cox is a relentless documenter and an unabashed empiricist....No one has done more to educate America