Abstract
Statement of Problem
In many memory institutions today archivists face the problem of "hidden" historical research collections. Backlogs of unprocessed manuscript collections sit unused, while valuable cultural capital goes wasted. The Basil John Vlavianos Papers exemplify the general problem of hidden collections, and illustrate the complexity of solving it. Taking a voluminous manuscript collection as a case study, the Thesis Project examines the problem of hidden collections, the practice of archival representation, and proposes a view of the archives as a field of cultural production. The Public History Project described here entailed survey, analysis, appraisal, and description of the manuscripts in support of a CSUS Library grant proposal for the "Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives: Building a New Research Environment" program sponsored by the Andrew Mellon Foundation and the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Sources of Data
Sources used include CSUS SCUA accession and donor files, the Basil John Vlavianos Papers, the Speros Vryonis Jr. Center for the Study of Hellenism records, the Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection, oral interviews and/or correspondence with Professor Speros Vryonis Jr., Zita Vlavianos Hosmer, Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection Visiting Scholar, Kostis Karpolzolis, and the scholarly literatures of history, archives and information studies.
Conclusions Reached
The Basil J. Vlavianos Papers are an exceptionally valuable but hidden historical research collection. Survey and analysis work accomplished for the CLIR grant marks significant progress toward a fuller representation of the collection for use in contemporary scholarship. Survey, analysis and appraisal of research value are discussed. A processing plan for arrangement and description is set forth. New digital forms of archival representation can add value and to the collection by presenting novel ways of producing knowledge. Archival representation is a mode of cultural production/reproduction that impacts cultural memory, and which thus carries significant cultural and political consequences.