Documentary editing

This article is about an archival process. For the editing of documentary films, see Film editing. For the process of improving writing, see Copy editing.

Documentary editing is a branch of archival science involving the publication of documents selected from historic archives. The documents are selected from archival sources by the documentary editor, and then annotated to add context. The documents are then published, serving as primary source material for historic researchers unable to visit the archives.

Terminology

The term documentary editing is often confused with the editing of documentary films. Mary-Jo Kline, the author of a key introductory book on the subject,^[1] remarked that she once found her treatise in the "movies and film" section of the bookstore.^[2]: 3

History

Documentary editing began out of a desire for historians to provide a foundation for future scholars.^[2]: 4 The field grew in the late 1800s, with much of the work motivated by a desire to promote pride in local and national history.^[3]: 72 By the 1930s, documentary editing emerged as a specialization of professional archivists.^[4]

By the late 1970s, documentary editing began using digital automation,^[5] and by the early 2000s, electronic publication was preferred over printed volumes.^[6]

Themes of projects

Documentary editing projects can be classified by the theme of the documents published.

Common themes included:

• The papers of an individual, such as The Papers of George Washington.^[7]
• Diplomatic documents of a country, such as the Foreign Relations of the United States series.^[8]
• An historic event, such as the University of Maryland's Freedmen and Southern Society Project^[9][8]

Process

Selection

Documentary editors are forced to be selective when choosing which archival documents to edit and publish.^[2]: 47 Although the selection process is key to appraising the evidentiary value of the published documents, later scholars often lack the means to assess the original editor's selection decisions.^[10]

Common selection criteria include

• Prioritizing documents that establish the significance of the publication's topic.^[2]: 54
• Avoiding redundant documents on routine matters.^[2]: 54
• Emphasizing documents not previously published.^[2]: 61

Annotation

An annotated document, as published in FRUS.

Annotation helps readers understand the context of the published documents.

Common annotations include:

• Information available to the contemporary audience, such as if a letter was received by the addresses.^[2]: 237
• Explanations of obscure language.^[2]: 237
• Clarification of persons or events only partially identified in the original text.^[7]: 21
• Cross-references to other documents.^[7]: 279

Excessive annotations can cause a documentary publication to be regarded as secondary source, instead of a compilations of primary sources.^[11]

Typographic errors may be annotated sic, or may be silently corrected without annotation.^[12] Older texts may reflect historic orthography, requiring so much annotation that some editors omit sic to avoid distracting readers.^[13]

Manner of publication

Print books

Documentary editors historically published printed volumes.

Printed volumes may contain transcribed documents, necessitating "a fair amount of hack work"^{[14][2]: 115} to copy the text. The texts of documents may be published in full, or be summarized to retain all important content, but to exclude more trivial and incidental matter. An abstracted text of this type is known in British English as a "calendar",^[15] although in American English that term is more typically applied to a more basic inventory of documents.^{[7]: 65–69}

An alternative form of publication is photographic facsimiles. Facsimile editions are traditionally more costly, but allow a closer fidelity to the original documents.^[2]: 148

Printed books, although less convenient than electronic editions, may help increase an editing project's accessibility and alleviate concerns about digital obsolescence.^[16]

Microform

Microform publication reduces costs,^[17] while allowing editors to avoid rote transcription.^[2]: 267 Microform editions typically have minimal, if any annotation.^[18]

Microform publication is only suitable for legible documents, and works poorly on handwritten documents.^[18] Micoform editions are usually accompanied by a printed index, which many libraries store separately from the microform, potentially frustrating researchers.^[18]

Compared with printed editions, microform editions are less selective,^[19] and the large number of published documents can make it difficult for readers to find germane content.^[18]

Electronic publication

Electronic publication allows documentary editors the fidelity of facsimiles, but without the added printing cost.^[20]

See also

• Nachlass
• Textual criticism
• Textual scholarship