Management of archives in private hands : a case study of the Hoshino Family Papers in Ohtsuki-shi, Yamanashi-ken.

Research Project

Project/Area Number	05801046
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Japanese history
Research Institution	National Institute of Japanese Literature
Principal Investigator	ANDO Masahito National Institute of Japanese Literature, Department of Historical Documents, Associate Professor, 史料館, 助教授 (90113422)
Project Period (FY)	1993 – 1994
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1994)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000) Fiscal Year 1994: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000) Fiscal Year 1993: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
Keywords	Private archives / Archive administration / Archives preservation / Archival arrangement / Archival description / Descriptive standard / 記録史料 / ア-カイブズ / 文書(もんじょ) / 保存科学 / 史料学 / 文書群の内的構造 / 中性紙
Research Abstract	The present research project is intended : (1) to develop safe and cheap techniques and equipments for the preservation of archival materials which are appropriate to those in private hands ; and (2) to develop standards of the arrangement and description of private archives following the internationally-acknowledged archival theories. The results of the project are as follows : (1) Temperature and humidity in various conditions (inside and outside of three different types of boxes each located in a traditional storehouse and in an attic of the main living house of the Hoshino family) was measured by ACR DATA LOGGER (a computer-assisted automatic environmental data recorder). It was revealed that the environmental condition in a traditional Japanese warehouse was stable and more appropriate for the preservation of archival materials than an attic of the living house. Among three types of archives container, a wooden box made of paulownia (kiri) demonstrated an excellent function as a buffer against the sudden change of temperature and humidity. (2) The descriptive data of about 6,000 items of the Hoshino Family Papers were inputted into the database using a personal computer. Then, the restoration of the archival structure of the Hoshino Family Papers was tried based on the analysis of the inputted data. One of the initial purposes of the project to propose a descriptive standards for archives has not been achieved because of the shortage of time and research sources.