Study on the survey and collection of information of archival literature and on the construction of its accumulation and retrieval system

• Project/Area Number: 12610360
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese history
• Research Institution: National Institute of Japanese Literature
• Principal Investigator: YAMADA Tetuyoshi National Institute of Japanese Literature, Department of Historical Documents, Associate Professor, 史料館, 助教授 (70220390)
• Project Period (FY): 2000 – 2002
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2002)
• Budget Amount: ¥1,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000); Fiscal Year 2002: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000); Fiscal Year 2001: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
• Keywords: archival science / archival literature / database

Research Abstract

There is an urgent need in this country, considering the poor condition of preserving archives at various institutions and families, to establish "archival science" as an autonomous discipline. For this purpose, the present research project aims to survey and collect information of academic literature on archival science from a wider viewpoint paying attention to the past movements in this country for preserving historical materials and for setting up archival services. The project also intends, as the most fundamental and principal theme, to develop a fast retrieval system to the information thus collected and described as well as to construct a database which is open to the public use.
From 2000 to 2002, the survey has been carried out at such archival institutions as Akita Prefectural Archives, Miyagi Prefectural Archives, Fukushima Prefecture Historical Archives, Niigata Prefectural Archives, Aichi Prefectural Archives, Aichi Prefecture Library, Kyoto Prefectural Museum and Archives , Wakayama University Library, Wakayama Prefectural Archives, Okayama Prefecture Culture Centre, Hiroshima Prefecture Archives, and so forth. The number of data thus collected and described on "Archival Literature Data sheets" amounts to about 1,700 items in total. Regarding the development of a database, I chose Microsoft Excel, a most generally used relational application software, and finished formulating a format for data inputting. Based on these facilities, I have constructed two databases, that is, a "Database of Archival Literature Authority Control" (incl. : title, title reading, institution, prefecture code, first vol., last vol., last publishing date, new edition, lack vol., notes, ISSN no., ISBN no.) and a main "Database of Archival Literature" (incl. : title 1, title 2, author 1, author 2, author 3, name of journal 1, name of journal 2, vol. & no., publishing place, publishing date, pages, general notes, contents, retrieval code 1-5, ISSN code). I intend to open the data to the public as early as possible.