Scarecrow Press
Pages: 144
•
Trim: 6⅜ x 9½
978-0-8108-8377-2 • Hardback • May 2012 • $103.00 • (£79.00)
978-0-8108-8378-9 • eBook • May 2012 • $97.50 • (£75.00)
Elizabeth H. Dow directs the archives track in the School of Library and Information Science at Louisiana State University. She is the author of Creating EAD-Compatible Finding Guides on Paper (Scarecrow Press, 2005) and Electronic Records in the Manuscript Repository (Scarecrow Press, 2009).
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: American Archival Practice
Chapter 2: Theft and Neglect
Chapter 3: The Archival Profession
Chapter 4: Collecting
Chapter 5: Replevin
Chapter 6: Perspectives
Chapter 7: Case Studies
Chapter 8: Avoiding Conflict
Bibliography
Index
This is valuable to any archival collection where public documents are maintained, acquired, and sought out. Future archival students will also benefit from the unbiased approach, respecting all sides of the situation.
— American Reference Books Annual
This book does an admirable job of illustrating many aspects of a complicated legal situation, providing archivists, collectors, and dealers with insight, analysis, and practical advice. Well-written and to the point, this volume is highly recommended for archivists and dealers alike.
— College & Research Libraries
The first-ever book-length study tackles a controversial legal principle that the public is unaware of and that most attorney’s are only vaguely familiar with: Replevin.
Dow’s stature as a respected archivist and a Manuscript Society “in-law” puts her in a unique position to survey the replevin issue.
Dow succeeds in straddling the fence-conveying archivists’ passion for protecting their charges and preserving the historical record and conveying collectors’ and dealers’ passion for doing the very same thing
Archivists, Collectors, Dealers, and Replevin is a thoughtful and well-reasoned explanation of both sides of the replevin issue-and heavily footnoted, as one would expect it to be. I wouldn’t say that Dow champions either the archivists or the collectors/dealers, but rather shows an admirable nonpartisan restraint that should serve both sides well.
— Main Street Fine Books and Manuscripts
The purpose of this book is to discuss the problems associated with displaced government documents in the US Laws vary with each state; consequently, this is not a legal guide but rather a discussion of historical government documents in the USA and the role of the archivist in their protection from loss through theft and neglect.
The book is very well researched, and the author has consulted a range of primary and secondary documentation. While the topic of the book is complex and multi-faceted, with many conflicting viewpoints, the author has examined all aspects of the issue and described the problems with an attempt to get a balanced view. The author has a long and impressive career in archives and related fields and here has produced a very objective view of the problems and issues with lost public documents. This book would be suitable for archivists employed in the US public service, as well as librarians, historians and collectors with an interest in this area
— Collection Building
In Archivists, Collectors, Dealers, and Replevin: Case Studies on Private Ownership of Public Documents, respected archival practitioner and library and information science educator Elizabeth H. Dow studies the conflicts that arise from 'a legal action brought for the purpose of recovering specified items'. . . .The book contains clear prose and straightforward organization. Dow writes informative introductory chapters on the development of archival practice and the archival profession in the United States. . . .[M]anuscript and special collections librarians as well as public records specialists should own and read this small . . . book.
— Archival Issues