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 published documents serve 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]

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 . ^[5]
• Diplomatic documents of a country, such as the Foreign Relations of the United States series. ^[6]
• An historic event, such as the University of Maryland's Freedmen and Southern Society Project ^{[7] [6]}

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. ^[8]

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

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. ^{[5] : 21}
• Cross-references to other documents. ^{[5] : 279}

Manner of publication

Print books

Documentary editors historically published printed volumes.

Printed volumes may contain transcribed documents, necessitating "a fair amount of hack work" ^{[9] [2] : 115} to copy the text. As an alternative is photographic facsimiles. Facsimile editions are traditionally more costly, but allow a closer fidelity to the original documents. ^{[2] : 148}

Microform

Microform publication reduces costs, ^[10] while allowing editors to avoid rote transcription. ^{[2] : 267}

Electronic publication

Electronic publication allows documentary editors the fidelity of facsimiles, but without the added printing cost. ^[11]

See also

• Nachlass

References

1. Cox, Richard J. (January 2015). "Lester J. Cappon and the Publishing of Modern Documentary Editions". Journal of Scholarly Publishing. 46 (3): 224–250. doi:10.3138/jsp.46.3.02. ISSN   1198-9742. In the most important practical text on documentary editing, by Mary-Jo Kline
2. Kline, Mary-Jo; Perdue, Susan Holbrook (2008). A guide to documentary editing: prepared for the Association for Documentary Editing (3rd ed.). Charlottesville London: University of Virginia Press. ISBN   978-0-8139-2727-5.
3. Millar, Laura (1986). "The Decline of Documentary Publishing: The Role of English-Canadian Archives and Historical Societies in Documentary Publishing". Archivaria (23): 69–85. ISSN   1923-6409.
4. Birdsall, William F. (1975). "The Two Sides of the Desk: The Archivist and the Historian, 1909-1935". The American Archivist. 38 (2): 159–173. doi:10.17723/aarc.38.2.b2t13026qp667526. ISSN   0360-9081. JSTOR   40291735.
5. Stevens, Michael E. (1997). Editing Historical Documents: A Handbook of Practice. American Association for State and Local History Series. Steven B. Burg (1 ed.). California: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated. ISBN   978-0-7591-1753-2.
6. Kent, George (July 1994). "Editing Diplomatic Documents: A Review of Official U. S. and German Document Series". The American Archivist. 57 (3): 462–481. doi:10.17723/aarc.57.3.6n823xmm2pg07702. ISSN   0360-9081.
7. "Freedmen and Southern Society Project - Welcome Page". www.freedmen.umd.edu. Retrieved 2025-10-11.
8. Preston, Richard A. (1974). "Review of Documents on Canadian External Affairs. Volume 1, 1909-1918; Volume 2, The Paris Peace Conference of 1919; Volume 3, 1919-1925; Volume 4, 1926-1930; Volume 5, 1931-1935; Volume 6, 1936-1939". The American Historical Review. 79 (5): 1672. doi:10.2307/1851959. ISSN   0002-8762. JSTOR   1851959.
9. Firth, Edith A. (1963-01-01). "The Editing And Publishing Of Documents". The Canadian Archivist. 1 (1): 4. ISSN   1923-6395.
10. McAllister, William B.; Botts, Joshua; Cozzens, Peter; Marrs, Aaron W. (2015). Toward "thorough, accurate, and reliable": a history of the Foreign relations of the United States series. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs. p. 179. ISBN   978-0-16-093212-0.
11. Pierazzo, Elena (2014). "Digital Documentary Editions and the Others". Scholarly Editing: The Annual of the Association for Documentary Editing. 35. ISSN   2116-7257.

External links

• Journal of Scholarly Editing, known until 1999 as the Journal of Documentary Editing.