When we hear of archives and museums, we think of institutions containing collections of significant information: documents, artworks, artifacts and other objects of great importance. To the layman, there is nothing wrong with archives used inside museums since they have the same function. Experts in these institutions, however, think otherwise given their divergent traditions and ways of doing things.
Although archives and museums are considered to have the same function, they are distinct institutions that follow different sets of standard principles and practices in managing their respective collections. This difference and overlap in function between archives and museums is the source of study of Mr. Ricardo L. Punzalan of Institute of Library and Information Science. His study, entitled Archives in the Museum Context: A Case Study on the Application of Archival Principles and Practices in the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, University of the Philippines Diliman, investigates the coexistence of archival and museum collections within one institution.
Many museums today have adopted and applied archival principles and practices and used archival materials together with museum collections to keep track of the museum’s activities and to understand its function of interpretation and representation of the valuable objects being displayed. An example is the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center or more commonly known as the U.P. Vargas Museum (UPVM).
The UPVM houses a diverse collection of books, periodicals, artworks, memorabilia and personal and official archives donated by Jorge B. Vargas, known as the Executive Secretary of President Manuel L. Quezon and Chairman of the Executive Commission during the Japanese occupation. The Museum assumes the dual role of creator and keeper of records as it performs administrative and collections management functions for both its art and archival holdings. The worksheets used for the documentation and cataloguing of its art collection are records that are valuable information resource for UPVM and are significant part of its institutional memory. Archival practices are implicit in the Museum’s function.
The evident overlap of activities and the difference between archives and museums have a profound impact on archival practice which, according to Punzalan, implies that a new paradigm must be developed to appropriately situate the place of the archives within the museum structure. Moreover, a standard must be drawn to provide a code of practice, which the museum could refer to for appropriate guidance and direction as it performs archiving as well. This way, both institutions can coexist while performing their own principles and standards of practice; thus maintaining their own professional identity.
By MMRParreño
