Diplomatics was originally developed in France during the seventeenth century in attempts to prove the authenticity of archival documents. It was later refined in European universities as a legal, historical, and philological discipline, and in the twentieth century it has primarily been applied to medieval and early modern documents in order to evaluate their authority as sources of research. Diplomatics embraces the perspective of the modern archivist, and investigates the origin, development, and application of diplomatic concepts. It examines the organizational and evaluative effectiveness of diplomatic concepts in the context of modern records and archival systems, and looks at the relationship between originality and authenticity in records. The physical and intellectual form of records is examined, and the traditional methodology of diplomatic criticism is clearly explained and augmented by tips concerning its archival use. Diplomatics was originally a series of six articles that appeared in Archivaria, the journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists. In addition to those six articles, this volume contains an introduction that provides a broad synopsis of diplomatics, including its unused potential to help rethink record organization and use in a multimedia age fraught with increasingly complex informational problems.

About the Author
Luciana Duranti is Associate Dean of Research and Budget of the Faculty of Arts at the University of British Columbia and a professor in the library school. She is President of the Society of American Archivists.

Reviews
Duranti's diplomatics-based approach to the analysis of records is an important strand of research, especially in the context of electronic records...this book provides an excellent, theoretical, starting point. * Journal Of The Society Of Archivists *
This book, in bringing the fullness of diplomatic ideas to our attention and in English, is a valuable service to many groups because diplomatics transcends disciplinary boundaries....deserves to be the cornerstone in the archivist's library, and should have an important place in the working libraries of historians and knowledge engineers. * Archivaria *
Investigates the origin, development, and application of diplomatic concepts and examines their effectiveness as concepts to organize and evaluate modern records and archival systems. * Reference and Research Book News *



Book Information
ISBN 9780810835283
Author Luciana Duranti
Format Hardback
Page Count 200
Imprint Scarecrow Press
Publisher Scarecrow Press
Weight(grams) 363g
Dimensions(mm) 228mm * 150mm * 18mm