LIS2970_Archives_and_Cultural_Heritage_S

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UNIVERSTIY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF INFORMATION SCIENCES
Archives & Cultural Heritage
Instructor: Brian Cumer, Archival Studies Program
Summer 2011
Course Description:
The Cultural Heritage field is a rapidly growing area represented in a number of
professions. There are several reasons for an examination of cultural heritage
documentation from an archival perspective. Governments, various people groups, and
institutions have invested large amounts of financial and emotional capital in their
cultural heritage. With documentation comes accountability. For many, it also helps
define and promote individual, group, and national identity. What does this mean for
archivists? Just like so many other areas of documentation, all the players in the cultural
heritage sphere rely on the accessibility, preservation, and advocacy of records to better
understand and interpret their world. Without sound documentation, cultural identity
becomes unreliable, somewhat like an invalid form of identification needed in order to
assert an individual’s association or membership with a group or institution.
Acquiring a solid grasp on the issues surrounding documentation and cultural
heritage means having a broad understanding of a large and divergent group of
interrelated fields. Archivists are, in large part, still on the outside of this community.
The cultural heritage field is populated with governmental and non-governmental
organizations, archaeologists and anthropologists, historians, lawyers, museum curators,
and in more recent years, computer scientists. Each discipline or profession brings a
significant skill to the table. This course contends that it is the role of the records
professional to bring their expertise to bear for the betterment of local, national, and
global cultural heritage.
To further complicate the picture, the cultural heritage field has not just seen
exponential growth, but is undergoing rapid changes in its very nature due to the impact
of technology. This course will also explore digital heritage, sometimes referred to as
virtual heritage - a primary focus emerging in the greater body of cultural heritage
literature.
With this course, I hope to educate students on the vital role that archives and
records play in the cultural heritage fields. Archivists have an incredible opportunity to
help shape cultural heritage in the way we organize records, provide access to them, and
perform our role in helping to preserve the memory of events, groups, places, and
attitudes, as well as other aspects that make up culture. This will require students to learn
to think a bit like a historian, relate to other cultures like an anthropologist, understand
emerging technological trends like an IT specialist, and mediate between interest groups
like a politician (a good one)!

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Grading and Course Requirements:
Pre-requisites:
The course is an elective open to LIS students who have taken LIS 2220 Archives and
Records Management and students that are in the Archives Specialization program.
Students not fitting either of these requirements may seek permission from the instructor
to enroll in the course.
Assignments:
Students will be graded on the following assignments and criteria:
1. Topic Report – 30% of Final Grade
Students will select a topic related to one of the course themes, which are
broken down by week. This assignment may be completed in pairs or
individually. Be prepared to present for approximately ten minutes in class,
and then lead a brief class discussion on their topic. Students should prepare
two discussion questions to accompany their presentation. All presentations
are required to utilize a PowerPoint slide show as part of the assignment.
2. Literature Summaries/Weekly Briefs – 20% of Final Grade
Students will complete a literature summary every week from Week 2 through
Week 10, plus Week 12. The purpose of this is to summarize the readings for
the week (due in class or online day that the readings are due). Summaries are
to be roughly a minimum of 250 words (one typed page) and a maximum of
500 words.
3. Research Paper – 50% of Final Grade
Students will complete a 12 – 15 page paper on a topic of their choice (subject
to the approval of the instructor). A suggested list of topics will accompany
the assignment sheet (to be distributed later in the term), but students should
not feel limited to this list.
A detailed description (including expectations and grading criteria) of each assignment
will be handed out on the date each project is assigned. Late assignments are lowered
one letter grade for each day they are late. All reading assignments should be completed
by the class meeting they are assigned.

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Style Requirements:
All written assignments are required to utilize the Chicago Manual of Style. Failure to
correctly utilize the Chicago Manual of Style will result in penalization as described in
each assignment rubric (to be distributed during the term). Students might find
Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations useful, as it
is a shorter, and easy-to-use guide that follows the Chicago format. There is also an
online version of the Chicago Manual available at http://chicagomanualofstyle.org.
Grading:
The course is based on a 100-point scale:
Topic Presentation 30 Points
Literature Summaries 20 Points
Research Paper 50 Points
Total 100Points
Grading Scale: 100 A+; 99 – 90 A; 80 – 89 B; 70 – 79 C; 60 – 69 D; Below 60 F
Course Materials:
Required Books:
Bastian, Jeanette. Owning Memory: How a Caribbean Community Lost its Archives and
Found its History. Westport: Libraries Unlimited, 2003.
Cuno, James. Who Owns Antiquity? Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.
Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage: A Critical Discourse, ed. Fiona Cameron and
Sarah Kenderdine. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007.
New Heritage: New Media and Cultural Heritage, ed. Yehuda Kalay and Janice Affleck.
New York: Routledge, 2008.
Kreps, Christina. Liberating Culture: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Museums, Curation
and Heritage Preservation. London: Routledge, 2003.
A copy of each book is on reserve at the library, and copies are available and the
University Bookstore. Additional readings will be made available through Courseweb,
PittCatt’s e-reserves system, and the Web. These readings are listed below in the course
outline section. Further information will be provided to students on the first day of class.

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Class Policies:
Incompletes:
Incomplete grades will only be granted if there is an urgent need. Requests for
incompletes will not be accepted after class on Week 8 except in extraordinary or
emergency circumstances.
Academic Integrity:
Students are expected to comply with the University of Pittsburgh’s Policy on Academic
Integrity. Any student suspected of violating this obligation will be required to
participate in the procedures, initiated by the instructor, as outlined in the University’s
Policy on Academic Integrity. Please note that plagiarism will not be tolerated:
Plagiarism - “To present as one’s own work, the ideas, representations, or words of
another, or to permit another to present one’s own work without customary and proper
acknowledgement of sources” (University of Pittsburgh Guidelines on Academic
Integrity, p. 5).
Disabilities:
If you have a disability that requires special accommodation, you must notify the
instructor and Disability Resources and Services no later than the 2nd
week of the term.
Disability Resources and Services can be reached at 412-648-7890 (voice or TDD).
Important Notes on Submitting Assignments:
With the exception of reading summaries, all assignments are to be submitted using the
assignments tool in Courseweb. Do not email assignments to the instructor unless
specifically instructed to do so. Failure to follow these instructions will be considered the
equivalent of not handing in an assignment at all.
All assignment should be submitted as MS Word (or MS PowerPoint, where appropriate)
utilizing the following naming convention:
LastName_FirstInitial_Assignment#.doc
For Example: Cumer_B_Assignment3.doc
In regards to reading summaries, you will need to bring a hard copy to class. Make sure
your name is at the top of the page, along with a properly formatted citation for the
reading(s). Online students will submit these to a Courseweb discussion board using the
naming convention described above. Further instructions for online students will be
placed on Courseweb.

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Course Objectives
This course is designed to be a 12-week summer elective for those students wishing to
expand their knowledge in professional areas that have a direct impact on the way
archives and records are viewed and utilized by the various stakeholders in cultural
heritage. Therefore the course is designed to:
• Enrich students’ understanding of the current information needs of various
professions in the cultural heritage industries.
• Examine the application of various archival theories and practices in cultural
heritage.
• Foster a better appreciation of cultural groups represented in the cultural heritage
industries, and analyze the various ethical stances surrounding their cultural
property, cultural traditions, art, etc.
• Familiarize students with some of the major literature in the field of cultural
heritage.
• Further develop the writing and presentation skills of potential future archivists,
librarians, and other information professionals.
Course Schedule at a Glance
Week Topic Notes/Reminders
Week 1
5/10/11
Introduction to course,
assignments reviewed,
Defining Cultural Heritage
Show up
Week 2
5/17/11
The Importance of Records
in Cultural Heritage
First Lit. Summary due
Week 3
5/24/11
Cultural Heritage and
Memory – J. Bastian and
the Virgin Islands Case
Study
First Topic Report
presentations
Week 4
5/31/11
International Law -
UNESCO

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Week 5
6/7/11
Cultural Property and Ethics
Week 6
6/14/11
Intangible Heritage and
Documentation
Week 7
6/21/11
The Artifact as Document
Week 8
6/28/11
Archaeology, Heritage, and
Looting
Week 9
7/5/11
Museums, Monuments, and
Battlefields
Week 10
7/12/11
No Class 7/16/11 FastTrack
Weekend: FT Students
Meet 12pm - 3pm
Week 11
7/19/11
Digitization and Surrogates
Week 12
7/26/11
Virtual Heritage and New
Media
Course Outline
WEEK 1
Topic: Introduction to the Course; Defining Cultural Heritage
Objectives:
• Students will familiarize themselves with the difficulty in defining cultural
heritage.
• Students will also learn about the different stakeholders in cultural heritage.

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• Students will practice writing a comprehensive/culturally sensitive definition of
cultural heritage.
Readings:
Aplin, Graeme. Heritage: Identification, Conservation, and Management. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2002. Chapter 1. (Courseweb)
and Heritage Preservation. London: Routledge, 2003. Chapter 1. (Courseweb)
Due: In-class assignment: Define Cultural Heritage
WEEK 2
Topic: The Importance of Records in Cultural Heritage
Objective:
• Students will learn about the vitality of records in cultural heritage by examining
how such records impact the use of cultural resources.
Readings:
Lowenthal, David. “Archives, Heritage, and History.” In Archives, Documentation, and
Institutions of Social Memory: Essays from the Sawyer Seminar, ed. Francis Blouin Jr.
and William Rosenburg. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006. (Courseweb)
Mason, Ingrid. “Cultural Information Standards: Political Territory and Rich Rewards.”
In Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage: A Critical Discourse, ed. Fiona Cameron and
Due: Literature Summary
WEEK 3
Topic: Cultural Heritage and Memory
Objective:
• Students will learn about the interconnectedness of archives, memory, and
culture, through an examination of Jeanette Bastian’s Virgin Islands case study.
Readings:
Bastian, Jeanette. Owning Memory: How a Caribbean Community Lost its Archives and
Found its History. Westport: Libraries Unlimited, 2003.

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Due: Literature Summary; Topic Reports
WEEK 4
Topic: International law and Cultural Heritage
Objectives:
• Students will become familiar with international policy as it relates to cultural
heritage by examining the UNESCO 1970 convention.
Readings:
UNESCO. “Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import,
Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 1970.” United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: Legal Instruments.
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php
Hiroshi Daifuku, “International Assistance for the Conservation of Cultural Property,” in
The Challenge to Our Cultural Heritage, ed. Yudhishthir Raj Isar (Washington:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1986) (Courseweb)
Due: Topic Presentations, Literature Summary
WEEK 5
Topic: Cultural Property and Ethics
Objective:
• Students will learn about some of the debates surrounding private vs. public
ownership of cultural property.
Readings:
Cuno, James. Who Owns Antiquity? Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.
Fagan, Brian. “Foreword.” In The Ethics of Collecting Cultural Property, ed. Phyllis
Mauch Messenger. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1999.
Harris, Leo. “From the Collector’s Perspective: The Legality of Importing Pre-
Colombian Art and Artifacts.” In The Ethics of Collecting Cultural Property, ed. Phyllis
Mauch Messenger. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1999.
Due: Literature Summary, Topic Presentations

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WEEK 6
Topic: Intangible Heritage and Documentation
Objective:
• Students will learn about the challenges facing archives and other institutions in
documenting culture via oral histories, song, dance, and rituals not meant to be
observed by “outsiders.”
Readings:
Calabretta, Fred. “Oral History.” In Museum Archives: An Introduction, ed. Deborah
Wythe. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2004.
and Heritage Preservation. London: Routledge, 2003. Chapter 3.
WEEK 7
Topic: The Artifact as Document
Objective:
• Students will learn how cultures create records through leaving behind technology
(artifacts), and how the interpretation of artifacts leads to a major form of societal
documentation.
Readings:
Cumer, Brian. “The Archaeology of the Natufian Cultural Complex.” In The Natufian
Culture of the Levant: An Archaeological Perspective on the Origins of Agriculture in the
Ancient Near East and its Impact on the Evolution of Human Subsistence Strategies.
(M.A. Thesis, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary), 2004.
Deetz, James. “Recalling Things Forgotten: Archaeology and the American artifact.” In
In Small Things Forgotten: The Archaeology of Early American Life. Garden City:
Anchor, 1977.
Due: Literature Summaries, Topic Presentations, In-class exercise: Artifact Analysis
WEEK 8
Topic: Archaeology, Heritage, and Looting

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Objective:
Students will learn about the massive impact that looting and the antiquities market have
on cultural heritage.
Readings:
Archaeological Institute of America – Professional Responsibilities Committee.
“Principals for Museum Acquisitions of Antiquities.”
http://www.archaeological.org/pdfs/archaeologywatch/museumpolicy/AIA_Principles_M
useum_Acquisitions.pdf
Recommended:
Atwood, Roger. Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers, and the Looting of the
Ancient World. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004.
WEEK 9
Topic: Museums, Monuments, and Battlefields
Objective:
• Students will learn about at the nature of records and historical accuracy by
examining cultural symbols and landscapes.
Readings:
Cameron, Fiona and Helena Robinson, “Digital Knowledgescapes: Cultural, Theoretical,
Practical, and Usage Issues Facing Museum Collection Databases in a Digital Epoch” In
Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage: A Critical Discourse, ed. Fiona Cameron and
O’Toole, James. “The Symbolic Significance of Archives.” In American Archival
Studies: Reading in Theory and Practice, ed. Randall Jimerson. Chicago: Society of
American Archivists, 2005.
Wythe, Deborah. “The Museum Context.” In Museum Archives: An Introduction, ed.
Deborah Wythe. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2004.
!!WEEK 10 - NO CLASS - Brian at AERI Institute!!
!!!FastTrack Weekend Saturday, July 16th
from 12pm - 3pm!!!

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WEEK 11
Topic: Digitization and Surrogates
Objectives:
• Students will become familiar with how some institutions are utilizing surrogates
to reach a wider audience and lessen the impact of use on cultural materials.
Readings:
Addison, Alonzo. “The Vanishing Virtual: Safeguarding Heritage’s Endangered Digital
Record.” In New Heritage: New Media and Cultural Heritage, ed. Yehuda Kalay and
Janice Affleck. New York: Routledge, 2008.
Cameron, Fiona. “The Politics of Heritage Authorship: The Case of Digital Heritage
Collections.” In New Heritage: New Media and Cultural Heritage, ed. Yehuda Kaylay,
Thomas Kvan and Janice Affleck. London: Routledge, 2008.
Mason, Ingrid. “Cultural Information Standards: Political Territory and Rich Rewards.”
In Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage: A Critical Discourse, ed. Fiona Cameron and
WEEK 12
Topic: Virtual Heritage and New Media
Objectives:
• Students will examine the impact of web usage on virtual tourism, information
seeking, and cultural identity.
Readings:
Malpas, Jeff. “Cultural Heritage in the Age of New Media.” In New Heritage: New
Media and Cultural Heritage, ed. Yehuda Kaylay, Thomas Kvan and Janice Affleck.
London: Routledge, 2008.
Alsayyad, Nezar. “Consuming Heritage or the End of Tradition: The New Challenges of
Globalization.” In New Heritage: New Media and Cultural Heritage, ed. Yehuda Kaylay,
Thomas Kvan and Janice Affleck. London: Routledge, 2008.
Leavy, B. et. al. “Digital Songlines: Digitising the Arts, Culture, and Heritage Landscape
of Aboriginal Australia.” In New Heritage: New Media and Cultural Heritage, ed.
Yehuda Kaylay, Thomas Kvan and Janice Affleck. London: Routledge, 2008.
Due: Literature Summaries, Topic Reports, Research Paper (Assignment #3)!!

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Literature Summaries
What is a Literature Summary?
For the purposes of this course, a Literature Summary is a miniature essay, one to two pages in length (250
– 500 words). This exercise is expository rather than critical: you will simply be explaining something that
the authors have said. Literature Summaries may not be turned in late and are due at the beginning of
class. Online students will submit this by midnight of the same day class is scheduled.
The point of this exercise:
• These exercises are meant to develop your skill in reading. Rather than waiting to hear about it in
class, you’ll have to struggle with the text on your own. I don’t expect you to have figured it all out.
What I do want to see in your writing is evidence that you have read the text critically.
• The Literature Summaries also give you practice in writing. Frequent, short assignments like these
instill the habit of writing, and they develop the virtues of brevity and clarity. I expect the Literature
Summaries to be clear, organized, and free from typos and grammatical errors.
• Perhaps most importantly: these exercises put you in good position to profit from and contribute to
the discussion in class. Three hours is a long time to sit in a classroom. Writing your Literature
Summary might not cause you to figure the readings out, but they will put you in a great position to
talk about what you know, ask about what you don't understand, and – most importantly of all –
critically discuss the positions defended in the reading. (For this reason, a late Literature Summaries
will not be accepted.)
A Few Words of Advice:
• Go slowly and carefully in your presentation: spell everything out. This is very difficult. But you
probably won’t realize what you haven’t understood until you try to do this.
• Whatever you do, don’t sit down at the computer, crack open your book for the first time, and try to
answer the question. Read first. Then go back to the text with the question in mind. Then write.
• You’ll need to read the text more than once. But I do not recommend that you read the whole thing
from beginning to end, over and over (as you might reread e.g. a newspaper article, or a novel). Read a
sentence over and over, or a paragraph. When you think you’ve gotten a tentative grip on that one
(and often this will require going back to reread an earlier one), proceed to the next.
Feedback
• Given the nature of these assignments, I do not in general write many comments on Literature
Summaries. (However, I will pass out some examples of good Literature Summaries written by your
classmates.) If your grades on the Literature Summaries are low, and if you don’t know what you’re
doing wrong, COME TO MY OFFICE HOURS: I’d be glad to discuss your writing in detail.
• You write a brief and then come to class, where we will discuss, among other things, the topic of your
writing. Students sometimes feel that they have begun to understand the topic only after it is too late to
help them. Not so. What you should do is go back and look at what you wrote. Can you articulate the
differences between that and what we discussed in lecture? Now go back and look at the chapter or
article. Can you figure out how the class discussion fits with the text? Does what you wrote still seem
to fit with the text? If not—and here’s the crucial bit—figure out what led you astray. Apart from
coming to my office hours, this is the best way to improve your Literature Summaries.

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Research Paper
Due: July 26, 2010 – No Exceptions
Students will complete a 13 – 15 page paper on a topic of their choice (subject to the
approval of the instructor). A suggested list of topics is attached to this assignment sheet,
but students should not feel limited to this list.
Remember to post the subject of your topic in the Course Discussion Board
Objective Guidelines Maximum
Points
Score
Organization
and Style
The paper is clear and easy to read. An excellent
paper will show evidence of careful proofreading
(free of typos), correct word usage/grammar, and
proper use of the Chicago Manual of Style format,
especially for footnotes and bibliography. Contains
a strongly written introduction and conclusion that
unifies the themes of the paper.
5 Points
Research Student demonstrates that he/she has performed a
sufficient amount of research to write a graduate
research paper. An excellent paper will show this by
having adequate citations (typically a minimum of 20
sources utilized in the paper.
15 Points
Breadth of
Knowledge
Student has identified a topic relevant in archival
studies in accordance with the above instructions.
Paper clearly shows familiarity with the major works
in this literature. An excellent paper will provide
critical analysis of the literature used for research.
20 Points
Relevancy Student is able to demonstrate the relevancy of their
topic, as well as the literature that they utilized. The
paper should be relevant to the class (i.e. deal with
an aspect of cultural heritage from an
archival/records perspective).
10 Points
Total Possible
Grade
50 Points
For this assignment you are required to utilize the Chicago Manual of Style. Failure to
correctly utilize the Chicago Manual of Style will result in penalization as described in
the assignment rubric (to be distributed during the term). Students might find Turabian’s
A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations useful, as it is a shorter,
and easy-to-use guide that follows the Chicago format. There is also an online version of
the Chicago Manual available at http://chicagomanualofstyle.org.

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Topic Suggestions (these are only suggestions - it doesn’t have to be from this list):
i. A
case
study
of
the
digitization
of
Codex
Sinaiticus

ii. An
examination
of
Australia’s
‘Teaching
From
Country”
project

iii. Iraqi
Museum
looting
during
the
Gulf
War

iv. An
examination
of
any
aspect
of
records
and
illicitly
obtained
antiquities

v. A
case
study
examining
an
aspect
of
intangible
heritage

vi. Examining
a
particular
case
or
aspect
of
indigenous
curation

vii. Select
a
digitally
curated
cultural
heritage
collection(s)
and
examine
from
an

archivist’s
perspective

viii. An
archivist’s
perspective
on
the
development/curation
of
a
monument(s),

historical
park,
etc.

ix. Archaeological
field
notes
and
archives

x. Museums
that
are
cooperating
on
the
Web

xi. A
topic
of
your
choosing
relevant
to
the
course

Grading & Expectations:
The following rubric has been adopted for the evaluation of student performance:
A Exceptional Work
Demonstrates an outstanding understanding – both theoretical and factual – of the
materials both presented in class and assigned out of class. Displays original and creative
thought that significantly exceeds expectations. Shows perfect command of English
grammar and syntax. Exhibits a publishable and masterful use of sources while working
exclusively within the assigned style.
A- Outstanding Work
Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of the course materials both presented in class
and assigned out of class. Greatly surpasses course expectations by not only displaying
skillful treatment of the assigned material but also contributing substantial originality to
the work. Shows superior command of English grammar and syntax. Uses an expert
approach to source work while functioning exclusively within the assigned citation style.

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B+ Very Good Work
Demonstrates a better-than-average command of the course materials both presented in
class and assigned out of class. Exceeds course expectations by revealing original ideas
and by showing a solid grasp of English grammar and syntax. Shows understanding of
the assigned citation style.
B Solid Work
Demonstrates expected command of the course materials both presented in class and
assigned out of class. Meets course expectations by following the assignments, using
sources in an acceptable manner and using the assigned citation style.
B- Marginal Work
Demonstrates and incomplete understanding of the course materials both presented in
class and assigned out of class. Does not meet course expectations by inadequately
following the assignment, showing and insufficient grasp of English grammar and syntax,
by displaying lower-than-average approach to source work and misunderstanding the
assigned citation style.
C Unacceptable Work in an MLIS Graduate Program
Fails to meet expectations by not following the assignment, using sources
inappropriately, misunderstanding the required citation format and displays a poor
command of English grammar and syntax.
F Failing Work

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