Forming Archival Associations: A Profession’s Golden Age
Tom Wilsted
Thomas J Dodd Research Centre
University of Connecticut
[Paper presented at the ARANZ 2001 Annual Conference and originally published in Archifacts April, 2002].
The decade of the 1970s, that in which the Archives and Records Association of New Zealand formed, was a watershed in the development of archives associations world-wide. From New Zealand to Australia to Canada to the United States, archivists came together in surprising numbers to form associations, conferences and societies to meet their professional needs, to represent their interests, and to train the growing number of individuals entering the profession. In little more than four years national archival organisations were formed in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada, while in the United States six of the seven regional archival organisations were founded.
Obviously, the formation of each organisation was a unique event, just in the same way as each individual document, record group, or fond is unique. However, common elements in the formation of each body were drives to establish a professional presence, to set standards for professional education, to implement and maintain a set of common knowledge or theory on the keeping and preserving of archival collections and, at the same time, to improve the conditions for archives generally. In each country, as archivists sought to establish themselves as professionals, they broke professional connections with organisations that previously had provided homes. The drive to establish separate professional organisations reflected a ‘coming of age’. Archival communities sought to answer the question of what it means to be a professional archivist and how the work that they carry out ‘is distinct from a non-professional or unprofessional archivist’.
The drive to achieve professional identity is a nineteenth and twentieth century phenomenon. When one thinks of professionals, the groups most often cited are doctors and lawyers, but others frequently mentioned include accountants, engineers, dentists and architects. Sociologists have attempted to distinguish the difference between occupations and professions per medium of classification models and, although the models may differ in format, there are several distinct criteria. Professions distinguish themselves by:
- becoming full-time occupations based on specialized knowledge or theory;
- controlling entry by setting standards for educational attainment, accreditation or licensing;
- forming regional or national associations in which members participate and which enforce ethical standards and provide continuing education opportunities;
- having a distinctive calling that is defined through values and norms to which each member subscribes;
- having and defining an altruism which seeks a common good for society, espouses an orientation toward service, encourages the continual upgrading of skills, and supports the protection of its clients.
This paper will:
- focus on the formation of the Archives and Records Association of New Zealand;
- look at the formation of archival associations in other countries during the same decade; and
- draw conclusions about the drive toward professionalism and the issues, forces, and factors that were common or different in each country as groups formed new professional organisations.
New Zealand and its archival world were very, very different in 1973. The National Archives only emerged as a separate entity after World War II. New Zealand's first Archives Act was not passed until 1957, and by 1973 National Archive’s staff totalled only 12 persons. It occupied a portion of Borthwick House on the Terrace with a records centre in Upper Hutt. There were no National Archives branches in other parts of New Zealand, but some government district records were stored at the Hocken Library in Dunedin and at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch. Archival education came from internal training programmes or by travelling to Europe or North America for professional training opportunities.
The Alexander Turnbull Library, the largest repository of private papers, had moved out of Alexander Turnbull’s house in 1972, its home since its founding in 1920, to interim headquarters on The Terrace. Administratively part of the National Library, the Turnbull nevertheless maintained a strong independence during those years. There were three individuals employed in the Manuscripts Section, but that number expanded to seven if those responsible for maps, drawings, and conservation are included. Turnbull Library’s manuscript staff were generally trained as librarians through a graduate library diploma programme offered by the New Zealand Library School, a unit of the National Library.
Collections at the universities were uneven in both size and the levels of support afforded. The Hocken Library, administratively part of the University of Otago Library, had been in existence since 1910 and had a strongly established tradition of both collecting and preserving archives and manuscripts. There were two individuals in the manuscripts section. There were smaller collections at Auckland, Victoria and Canterbury Universities. Each tended to specialize in materials from their particular region, and each had either one full-time or part-time staff member.
There were three other collections of significance in 1973. The Auckland Institute and Museum was a major repository for Auckland regional material, employing one full-time staff member responsible for archives and manuscript materials. The Canterbury Museum in Christchurch also had a significant collection of regional materials, including both local government records and materials from the colonial period. It also had one staff member. Finally, in 1973, the Bank of New Zealand established an archives, Robin Griffin being appointed its full-time director.
For many years New Zealand's small archival community had been aligned with librarians, and the forum for discussing archival issues was the Archives Committee of the New Zealand Library Association. This probably reflected the fact that the National Archives had grown out of collections in the General Assembly Library, and that the university collections were administratively linked to libraries. The Archives Section did not have a newsletter, but New Zealand Libraries could be used to communicate issues to librarians or other archivists.
ARANZ’s founding was the result of a number of significant factors. One of the most important was the growth in the number of archivists new to the profession who had specifically chosen this as their calling. Stuart Strachan had worked at the Hocken Library before taking the Archives Diploma Course at University College, London. He returned to the Hocken in 1972 with academic training, a knowledge of archival associations, and a professional outlook toward archives. Rosemary Collier, another London Diploma graduate, returned to New Zealand in 1974. She had worked at both the National Archives and the Hocken in New Zealand, and at the Hudson’s Bay Archives in the United Kingdom, before returning to the National Archives as Senior Archivist. Rosemary brought professional archival experience and a strong interest and enthusiasm for records management. As earlier noted, Robin Griffin was appointed archivist at the Bank of New Zealand in 1973. With a background in history, he developed an active new programme in business archives, also becoming active in the Archives Section of NZLA. Another new arrival on the archival scene was Tom Wilsted, appointed head of the Manuscripts Section of the Turnbull Library in 1973. He brought experience in manuscript work in American historical societies and had been active in national and regional archival associations in the United States. Finally, the National Archives employed a number of new archivists during this same period, among them Brad Patterson and Richard Hill, both of whom would be active in the early development of ARANZ. These individuals brought with them a need for organized professional interaction and an expectation that there were organisations that could fulfill their needs. Their combined experiences in New Zealand, Great Britain and the United States had offered them opportunities to interact with fellow archivists in an organisation tailored to their specific professional interests. They sought a similar experience in New Zealand.
Another factor that affected the size of the archival community, mainly through demand forservices, was the growth of New Zealand's university community. Increases in both the numbers of students and the numbers of faculty in universities world-wide was phenomenal from the early 1960s. New Zealand shared this phenomenon, its university student population growing by 150% between 1960 and 1975. However, the growth in the number of faculty teaching in New Zealand universities was even more significant, rising by more than 200% between 1961 and 1975.
The growth of the universities had a number of effects. First, the number of students using archives as they wrote theses and dissertations in pursuit of academic degrees rose. Second, the new faculty themselves used archives as they moved along the tenure track or pursued personal research interests. Third, an escalating interest in New Zealand studies during this period further fueled the use of archives. Finally, there were higher faculty expectations that universities would themselves expand libraries and research collections to support their academic aspirations. All of these developments impacted on the growth of the New Zealand archival community.
When archivists gathered at the 1974 New Zealand Library Association conference, formal sessions of the Archives Section focused on local government records, papers being presented by Stuart Strachan, Judith Hornabrook and T A McFadden. At the conclusion, the group also agreed to form a steering committee of ten people, Judith Hornabrook, then Chief Archivist at the National Archives, serving as chair. The group outlined four immediate professional goals, each reflecting activities that helped define a professional. They were:
- reviving a formal Archives Committee under the auspices of the New Zealand Library Association;
- authorizing a newsletter, to be edited by Stuart Strachan;
- establishing a committee to draft New Zealand standards for archival practice; and
- creating a committee to plan a workshop for archivists.
Between the 1974 and 1975 NZLA conferences, the committee was very active. When a local government bill was introduced into Parliament in 1973, the new Archives Committee made a submission on the pending legislation, seeking to ensure the preservation of records where local bodies were reorganizing or restructuring. In April 1974 the first quarterly issue of Archifacts appeared, and subsequent issues appeared on a regular basis. The founding of Archifacts was a critical step toward the formation of an archival association and a strong professional statement. It quickly provided a communication mechanism for archivists, carrying short articles on activities occurring throughout New Zealand and in other parts of the world. Even more important, it gave New Zealand archivists a forum to begin the shaping of an agenda for the archival profession, as well as a place to discuss professional issues.
The 1975 NZLA Conference in Auckland focused on business archives, with papers by historian R C J Stone and archivists Robin Griffin and Stuart Strachan. During its business meeting the Archives Section agreed to hold a week-long workshop on archival administration in Wellington in September of that year. It also agreed to continue publication of Archifacts while seeking funding for its printing from the New Zealand Library Association, and to distribute a report on the preservation of local government archives that had been prepared by Stuart Strachan.
Following the 1975 NLZA Conference, planning for the archives workshop began in earnest. The Committee agreed to hold the workshop in Wellington because of its central location, and a joint planning committee (with representatives from the Turnbull Library and the National Archives) sought to both craft an exciting programme and to ensure smooth organisation. The workshop began with a reception on a Sunday evening, sessions continuing through Monday to Thursday, ending on Friday at noon. It featured eighteen speakers, a veritable ‘who's who’ of both the archival and historical communities. What was surprising to the organisers was the number of registrants. The initial baseline of success had been a registration of twenty to twenty-five. When the registrations passed fifty, it was clear that there was a greater interest in archival education than had been initially thought.
The 1975 archives workshop achieved several professional goals. First, the Archives Committee felt the exhilaration of accomplishment and success. Second, the event demonstrated that there was a larger archival community than the Archives Committee had been aware existed. Third, counting the speakers and the participants, over seventy had attended, a number which seemed large enough to begin thinking about the formation of a separate archival organisation.
The next meeting of the NZLA Archives Committee, held in Christchurch in February 1976, had a full slate of sessions. However, the most significant discussion followed the regular meeting, members then debating the formation of an archival organisation separate from the New Zealand Library Association. The concept raised several important issues. The first was whether there were sufficient full-time archivists and/or supporters to create a viable organisation. There was consensus that there were not enough archivists to form an association based solely on full-time, qualified professionals, but it was felt that by broadening the membership to include those working in archives in other capacities, as well as supporters such as historians and genealogists, such an organisation might emerge. A resolution that ‘effective steps be taken to form a New Zealand Archives and Records Association’ was passed, and a subcommittee of Stuart Strachan, Rosemary Collier and Tom Wilsted was appointed to investigate the possibility of forming the new organisation.
Over the next eight months the subcommittee sought input from the NZLA Archives Committee and from potential members of the new association. An article about the new organisation appeared in Archifacts and small meetings were held with interested groups in several centres. A constitution was drafted, and on 2 October, 1976, 45 people met in Wellington to review this document, J E Traue chairing the meeting. With several minor alterations, the constitution was given unanimous approval. The initial election of officers then ensued. Membership dues were set at $6.00 for individual members and $10.00 for institutional members.
The excitement following ARANZ's formation might well have dissipated, and the organisation might never have survived, had its founders rested on their laurels. What sealed ARANZ's success were several ‘quick wins’ that established its drive toward professionalism, expanded its membership and gave it stature within the library, historical and government communities. One of the organisation's first steps was to approach the New Zealand Library Association seeking permission to make Archifacts an ARANZ publication. With this approval readily given, Stuart Strachan upgraded the format to a journal style, the first issue of Archifacts as an ARANZ publication appearing in February 1977. Initial issues followed the earlier content but the journal slowly expanded, longer and more substantive articles soon being published. Archifacts continued to be a primary means of communicating with members, and as such a significant benefit of membership.
One of the immediate goals of ARANZ was to form branches in the main centres, Council feeling that branches would offer members opportunities to meet on a regular basis between national meetings, to develop programmes of local interest, and to broaden and encourage both local and national membership. Dunedin formed the first branch in March 1977, Wellington founding a second two months later. Branches were formed soon afterward in Auckland, Hamilton and Christchurch.
ARANZ quickly became the focus of professional education programmes for archivists. It held its first conference and annual general meeting in Wellington between 13-15 October 1977, little more than a year after its founding. This set a precedent of annual meetings bringing members together on a regular basis. The decision to hold annual meetings was important, offering members an opportunity for continuing professional education and upgraded skills. Although annual conferences could prove to be a burden over time, they offered members a return for their membership dollars, enabling informal meetings and conversation in addition to the official sessions.
ARANZ's early educational efforts were by no means limited to its annual meetings. In the early years there was a flurry of educational programmes with ARANZ either sponsor or co-sponsor, these beginning with a one-day workshop in Canterbury on the use of local records in research in November 1976. Such meetings encouraged the use of archival collections and helped establish the importance and value of archives to a wider audience. The Christchurch workshop was followed by a three-day seminar on conservation in May 1977, this being jointly sponsored with the Otago Department of Community Extension. There were 24 registrants. ARANZ's Auckland Branch planned a one-day workshop similar to that earlier held in Christchurch in July 1977. This attracted an audience of 150 persons. The Association followed these initial successes with an even larger number of programmes in 1978. Each underlined ARANZ's importance and value, not only to the archival community but also to historians, records managers and the wider cultural community. They established ARANZ’s position of professional leadership and, finally, served as venues to encourage new members.
There was one other ‘quick win’ that helped establish ARANZ’s leadership and credibility. At the second meeting of the founding Council, in December 1976, the possibility of bringing an overseas archivist to New Zealand to review the current status of the country's archives, to write a report and to make recommendations for future archival development was discussed. ARANZ officers then approached the National Lottery Board, seeking funding for the proposal. They received a favourable response. From the outset ARANZ sought to establish its authority and leadership, choosing the reviewing archivist and making it clear the final report would be presented to ARANZ, not to the government.
With funding approved, ARANZ selected Dr Wilfred I Smith, Dominion Archivist of Canada, an individual of immense international archival stature and an archivist with the background and experience to fit with the New Zealand situation. Almost immediately the planning of an itinerary began. Appointments were scheduled in several centres, in order to involve as many people as possible. Prior to Dr Smith's visit, a questionnaire was circulated to all New Zealand archival repositories. The results of this questionnaire were shared with Dr Smith prior to his visit. They provided a baseline of data on archival organisations against which progress in the profession could be measured. Dr Smith spent six weeks in New Zealand in February and March of 1978. During that time he visited eight cities, held six public meetings, met with university researchers, visited the major archival agencies, and met with government leaders responsible for national archival programmes. His visit received good press coverage in each of the venues, encouraged public dialogue on archival issues, and reinforced ARANZ’s professional leadership
Dr Smith's report appeared in July 1978, a special ARANZ Conference being convened in Wellington in the following September to discuss his findings. His recommendations were no surprise, reflecting well-established professional issues and concerns. Dr Smith's major criticism was of the small amount of resources spent on preserving and making accessible archival holdings. Other highlighted issues included the low status of the National Archives, the need to update the Archives Act of 1957, deficiencies in education and training, the organisational relationship between the National Archives and the Alexander Turnbull Library, and the relationship of these two agencies to archival agencies throughout the rest of the country.
The Smith Report was a ‘quick win’ for a number of reasons. The first was that the organisation was able to organise a complex task very quickly, and to end up with a sound final product, a written report with recommendations. Second, the organisation gained both publicity and national stature through the process, this imparting the authority needed to push its ongoing issues and concerns. Third, the report provided ARANZ both with a professional agenda and a basis for future planning which would drive its programmes and a legislative agenda for a number of years.
With the successful publication of the Smith Report, the Archives and Records Association of New Zealand completed the first two years of its official existence. With a membership of nearly 400, the organisation far surpassed its leaders' early expectations. Although it had not established standards for archival education, it had developed an energetic programme of popular and specialised courses and workshops directed at a wide variety of audiences. It was making itself felt as a leader in shaping public opinion on archives and in setting a national agenda for it members' and its country's future.
In establishing its position of leadership, ARANZ was not alone. In other parts of the world archivists were forming new organisations at a surprisingly rapid rate. While these frequently had different historical roots, the timing reflects widespread concern about similar issues, as well as a major growth in the number of archivists. The formation of the Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) preceded that of ARANZ by exactly one year. As in New Zealand, Australian archivists had been professionally aligned with librarians. From 1951, until the formation of ASA in 1975, they had met on a regular basis as the Archives Committee of the Library Association of Australia (LAA). Also as in other countries, the Australian universities and academic communities had grown enormously during the 1960s and 1970s. Between 1960 and 1975 the number of students enrolled in Australian universities grew from 53,000 to nearly 150,000, an increase of 179%. Faculty growth was slightly smaller, an increase in the order of 118% being recorded during that same period. New university special collections and archives were also established and grew very quickly during this period, as did the number of archivists. During the 1960s and early 1970s, as librarians became increasingly involved in narrowly focused library professional issues, archivists looked increasingly towards their own specific interests and goals. One outcome was a drop in attendance at the section activities held at the annual LAA conferences.
In 1973, Archives and Manuscripts editor R M Sharman issued Archives Section members with a challenge to increase submissions to the journal, or find another editor, or create a new organisation to operate the journal. Michael Saclier from the Australian National University took up the challenge. At the Archives Committee's August 1983 Perth meeting, Saclier led an effort to establish a steering committee to investigate the establishment of an archival organisation separate from the LAA.
During the formation of the Australian Society of Archivists, there were two other concurrent events in Australian archival circles that reflected both the growth of the profession and the significance of archives within the cultural and historical spheres. The first was Canadian archivist W. Kaye Lamb's visit to Australia in 1973. Lamb's visit, at the behest of the Australian government, came as a result of concerns about the need to bolster the Commonwealth Archives. They were the result of criticism by historians of the Australian government's unwillingness to provide reasonable access to government archives. Lamb visited Canberra, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne, meeting with historians, archivists and librarians. His report appeared in 1974, and significantly it focused on issues similar to those raised by Wilfred Smith in New Zealand four years later. These included the status of Australia's Commonwealth Archives, the types of activities in which the National Archives should be involved, the drafting of new and expanded archival legislation, lifting archival restrictions and establishing a public body to serve as an adjudicator in cases of conflict between researchers and the Commonwealth Archives. Lamb's report gave Australian archivists an opportunity to air their views and helped provide them with an agenda as they moved toward the founding of their new professional organisation.
The other event was the founding of the new archival training programme in the Library School at the University of New South Wales in 1974. As the first full-fledged graduate archival education programme in either North America or Australia, it reflected the demand for new archivists. Under the capable leadership of Peter Orlovich, a new generation of Australian archivists began to be trained. Through offering a graduate degree, the School provided a standard credential for new archivists. Other graduate programmes in Australia followed this initial model.
The Australian Society of Archivists held its initial meeting in Canberra in April 1975. In form, it took its cue from other professional association models, with both professional and associate categories of membership. Criteria for professional membership included an advanced degree or an undergraduate degree and a certain number of years of professional experience. It established a pattern of biennial rather than annual general meetings. It also requested the transfer of the publication of Archives and Manuscripts from the Library Association of Australia.
The ASA immediately offered its members both professional support and a forum for discussion. Its biennial conferences frequently provided invited speakers of international stature. During its first two years of existence, membership totalled nearly 250 members. Approximately half were in the professional category, but there was disappointment that a larger number of non-professional associate members had not joined. Archives and Manuscripts became a vibrant means of communication within the ASA. Submissions increased and there were lively discussions on a range of important professional issues. As the archival profession grew in Australia, its professional association performed an important role in representing member interests, providing educational opportunities, and furnishing a forum for discussion.
The Association of Canadian Archivists was also founded in 1975, reflecting similar growth in the numbers of archivists and a growing interest in professional development. In contrast to Australia and New Zealand, Canadian archivists were trained primarily as historians, their prior professional linkage being with the Canadian Historical Association (CHA). Although an Archives Committee was established within the CHA, as early as 1964 the creation of a separate archival association had been suggested, but the proposal was received without great enthusiasm.
Through the late 1960s and early 1970s, however, growth in the number of archival positions was far greater than in Australia. In 1968, the Public Archives of Canada employed a total of 270 persons. By 1982 that number had increased more than 150% to nearly 700. Although the growth was uneven, by 1968 each Canadian province had an archives, and there was generally an upward trend in provincial funds and an increase in the number of positions. At the university level, the number of college and university archives increased by nearly 50% between 1966 and 1979, around 40 individual archives being created. This reflected similar trends in the increase of university students and faculty. During the 1960s the student population grew by more than 170% while faculty increased by nearly 160%.
Activity in the Archives Section of the CHA increased significantly during this period. The section established a Bulletin in 1973 to facilitate better communication among its members. Most archivists received professional training through the two-week archival institute offered by the Public Archives, but the section was also enthusiastic about expanding professional educational opportunities for archivists. In 1973 the Executive Committee of the Archives Section began investigating the possibility of forming a separate association. Hugh Taylor chaired the ‘Committee on the Future’, which reported its findings to the 1974 section meeting in Toronto.
A constitution was drafted and approved in June 1975, the Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA) becoming a reality at a meeting held in Edmonton, Alberta, later that year. The initial focus was on communication between its members and the development of educational programmes. The ACA established both professional and associate membership categories, with an advanced degree requirement for professional members. An initial membership of over 200 had grown to 400 by 1982. The Association continued to publish the Bulletin, but also decided to launch a more ambitious scholarly publication. The first issue of Archivaria appeared in 1976. Although the early issues focused on strictly Canadian issues, Archivaria soon drew authors and articles from a wide spectrum of countries, becoming one of the pre-eminent archival publications in the world.
The ACA initiated a pattern of annual conferences that offered members a variety of training and educational sessions. It sought to establish educational standards and to encourage graduate educational programmes. By 1982 the University of British Columbia was offering a graduate degree in archival studies, thereby providing a means for graduate students to enter the profession.
While Canada’s Archives Committee transformed itself into the Association of Canadian Archivists, there was also a surge of interest in professional issues at the local level. As a result, archivists moved quickly to form local professional associations. The Toronto Area Archivists Group was formed in1973. By 1977 its membership had reached 120. The year 1973 also witnessed the first steps in the formation of the Association of British Columbia Archivists. By 1975 a formal constitution had been adopted and membership stood at 50 persons. Other provincial archival groups soon followed. Together they provided an active group of archivists, some of whom primarily functioned on a national level, others finding their provincial group their professional home. The local groups promoted semi-annual meetings, generally scheduled between the annual national meetings offered by the ACA. The local groups often provided newsletters and developed publishing and other specialised programmes.
In marked contrast to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, the United States began the 1970s with a well-established professional association of archivists. The Society of American Archivists (SAA) was in its fourth decade by 1971, with a total individual membership of over 1,000. SAA would grow to 1,300 by 1974, a third generation of archivists since its foundation entering the profession. The growth in SAA membership reflected the rapid post 1960 growth in the number of archives and archival programmes. The first major comprehensive guide to American archival repositories, which appeared in 1961, listed a total of 1300 archives or manuscript repositories. A little more than a decade later, the National Historical Publications Committee began gathering a database of repositories. By the time this was published in 1978 more than 3,500 archives and manuscripts repositories had been listed.
As new archivists joined their professional association, they brought with them issues that reflected the ferment and change of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The new generation of archivists sought a more democratic professional association, one that encouraged a diverse membership and supported both male and female archivists. It challenged the SAA on issues such as appointment of younger archivists to committees, also urging paired elections rather than slates prepared by a leadership appointed nominating committee. SAA leadership responded to these concerns by setting up ‘The Committee on the Seventies’ to review SAA as an organisation and recommend changes in its structure and constitution.
With the SAA being slow in responding to concerns, activist archivists soon moved to develop new regional associations, associations that they felt would better meet the needs of individual members, be more democratic in nature, and offer a lower cost alternative for individual archivists. Because SAA had no provision for branch membership, each of the groups was formed independently of both SAA and of each other. In just two years – 1972/1973 – six new regional archival organisations were formed. These new organisations covered the greater part of the United States, and they offered archivists new professional meeting places. The regional organisations followed the SAA membership pattern of not requiring a professional or a graduate degree. Most of the new archival associations began as relatively small groups. For instance, after its initial meeting in 1972 the Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) had a total of 111 members. Similarly, the New England Archives Conference (NEA) had just over 100 members when it formed the same year. However, within a decade MAC membership would total 1,000 and the NEA would have nearly 300 members.
As they quickly responded to professional needs, most of the new associations established bi-annual meeting schedules with meeting places moving around the particular regions. Each established a newsletter to communicate with members on a regular basis. Two of them, the Midwest Archives Conference and the Society of Georgia Archivists, established professional journals, Archival Issues and Provenance, these providing additional avenues for professional publishing. Some regional organisations developed active educational programmes, the more elaborate offering multi-day or multi-week archival educational institutes, others workshops as part of their regular meetings.
While the greatest growth in regional organisations in the United States was in 1972/73, it did not stop at that point. Additional organisations formed over the next decade. By 1983 there were 29 regional or local archival associations. An initial reaction was to see these regional organisations as rivals to the SAA, but because of the crossover in membership between the SAA and the regional archival organisations they became complementary rather than competitive. As less costly alternatives to SAA, the regional associations attracted newer and younger members of the profession, many of whom later joined the national body of archivists. As the regional associations matured, formal channels of communication were established with the SAA, the organisations working together to support common professional issues and concerns. These included supporting an independent National Archives, as well as financial support for archival programmes from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The rapid growth of professional archival associations within New Zealand, Australia and North America during the 1970s clearly reflected a growth in the number of archivists and burgeoning profession interests and concerns. As archivists sought to establish themselves as professionals, they began forming professional organisations to represent their interests, provide a means of facilitating and/or regulating training, and serve as bodies that set standards. Although the catalysts for the formation of organisations were slightly different in each country, there were common circumstances, issues and concerns. The rapid growth in both the number of archives and archivists has been noted. This resulted from expansion of both the educational community and national and regional governments. The growth in the profession also reflected maturation of the national cultures, as well as escalating public interest in preserving cultural heritage. The result was the rapid development of a new and emerging group of professional associations.
Looking back over a quarter of a century, the common professional interests and concerns that drove the initial members to form a new association in New Zealand are still central to that organisation today. The issues of professional education, the status of archives and archivists, professional concerns about records preservation and access, continue to resonate at professional meetings, in published journals, and legislatures, as archivists lobby on professional issues. In building ARANZ, the founders were part of a larger world movement seeking to establish professional credentials and standards. In a world tied more closely together by rapid communication and transportation, working together for common professional goals will continue to expand. The next 25 years offer ARANZ an opportunity to expand its professional involvement on a world stage, to become a participant as professional issues are discussed and decided on a global scale. I look forwarding to learning about ARANZ's participation and involvement in these discussions in the coming years and to working together with you on issues that transcend national boundaries.
