Francis X. Blouin, Jr. and William G. Rosenburg. Processing the Past: Contesting Authority in History and the Archives. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 272p. ISBN 978-0199740543. $74

Abstract

Processing the Past is an examination of the evolution of professional archival management and its relationship to the study of history. As the title states, much of this book deals with the concept of authority, from both an archival and an intellectual perspective, and seeks to build understanding in the increasingly separate worlds of the historian and archival professional. Blouin and Rosenburg, an archivist and historian, have labeled this disparity the “archival divide” and, in the course of Processing the Past, trace its beginnings, meanings, and consequences for archivists, historians, and the creation of archives past and present.

The book . . .