Beatrice Ann Hulsberg wrote:
"You have touched on a curator vs. archivist controversy. From a curator's
standpoint I lament the breaking apart of a photograph album....I believe
that the instinct to rip it apart to "organize the photos" can be solved...."

There is no controversy here. Archivists live by two rules, provenance and
original order.  No archivist would rip a photo album apart and "organize
the photos."  If the photos were endangered by the album because of acidic
paper, the photos might be removed but only after documenting their original
order and context within the album.  Given the quantity of archival material,
we don't have the time or energy to reorganize anything if we can help it.

Michael Knies
Collections Manager/Archivist
Canal Museum
Easton, PA
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