A Modern Archives Reader: Basic Readings on Archival Theory and Practice brings together for the first time in a single volume classic ssays of archival literature that outline and define the basic theories of ar hives administration plus more recent articles that reexamine basic concepts and demonstrate the practical application of archival principles. Included here are essays originally published in The American Archivist, Georgia Archive, The Midwestern Archivist, The Drexel Library Quarterly, Picturescope, Contemporary Re- miew, and A Manual of Archival Techniques. The Reader also reprints several mard-to-obtain Staff Information Papers of the National Archives. Essays on subject guides and archival terminology, a glossary of archival terms, and suggestions for further reading have been prepared especially for this volume.

The Reader will be of special interest to all archivists and students of archives administration. It includes essays applicable to the care of both orga- nizational records and the personal papers of families and individuals. Its contents are also relevant to large and small archival institutions.

A Modern Archives Reader was developed for use in the Modern Archives Institute: Introduction to Modern Archives Administration. The Institute is the oldest continuous archival training program in the United States. It was founded in 1945 by Ernst Posner, who directed the Institute for The American University in cooperation with the National Archives. The Institute continues now under the aegis of the National Archives and Records Service, in coopera- tion with the Library of Congress. More than 1,700 archivists have received their archival training in the Modern Archives Institute.

Maygene F. Daniels is Director of the Modern Archives Institute and Special Assistant to the Deputy Archivist of the United States. Timothy Walch is Co-Director of the Institute and editor of Prologue: Journal of the National Archives.

This publication was designed by Serene Feldman Werblood.