Heather MacNeil

Contact Information
Email: 
h [dot] macneilatutoronto [dot] ca
Phone: 
416-978-4716
Room: 
BL 648
Prof. Heather MacNeil
Associate Professor
Education: 
 
  • Ph.D: Individual Interdisciplinary Studies: Archival Studies, History, Law, University of British Columbia
  • MAS: Archival Studies, University of British Columbia
  • MA: English Literature, Simon Fraser University
  • BA (Honours): English Literature, University of Guelph
 
Administrative responsibilities: 

Member, Programs Committee

Member, Committee on Standing

Past responsibilities: 
 
Faculty of Information
  • Coordinator, Archives and Records Management Path
  • MISt Admissions Committee Member
  • Evaluation of Instruction Committee Member
  • New Core Curriculum Committee Member

Other

Chair, Master of Archival Studies Program, School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, University of British Columbia (2005-2008)
 
Biography: 
 
Heather MacNeil is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information where she teaches courses on archival concepts and issues, the history of record keeping, and archival representation. Her research and publications focus on the theory and methods of archival arrangement and description and the authenticity of records in analog and digital environments. In her current research she is exploring archival description as a rhetorical genre in traditional and Web-based environments. She is the author of Without Consent (1992) and Trusting Records (2000) and co-editor, along with Terry Eastwood, of Currents of Archival Thinking (2010).
 
Honours & awards: 
 
Research highlight: 

Professor MacNeil is currently working on a SSHRC-funded research project examining archival description as rhetorical genre in traditional and web-based environments. Her research interests include theory and methodology of archival arrangement and description, and issues of authenticity in traditional and digital environments.

Research description: 
 

Research interests

  • Archival arrangement
  • Archival description
  • Record authenticity
  • Descriptive standards
  • Multi-disciplinary perspectives on record trustworthiness
  • Rhetorical genre theory

Teaching interests

  • Archival concepts and issues
  • History of record-keeping practices
  • Theory and methodology of archival arrangement and description
  • Archival representation

Recent Research Projects

Dec. 2009-Mar. 2011
Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation Grant. From Coexistence to Convergence: Studying Partnerships and Collaboration Among Libraries, Archives and Museums. Principal investigator: Wendy Duff; co-investigators: Jennifer Carter, Joan Cherry, Lynne Haworth, Heather MacNeil.

Apr. 2009-Apr. 2012
SSHRC Standard Research Grant. Archival Description as Rhetorical Genre in Traditional and Webbased Environments. Principal investigator.

Apr. 2007-Apr. 2008
UBC Hampton/HSS Large Grant. Intentionality and Representation in the Arrangement of Three Writers' Archives. Principal investigator.

Apr. 2003-Apr. 2006; ext. Apr. 2008
SSHRC Standard Research Grant. Archival Description and the Apparatus of Authenticity. Principal investigator.
 
Selected publications: 

Journal Articles

MacNeil, Heather. “Trusting Description: Authenticity, Accountability and the General International Standard for Archival Description.” Journal of Archival Organization 7:3 (2009): 89-107.

Douglas, Jennifer and Heather MacNeil. “Arranging the Self: Literary and Archival Perspectives on Writers’ Archives.” Archivaria 67 (Spring 2009): 25-39.
 
MacNeil, Heather. "Archivalterity: Rethinking Original Order.” Archivaria 66 (Fall 2008): 1-24.
 

MacNeil, Heather and Bonnie Mak. "Constructions of Authenticity." Library Trends 56:1 (Summer 2007): 26-52.

MacNeil, Heather. "From the Memory of the Act to the Act Itself: The Evolution of Written Records as Proof of Jural Acts in England, 11th to 17th Century." Archival Science.  6:3-4 (Dec. 2006): 313-328.

MacNeil, Heather. “‘Picking Our Text’: Archival Description, Authenticity and the Archivist as Editor.” American Archivist 68:2 (Fall/Winter 2005): 264-78.

MacNeil, Heather. "Contemporary Archival Diplomatics as a Method of Inquiry: Lessons Learned from Two Research Projects.” Archival Science 4.3-4 (2004): 199- 232.

MacNeil, Heather. “Trusting Records in a Postmodern World.” Archivaria 51 (Spring 2001): 36-47.

Books: Authored

MacNeil, Heather. Trusting Records: Legal, Historical, and Diplomatic Perspectives. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2000. 163 pp.

MacNeil, Heather. Without Consent: The Ethics of Disclosing Personal Information held in Public Archives. New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1992; reprinted 2001. 224 pp.

Books: Co-Authored

Duranti, Luciana, Eastwood, Terry, MacNeil, Heather. The Preservation of the Integrity of Electronic Records. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2002. 172 pp.

Books: Co-Edited

Eastwood, Terry and MacNeil, Heather, eds. Currents of Archival Thinking. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Libraries Unlimited, 2010. 254 pp.

Conference Papers

2010, Aug. 13. Joint Annual Meeting of the Council of State Archivists, the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators, and the Society of American Archivists. Washington, DC. Paper delivered: “Trusting Description.” [reprise of presentation given at 2009 ACA conference].

2010, Jul. 1. Fifth International Conference on the History of Records and Archives. London, UK. With Barbara Craig, delivered paper entitled: Narratives of technology in bureaucracy: selected images of offices in the British Civil Service, ca. 1918-1947.”

2010, Jun. 12. Association of Canadian Archivists’ annual conference. Halifax, N.S. Commentator for session entitled “Toppling Giants? Can Visual Analytics Replace Traditional Approaches to Archival Description?”

2009, May 15. Association of Canadian Archivists’ annual conference. Calgary, Alta. Paper delivered: “Authenticity, Accountability, and Standards for Archival Description.”
 

2008, Jul. 10 – Aberystwyth, Wales. “Archive Fervour/Archive Further: Literature, Archives, and Literary Archives.” Conference held at University of Wales at Aberystwyth. With Jennifer Douglas, delivered paper: “Arranging the Self: Literary and Archival Perspectives on Writers’ Archives.”

2007, Jun. 23 – Association of Canadian Archivists’ annual conference. Kingston, Ont. Paper delivered: “Authenticity, Intentionality and Originality in Art Works and Archives.”

2006, Nov. 7 – American Society for Information Science and Technology 2006 Annual Meeting, Austin, Texas. Paper delivered: Authenticity and the Trusted Custodian: The Role of Archivists in the Long-Term Preservation of Digital Records.”

In Book

MacNeil, Heather, et al. "Establishing and Maintaining Trust in Electronic Records: The Final Report of the Authenticity Task Force." In The Long Term Preservation of Authentic Electronic Records: The Findings of the InterPARES Project, ed.  Duranti, Luciana. San Miniato, Italy: Archilab, 2005, 19-65.

MacNeil, Heather. “Information Privacy, Liberty, and Democracy.” In Privacy and Confidentiality Reader: Archivists and Archival Records, ed. Menzi Behrnd-Klodt and Peter Wosh. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2005, 67-81.

MacNeil, Heather. "Research Uses of Personal Information: Some Ethical Considerations.” In The Power and Passion of Archives: A Festschrift in Honour of Kent Haworth, 1946-2003, ed. Marion Beyea, Reuben Ware and Cheryl Avery. Ottawa: Association of Canadian Archivists, 2005, 85-112. Note: re-issue, with minor revisions and a new introduction, of chapter six of author's book Without Consent (1992; rpt. 2001).

Misc

Recent Invited Presentations

  • 2010, Jul. 5 – Wolfson College, Oxford, UK. FARMER. Questions of Trust: Archives, Records, and Identities,” an international conference sponsored by the Forum for Archives and Records Management Education and Research for the UK and Ireland in association with Network of Archival Educators and Trainers. 2010, July 5-6. Delivered opening keynote address entitled: Trust and professional identity: narratives, counter-narratives, and lingering ambiguities.”
  • 2008, Apr. 29 – University of Calgary. W.F.M. Stewart Lecture. Paper delivered: “Archivalterity.”
  • 2007, Sept. 25 – Yale University. Beinecke Library. SCOPA Forum. Paper delivered: “Authenticity, Intentionality, and Original Order: Lessons Learned from the New Textual Scholarship.”
  • 2007, Jun. 26 – London, UK. ARMReN: Archives and Records Management Research Network. Research Workshop. Keynote address delivered: “Recent Trends in Archival Description: The Finding Aid as Cultural Text.”
  • 2007, Feb. 15 – Havana, Cuba. Informatica 2007: VII Seminario Iberoamericano de Seguridad en Tecnologias de la Informacion. Paper delivered: “Trusting Records in a Digital World: Creating and Maintaining Reliable and Authentic Records.”

Report

Project Report

Thesis

Master Thesis

  • “’That Obscure Object of Desire’: Shakespeare’s Use of Sexual Disguise in As You Like It and Twelfth Night”

MAS Thesis

  • "In Search of the Common Good: The Ethics of Disclosing Personal Information Held in Public Archives”

PhD Thesis

  • “Trusting Records: The Evolution of Legal, Historical, and Diplomatic Methods for Assessing the Trustworthiness of Records, from Antiquity to the Digital Age”
Supervision: 
 
Ph.D students supervised: 3
 

MAS/MLIS theses supervised: 3

Affiliations & collaboration: 
 
Societies
  • International Council on Archives, (Aug. 2000 – Aug. 2004)
  • Archives Association of British Columbia, (May 1991 – Jun. 2008)
  • Society of American Archivists, (Jan. 1990 - )
  • Association of Canadian Archivists, (Sept.1985 - )

Committees

  • Member, Committee on Education. Society of American Archivists (2010-2013)
  • Chair, Canadian Council of Archives (CCA) Invitational Meeting of Experts Implementation Working Group (2008- 2010); Member (2010-2012)
  • Member, Project Management Board. Community Archives Research Project. University College London (2007-2009)
  • Research Associate, International Centre for Archives and Records Management Research and User Studies (ICARUS), SLAIS, University College London (2007- )
  • Member, Standing Committee on Education, Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA) (2006-2007)
  • Member, Standards Committee, CCA (2001-2006)
  • Member, Committee on Micrographics and Image Management, Canadian General Standards Boar(1999-2005)
  • Member, Archivaria Editorial Board, ACA (2000-2003; 2003-2008; 2008-2013)
  • Chair, Publications Board, Society of American Archivists (SAA) (2001-2003)
  • Member, Publications Board, SAA (1999-2001; 2003-2005)