Representera mera? : arkivariers förståelse av representation och personarkiv

Sammanfattning: The aim of this master’s thesis is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the concept of representation in relation to personal archives. By examining how archivists understand and relate to the concept of representation in their professional role as well as in their work with personal archives, the intention is to clarify the practical implications of the concept. Empirical data has been gathered using two methods. Firstly, and foremost, nine individual interviews have been conducted. Eight archivists and one museum assistant shared their respective understandings. In addition, cultural policy documents such as Swedish Government Official Reports and one Government bill were analysed. Acquisition policies of the examined cultural heritage institutions have also been taken into consideration. Primarily a theoretical framework consisting of Person-Centred Archival Theory and Critical Heritage Studies has been used to analyse and interpret the collected material. The study demonstrates that the interviewed archivists believe representation to be a matter of importance, yet multifaceted and sometimes complicated. The concept of representation is understood to comprise aspects of which and whose archives are maintained, access to the archives as well as the intermediation of archives. Furthermore, the results also clarifies that the holdings of personal archives reflect dominating power relations in society, being predominately male and upper middle-class creators. Although, what has been regarded important and worthy of acquisition has somewhat differed over time. Several of the archivists emphasize the importance of a proactive approach when acquiring personal archives. In reality, very few to none of the examined cultural heritage institutions have the capacity to operate in this way. Creating new access points when arranging and describing the personal archives is instead regarded as one possible approach to advance the representation in personal archives.