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salaries and attitudes about the corporate sector



One of the aspects of the recent discussion about low archival salaries
and job descriptions was the manner in which some complained (whined?)
about low salaries but readily dismissed the options of seeking records
positions within corporations as somehow being distasteful to them.  I
found this problematic for two reasons.

First, a very large portion of the working American archivists, perhaps
as many as one half, are in colleges and universities.  Academic
institutions are being subjected to the same trends and pressures as
found in corporations.  Yesterday, Keith Gallagher, on the H-NET List for
American Studies, wrote: "I strongly recommend Clyde Barrow's
UNIVERSITIES AND THE CAPITALIST STATE: CORPORATE LIBERALISM AND THE
RECONSTRUCTION OF AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION, 1894-1928.  This book will
give historical grounding to the current uproar, or celebration, over the
"corporatization of the university."  Barrow provides vital information
on the rise of the modern university system within a setting of growing
corporate domination, the university's function as part of the
capitalist-state ideological machine, and the obvious (though often
unexamined in scholarly circles for transparent reasons) conflict between
private economic power and the pursuit of democracy.  Often the
university has been viewed as above the boil of society, political
conflicts, and power and privilege generally.  Barrow dispels with that
notion and amply demonstrates that corporations and government have long
been the dominant social forces in setting the institutional goals and
framework of the
American university.  To this day in esteemed universities, the notion
that state-capitalist political economy could play a role in university
functions can be censored as "under the woodpile," and the messenger
pilloried-instead of honestly examining the fact that it is a part of its
(and other institution's) constitutional sap and then facing the
consequences of this relationship."  Gallagher then added: "Cary Nelson,
David Noble, and many others have commented on recent developments.  Eyal
Press and Jennifer Washburn just published an accessible article titled
"The Kept University" in the March, 2000 Atlantic Monthly. You might have
your students go to the web sites of major universities and poke around.
Without exception there are units devoted to cultivating the relationship
between corporations and the university.  Look at the bevy of attorneys,
accountants, and other apparatchiks managing the joint.  This is
nothing new, though the open courting and solicitude towards the
corporate sector is a telling indication on how far higher ed is drifting
from any popular accountability.  I would venture to guess that there are
buildings, fellowships, endowed chairs, endorsements and so forth on
almost every campus across the nation that celebrate the growing
servility by their very names. Rarely do you find a building or chair
named after a working person or those who stuck their necks out and
fought for their economic, civil, and social rights--with notable
exceptions such as the Harry Bridges Chair in Labor History at the
University of Washington that only prove the general rule."  So, should
archivists not work in academic positions merely because their host
organizations are being buffeted by corporate tendencies?

Second, if we reject working in the corporate sector so glibly, how will
we ultimately be able to ensure that their records will be preserved?  As
most of you know, from my own writings, I believe that archival repositories
will not be able to "collect" modern corporate records and that the best
solution resides in working to establish corporate archives.  Turning our
professional backs towards the corporate entity, for whatever reason, is
not going to enable us to deal with their records.  As professional
archivists, we have a responsibility to work with ALL segments of
society, including corporations.  That corporations are different, with
differing mandates, does not mean that their records are any less important.


Richard J. Cox
Associate Professor
Department of Library and Information Sciences
School of Information Sciences
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Voice:  412-624-3245
FAX:    412-648-7001
e-mail: rjc@lis.pitt.edu
homepage: http://www.lis.pitt.edu/~rjc

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