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Dissertation Information for Tywanna Marie Whorley

NAME:
- Tywanna Marie Whorley

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- University of Pittsburgh (USA) (2006)

ADVISORS:
- Richard Cox

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Ellen Detlefsen
- Elizabeth Yakel
- Margaret M. Kimmel
- Stephen B. Thomas
- Joe William Trotter Jr.

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: Access and control over controversial records

Abstract: No doubt throughout all past time there actually occurred a series of events which, whether we know what it was or not, constitutes history in some ultimate sense...The event itself once occurred, but as an actual event it has disappeared; so that in dealing with it the only objective reality we can observe or test is some material trace which the event has left---usually a written document. With these traces of vanished events, these documents, we must be content since they are all we have; from them we infer what the event was, we affirm that it is a fact that the event was so and so. 1

As the nation's archives, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) preserves and provides access to records that document how our government conducts business on behalf of the American people---past and present. For the American citizen, NARA provides a form of accountability through the records within its custody which affect the nation's collective memory. A plethora of these records, however, contain evidence of the federal government's misconduct in episodes in American history which affected public trust. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study records are a prime example of records within the custody of NARA that continue to have a lasting affect on public trust in the federal government. Even though NARA disclosed administrative records that document the government's role in the study, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study records continue to challenge the institution on a variety of archival issues such as access, privacy, collective memory, and accountability. Through historical case study methodology, this study examines the National Archives and Records Administration's administrative role in maintaining and providing access to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study records, especially the restricted information. The effect of the changing social context on NARA's recordkeeping practices of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study records is also explored.

1 Carl Becker, "Everyman His Own Historian," American Historical Review 37 (January 1932): 221.

MPACT Scores for Tywanna Marie Whorley

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:30:39

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