manuscript curator
n.
An individual responsible for appraising, acquiring, arranging, describing, preserving, and providing access to a collection of original documents; an archivist.
Notes
The use of 'archivist' to describe a manuscript curator is common in the United States. Some archives use the phrase to distinguish responsibilities for different types of materials. For example, a manuscript curator is responsible for collections of textual documents, while a photograph curator is responsible for collections of photographs. 'Manuscript curator' is also used by some to distinguish individuals responsible for assembled or acquired collections, or for collections unconnected to the archives' parent organization. 'Manuscript curator' is sometimes related to the historical manuscripts tradition, which relied on techniques of curating materials based on principles of librarianship that emphasized item-level control rather than collection-level control.
