n.an archival resource originating from the activities of its creatorGracy 1977, 6There are also three varieties of collections: (1) organic collections formed on the principle of provenance, which are, as we have seen, either papers of individuals or records of organizations, (2) “collective” collections that contain both papers and records within one manuscript group, as occurs when the records of a company include the papers of a founder, or vice versa, and (3) an “artificial” collection.Cole 1979, 68Writing in the Atlantic Monthly, Putnam assesses the collections and services of the Library, “an appreciation of which must precede any serviceable discussion of the future.” He concludes with a summary of the “negative aspects” of the situation: “The Library of Congress is not now, as a collection, an organic collection, even for the most particular service it has to render; it is not yet classified, nor equipped with the mechanism necessary to its effective use; the present organization is but partial; and the resources have yet to be provided not merely for the proper development of the collection, but for the work of bringing the existing material into condition for effective service.” (Atlantic Monthly 85: 145–58)NPS 1990, 11Expanding Manuscript Folders ¶ . . . Used to contain documents in archival file folders grouped together as part of an organic collection.Russell and Hutchinson 2000, 176Clearly, the literature of archival theory has mosdy [sic] been concerned with the large, organic collections generated by bodies in the course of their business.Cox 2005b, 95In his last annual report for the University of Virginia, Cappon had harped on the problems of dealers “breaking up organic collections of manuscripts and offering them for sale piecemeal.” [footnote]NPS 2008, 3Archival collections or manuscript collections created by a single person or organization are “organic collections,” because they grow naturally as the result of the record creator’s activities. They include the letters, reports, receipts, and other documents that a person or organization accumulates and files as they go about their business.NPS 2008, 100Organic collections: Files routinely created as part of the day-to-day activities of a person, group, or organization. The records have a systematic relationship to each other that reflects their function and the activities and viewpoint of their creator. Organic collections are sometimes referred to as “archives.” They are said to exhibit integrity (their provenance and original order has been retained). Personal papers, organizational records (acquired archives), resources management records (including associated records), active records (including museum records), and inactive records may be organic.Vermeersch 2019, 201Historians of premodern Korea struggle with the apparent absence of any genuine archives. Although documents that are traditionally seen to belong in an archive have been transmitted, they are nearly all unique samples. In other words, they do not form part of an organic collection; they are random examples that somehow have been preserved.
