Lester J. Cappon, an Unwritten Textbook, and Early Archival Education in the United States

Not long ago, preparing to become an archivist was a complicated affair, as we see in examining Lester Cappon’s career as a teacher. Cappon ran a summer institute in historical administration at Radcliffe, participated in crucial debates about archival education, presented guest lectures in undergraduate and graduate courses whenever the opportunity presented itself, advocated for more rigorous graduate programs in archival work and documentary editing, and consistently argued about the synergy between teaching and publishing. In all that he did, history and historical scholarship were the central points of what one needed to know to become an archivist, an idea seemingly left behind as archival education has become ensconced in library, information science, and information schools. Although he failed to complete a book about historical and archival manuscripts that could be used in the classroom, Cappon’s commitment to the project and the publication of a few selected chapters mark his place as a pioneer in archival education.