Vatican Archives provides the first comprehensive guide to one of the richest archival sources for the history of the Western world. Organized into related agency groups, it includes approximately 500 entries that describe the purpose and workings of each administrative agency of the Vatican and the official records it produces-- the very records that now constitute the archives. Serving as a research tool that provides a systematic and previously unavailable overview of the archives, this book enhances and expediates access by scholars in a broad range of disciplines.

Processing the Past explores the dramatic changes taking place in historical understanding and archival management, and hence the relations between historians and archivists. Written by an archivist and a historian, it shows how these changes have been brought on by new historical thinking, new conceptions of archives, changing notions of historical authority, modifications in archival practices, and new information technologies. The book takes an "archival turn" by situating archives as subjects rather than places of study, and examining the increasingly problematic relationships...