In this compelling and wide-ranging volume, twenty leading archivists honor Helen Willa Samuels, retired institute archivist of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, by exploring the theme of documenting modern society and its institutions, and carefully considering the implications arising from the archivist's control over social memory. Editor Terry Cook's introductory essay places the significance of Samuels' ideas in the context of modern archival practice and traces her influence on North American archival thinking. Divided in two sections, the first nine essays explore the rich contexts in which the appraisal of potential archival sources takes place and focus on understanding and managing all documentation to select the small percentage that will survive in archives. Several chapters trace how the profession is being radically transformed in the digital age with topics such as making a case for electronic records management, documenting appraisal as a societal-archival process, and challenging stereotypes about corporate archives. The second section looks at both the documentation and who is doing the documenting. Seven essays explore the nature, influences, and ethics of archivists and their roles in appraising records, documenting society and its institutions, and describing records with digital tools. A pair of retrospective reflections round out the volume, including one from Samuels, who reflects on the origins of her work on appraisal. Just as archivists shape what society can know about itself through documentation, so, too, this book is bound to shape contemporary archival perspectives about the challenges and responsibilities of "controlling the past."

In the past two centuries, cowbirds have increased in numbers and extended their range across North America, while many of the native songbird species whose nests they parasitize to raise their young have declined. This timely book collects forty essays by most of the principal authorities on the biology and management of cowbirds. The book's goals are to explore the biology of cowbirds, the threats they pose to host species and populations, and the management programs that are being undertaken to minimize these threats.

The book is organized into five sections, each with an extended editors' introduction that places the contributions in a broad, up-to-date setting. The sections cover:

• The changing abundance of cowbirds and the ways in which their numbers can be estimated.
• Host choice by cowbirds, the negative effects of cowbirds on particular host species, and the daily patterns of cowbird behavior.
• Behavioral interactions between cowbirds and specific host species.
• Patterns of cowbird abundance and host use across varying landscapes.
• Management programs designed to control cowbirds and protect threatened songbirds.