Kent M. Haworth (1946–2003) is best known for his pioneering role in the creation of archival descriptive standards in Canada. He published widely on a number of topics of importance to the development of archival theory, lectured and presented throughout the world, and was a contributing member of many national and international archival committees and associations.
Kent was editor of the British Columbia Historical News in the late 1970s and early 1980s, published by the British Columbia Historical Federation, along with Patricia Roy & Terry Eastwood.
In 1972 Haworth was hired at the Provincial Archives of British Columbia where he worked in the Manuscripts Division. In 1979 he was appointed as Chief of the PABC's Aural and Visual Records Programme, with responsibility for the management of all non-textual records held by the provincial archives. He worked as the University Archivist at the University of Toronto from 1984-1989, Public Records Archivist at the Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management from 1989-1993, and finally served as University Archivist at York University from 1993 to 2002.
Perhaps Haworth's most significant contribution to archival practice was his leadership in the creation and establishment of a national standard of archival description, the Rules for Archival Description (RAD). Haworth was part of the Planning Committee on Descriptive Standards established by the Bureau of Canadian Archivists in 1987 and later served as chair from 1989 to 1996. RAD provided a foundation for common archives development across Canada, facilitated the creation of descriptive software for archival institution and created a shared standard of practice across institutions. In addition to writing the standard, he also advocated the establishment of a national grant program (now defunct), the Canadian Council of Archives' Canadian Archival Information Network (CAIN) to support the creation and maintenance of online descriptive databases managed at the provincial level. His work on the Planning Committee on Descriptive Standards in Canada led to work on international standards bodies such as the International Congress of Archives' Committee on Descriptive Standards (CDS) in 1996. He later served as Project Director and Secretary of this body, and worked to revise ISSAR (CPF).
Haworth, Kent with Maier, Charles. "Not a Matter of Regret: Granville's Response to Seymour's Death," BC Studies, volume 27, Autumn 1975, pp.62-66.
Haworth, Kent. "The Role of the Provincial Archives in Local History: one approach to local historical collections." ABCA newsletter, number 4, August 1975, pp. 7.
Haworth, Kent. "Local Archives: Responsibilities and Challenges for Archivists" Archivaria, volume 3, Winter 1976-1977, pp. 28-39.
Haworth, Kent. "Anthony Musgrave," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, volume XI, Toronto, 1982, pp. 634-637.
Haworth, Kent. "Welfare for Archives and the Will of Archivists," Archivaria, volume 13, Winter 1981-1982, pp. 124-126.
Haworth, Kent and Jean Dryen. Developing Descriptive Standards: A Call to Action. Bureau of Canadian Archivists Planning Committee on Descriptive Standards, Occasional Paper No. 1, Ottawa, 1987).
Haworth, Kent and Wendy Duff. "The Reclamation of Archival Description: The Canadian Perspective." Archivaria, volume 31, Winter 1990-1991, pp. 26-35.
Haworth, Kent. "Standardizing Archival Description in Canada," Archivi & Computer, volume 1, issue 1, 1991, pp. 13-17.
Haworth, Kent. "The Development of Descriptive Standards in Canada: A Progress Report." Archivaria, volume 34, Summer 1992, pp. 75-90.
Haworth, Kent. "Improving Access to Government Records at PANS." The Nova Scotia Genealogist, volume 10, issue 3, 1992, pp. 108-113.
Haworth, Kent. "The Principles Speak for Themselves: Articulating a Language of Purpose for Archives," in Barbara L. Craig (ed), The Archival Imagination, Essay sin Honour of Hugh Taylor, Association of Canadian Archivists, Ottawa, 1992, pp. 90-104.
Haworth, Kent. "Dedication, in Memoriam Harold Naugler, 1942-1992" Toward International Descriptive Standards for Archives, London, 1993, pp. xi-xii.
Haworth, Kent. "The Voyage of RAD: from the Old World to the New." Archivaria, volume 36, Autumn 1993, pp. 5-12.
Haworth, Kent. ""Grasping the Big Picture" in La mission de la archivistse dans la societé, Proceeding of the 2nd Symposium of the Groupe Interdisicplinaire de Recherche en Archivistique (GIRA), Université de Montréal, 8-9 April 1994, pp. 79-86
Haworth, Kent. "Sorting our the Myth and Reality of RAD." ACA Bulletin, May 1994, pp. 10-11.
Haworth, Kent. "Standardizing Archival Description in the Information Age." Archivum vol XXXIX. Proceedings of the 12th International Congress on Archives, Paris 1994, pp. 187-199.
Haworth, Kent. "Whither the CBC archives? Who cares?" ACA Bulletin, January 1995, pp. 26-27.
Haworth, Kent. "Advancing Archival Description: A Model for Rationalizing North American Descriptive Standards" Archives and Manuscripts, volume 25, issue 2, November 1997, pp. 194-217.
Haworth, Kent. "Archives and Hospitals: Do we really need them?" ACA Bulletin, volume 22, issue 2, November 1997, pp. 14.
Haworth, Kent. "The Preservation of Digital Media: What Hope Do We Have?" ACA Bulletin, volume 22, issue 2, 1997, pp. 9-10.
Haworth, Kent. "Arguing about Deck Chairs, or Saving the Sinking Ship." AABC Newsletter, volume 8, issue 1, Winter 1998, pp.7.
Haworth, Kent. "Developing Canada's Information Network for Year 2000." Off The Record, volume 15, issue 16, issue 1, January 1999, p. 15.
Haworth, Kent. "Archival Description: Content and Context in Search of Structure." Journal of Internet Cataloguing, volume 34, 2001, pp. 7-26.
Haworth, Kent. "The Census Issue, 'Ordinary Canadians' and Dissent: An Introduction to a Formal Presentation to Statistics Canada." ACA Bulletin, March 2002, pp. 4-5.
Haworth, Kent. "Standing on the Shoulders of our Predecessors...": Preliminary conclusions of a study of Archival Description in the Netherlands and the application of International Description Standards for the purpose of Information Exchange." in Marion Beyea, Reuben Ware, Cherly Avery (eds.) The Power and Passion of Archives: a Festchrift in Honour of Kent Haworth. (Saskatoon: Association of Canadian Archivists, 2005), pp. 205-210.
