INTRODUCTION to ARCHIVAL PRINCIPLES and STANDARD PRACTICES

Salvacion M. Arlante

How Do You Start

Administering archives involves 5 broad areas: Yourself The information to manage People Financial matters Facilities, equipment and storage

administrative storage/repository reference/outreach conservation

Nature and Components Of An Archival Policy

Authority of the Archives Policy Document

Authority of the Archives

Purpose of the Archives

Definitions

ARCHIVES

What do they keep?

Records which are no longer required for current use but have been selected for permanent preservation because of their evidential or informational value.

General Conditions for ARCHIVES

Priorities: Provide a Suitable and Stable

Environment Make it Secure and Safe Ensure that there is Adequate Space Arrange or allocate the space so that

it enhances the work flow

General Conditions For Archives

Arrange or allocate the space so that it enhances the work flow Storage area ---- 60-70% of total facility Processing area ---- 15-22% Administrative area ---- 3.3 sq. m. of floor

space per member Public area Reading Room – 7-10%

Exhibits Seminar/Training

Nature of the Archives Programme

Components Acquisition and Collection Appraisal and Disposal Arrangement and Description Preservation and Storage Reference and Access Outreach Activities

Scope and Nature of ARCHIVAL REQUIREMENTS

Acquisition Arrangement and Description Preservation Access to Archives Community Education Management and Administration

ACQUISITIONS

Resources Physical Formats Users

ACQUISITION POLICY

The acquisition policy needs to clarify the archives responsible for:

materials created or used directly in the work of the parent body

active and semi-current, as well as inactive and archival records

records, which, over the life of the organization, may have been lost or removed from official custody

records of preceding bodies or closely affiliated organizations

Personal papers of individuals closely connected with the work of the parent body

Various forms of recorded information, for example, will the archives acquire only paper or film based records; will it also accept objects and memorabilia?

RESOURCES

How available is the material proposed for collection?

Do other institutions or organizations already collect this or similar materials?

What are the estimated costs of acquiring the collection?

What related resources (i.e. library materials) already exist, or are easily obtainable, to support the proposed collection?

PHYSICAL FORMATS

Unpublished manuscripts and records Printed and published material Maps, plans and architectural drawings Pictorial materials, including photographs Audio-visual materials such as cassettes,

reel to reel tapes, video tapes Computer-generated material including

computer tapes and printouts Artefacts and memorabilia, such as coins,

costumes, stamps, etc.

Resources (Institution) Basic University Records Directives (Memoranda/Administrative Orders) University Publications Messages Theses and Dissertations Faculty Papers Conference Proceedings Informal Campus Records Vertical Files Non-Print Files/Audio-Visual Materials Posters/Photographs Oral History Memorabilia (plaques, trophies, pins, etc.) Ephemera Personal Papers

Personal Papers

Biographical Features Correspondence Financial Records Legal Documents Speeches and writings Lecture notes Clippings Photographs Memorabilia Other records pertaining to professional, social

and civic organizational affiliations

Services

Reference Service Relationship with Faculty Course offerings Extension or Outreach Programs Application of New Information

Technology

Appraisal

Evaluation of the mass of source material and the selection of that portion that will be kept.

APPRAISAL

Process of determining which records are to be retained as archives and which will be destroyed. Records have two basic characteristics which determine whether or not they are archives. These are often referred to as PRIMARY EVIDENTIAL or DOCUMENTARY VALUE and the SECONDARY.

Appraisal

Is the process of evaluating records to determine their value and ultimate disposition based upon their current administrative, legal, and fiscal use; their evidential and informational content; their arrangement and condition; their intrinsic value; and their relationship to other records. This process will aid you in determining the ultimate disposition of your records which may include placement in an archives, retention for a specified period of time, or immediate destruction.

Appraisal Considerations

Physical volume Frequency of use Administrative and operational need served by

the record Legal and fiscal regulations governing

retention Historical significance Economic advantage of moving the records

from high cost office storage to low cost records storage space or direct disposal

Whether this is the record copy or a duplicate

APPRAISAL

Record Values Primary Value

Administrative Value Fiscal Value Legal Value Historical Value

Secondary Value Evidential Value Informational Value

Other Values Research Value Intrinsic Value

Records have two basic characteristics which determine whether or not they are

archives: Primary, evidential or documentary value

-- based upon the function the records had for the office or person which created and used them. Our interest as archivist lies in their value as evidence of how that office or individual conducted their business.

The three major categories of records having evidential value are those that:

have continuing administrative, legal or financial use for the body or individual which created them, or for any subsequent bodies

record details which may serve to protect the civic, legal, property or other rights of individuals or community at large

reflect the historical development of the creating body, its structures, functions, policies, decisions, and significant operations; or which reflect the evolution of the individual’s career, interest or activities

PRIMARY VALUES

Administrative Value Examples: Agency histories, annual and biennial reports,

budget and planning records, circulars, correspondence of high-level officials, directives, executive orders, hearing transcripts, interpretations, opinions, or memoranda of law, mandates, minutes and agendas of meetings and conferences, organizational and functional charts, policy and procedural manuals, political and public relations materials, regulations, special reports, staff studies, statutes, strategic planning documents, and vital operating records.

Primary Values (cont’d)

Fiscal Value Examples: accounting records, audit reports,

budgets, financial journals, reports and statements, grant agreements, ledgers, payroll records, and vouchers

Primary Values (cont’d)

Legal ValueExamples:agreements, articles of association, by-laws, civil and criminal case records, claim papers, contracts, executive orders, leases, legal dockets, licenses, ordinances, personnel records, property records, records which support judicial opinions and interpretations, rules, statutes, titles, veterans service and benefit records, and vital statistics

Primary Values (cont’d)

Historical ValueExamples:annual reports, correspondence and administrative files, hearing transcripts, meeting minutes of boards, commissions and councils, photographs, records of births, deaths, and marriages, and certain records of defunct agencies

Secondary Values

-- defined as those records which contain information which is of interest not only to the creating person or organization but also to researchers from a variety of fields of knowledge. Often such records contain information gathered originally for a purpose quite different from the uses to which the later researcher will put the records. Examples of records with informational value distinct from their role include property insurance maps and records used subsequently by persons seeking to restore old buildings to their original appearances; census data which is used for family history; or property cards and rate books, originally used to study changes in economic status or ethnicity in various neighborhoods.

SECONDARY VALUES

Evidential valueExamples:annual reports, a census schedule as an example of how a census was taken and what information was collected, organizational charts, organization charters, policy and program documentation

SECONDARY VALUES (cont’d)

Informational ValueExamples:case files, census schedule for the information provided within, land-entry papers, military service record, pension files and passenger list

Other Values

Research Value Records of research value are use in scholarly

studies and investigations Intrinsic Value

Records of intrinsic value are considered to have inherent value due to some unique factor such as age, content, usage or circumstances surrounding its creation, signature or attached seals that requires the permanent retention of the document in each original physical form

Characteristics of Records

Age Volume Form Functional Characteristics Evidential Characteristics Informational Characteristics

FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES OF RECORDSGROUPED BY RELATIVE IMPORTANCE

Usually Valuable

Academic record cards Manuals, policyActs, legislative Manuals, procedureAddresses MemoirsAlbums MemorialsAutobiographies Messages, officialBriefs Militia listsBroadsides MinutesBrochures Muster rollsBudgets News lettersBulletins OrdersBy-laws Organizational charts Cadasters PlatformsCalendars Poll listsCatalogs ProceedingsCensus rolls ProclamationsConstitutions RecollectionsCredences Regulations Diaries Reports, annualDigests Reports, auditDirections Reports, researchDirectives ResolutionsDirectories RollsDockets RostersElections, certificates, Rulesand returns SpeechesGuides StatutesHandbooks StudiesHistories SummariesIndexes SurveysInterviews SynopsesJournals, research Tax returnsLaws TestimonialsLegal opinions WillsLogs

FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES OF RECORDSGROUPED BY RELATIVE IMPORTANCE

Often Valuable

Abstracts Letters, personal Agendas Lists Agreements Maps Announcements Memorands Awards Monographs Books Motion picture films Cables Music Certificates Negatives, photograph Charts Order books Circulars Papers, personal Collections Pardons Contracts Payroll summary cards Correspondence Petitions Course outlines Photographs Despatches Plans Diagrams Poems Disk recordings Posters Documents Publications Drawings Recommendations Field notes Registers Files Reports, progress Files, personnel Schedules Files, research Scrapbooks Film strips Specifications, buildings Financial statements Subject files Issuances Tape recordings Journals Tariffs Kinescopes TelegramsLedgers VideotapesLetterbooks

FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES OF RECORDSGROUPED BY RELATIVE IMPORTANCE

Often Without Value Account books Payroll deductions, Accounting statements authorizations Addresses, manuscript and notices version of published Property inventories Applications Purchase ordersAppointments Reading filesAuthorizations of Receipts actions posted to Releases permanent records RequestsBallots RequisitionsBank statements Sales literatureBills, financial SlipsBudget work papers Shorthand notesCash books Speeches, manuscriptChecks, cancelled version of publishedClaims TicketsClassbooks Tickler filesDay books Time books andInvoices recordsLeases Trial balancesLicenses VouchersManuscripts WarrantsMortgages Work ordersNotes, lecture Work papersNotes, research Work sheetsOrders, financialOutlines

FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES OF RECORDSGROUPED BY RELATIVE IMPORTANCE

Occasionally Valuable Usually Without Value

Assessment records Oaths Duplicate copies Bonds Payrolls Stencils Cards Press releases SuppliesCase files Program documentationCatalogs ADPClippings Property control listingsCommittee files RecommendationsCourse materials Reprints or separatesExamination questions Returns Folders SchedulesInstructions Scrapbooks Inventories SketchesJackets StatementsLectures Statistical tablesLists TabulationsMaterials Tapes, transcribedNominations TranscriptsNotebooksNotices

Before Arrangement and Description

Accessioning – process of formally accepting and recording the receipt of records into archival custody

Accessioning

records information about origins, creator, contents, format and extent in such a way that documents cannot become intermingled with other material held by the archives

provides the basic level of physical and intellectual control over incoming material

must be done as soon as possible after the receipt of new records.

FINDING AIDS

- signposts which lead the archivist and researcher to the information they are seeking.

Finding Aids Prepared by Creating Institution or Person

Essential:- Registers- Indexes- Filing System descriptions- Thesauri

Finding Aids Prepared by ArchivistEssential:

- Accession Registers- Descriptive Inventories- Bridging Aids

Desirable:- Guides to Holding- Reports of Holding- Indexes to Descriptive Inventories

If Resources Permit:- Content Indexes

Compiled SourcesIf Resources Permit:

- Special lists- Subject Files- Sources Analyses- Reference Guides and Media Guides

WEEDING

Weeding is the process of examining records to remove file units lacking continuing value, a form of piece-by-piece selection also known as purging, screening, and stripping. Normally, the processor cannot justify taking the time required for weeding in a correspondence file, but this does not prevent a decision to cull certain types of materials. With appropriate qualifications, archivists and records managers have identified non record material that may be destroyed without further authorization.

Examples are:

1. Routine acknowledgement , circulars, notifications, request, and transmittals.

2. Duplicates or extra copies of letters maintained for temporary convenience or reference. Where duplicate copies of letters are found, the original or the sharpest carbon should be preserved.

3. Preliminary drafts of letters, memoranda, and reports; work papers; informal notes and routing slips.

4. Machine-readable records where the informational content has been recorded in textual form.

5. Shorthand notes, dictation machine tapes, and records that have been transcribed.

6. Stencils, hectograph masters, and offset plates.7. Extra copies or stocks of publications, forms, and supplies.8. Library and museum material acquired or retained solely for

reference or exhibition purposes; catalogs and junk mail.

DISPOSAL SCHEDULES

- are an important tool for identifying potential archives during their active administrative life.

- systematic listing of records created by an organization which plans the life of these records from the time of their creation to their disposal.

- lists: records series created by the agency; retention period for each series; disposal sentence for each series, specifying whether

records are to be retained as archives or destroyed; the custody arrangements for each series, specifying

when the records are to be transferred to intermediate storage and/or to archives

RECORDS/DISPOSITION

VITAL RECORDS

FINANCIAL RECORDSEMPLOYEE RECORDS

MANUFACTURING RECORDSNEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS

INSURANCE POLICY INFORMATIONOWNERSHIP RECORDS

MAJOR CONTRACTS and AGREEMENTS with AMENDMENTS

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ARCHIVIST

1. Resources / Storage2. Handling3. Priorities

Methods of Storage

On–site and Vaulting Off–site and Vaulting Periodic Method

One Period Rotation or Two Period Maximum – Minimum

Protection Program

Duplicate and Dispersal On-Site and Vaulting Off-site and Vaulting MCF E

Methods of Destruction

Sale and Salvage Shredding Pulverizing Maceration Incineration

RESPONSBILITIES OF THE CONSERVATOR

1. Technical advice2. Conservation workshop3. Restoration4. Awareness training

SETTING UP A CONSERVATION PROGRAM

MANAGEMENT SUPPORT / STRUCTUREDirectiveConservation committeeConservation PolicyOrganizational structureBudget

CONSERVATION FACILITIES CONSERVATION STAFF

DETERMINING the SCOPE and FOCUS of a CONSERVATION PROGRAM

1) Type and size of holdings2) Type of institution3) Type of use4) Geographical location5) Cooperation and outside

assistance

WORKSHOP Major functions/Objectives of Archives Include Authority of the Archives Resources (Acquisition Policies) Physical Formats Collection Institutional Records Personal Papers Special Collections Services Offered in the Archives Restrictions User Education Services Finding Aids (Research Guides/Indexes) Storage/Preservation (Weeding and Disposition)