Store books in your reference area unless they especially valuable or fragile. Keep a record of all books in your archives, ideally in your card catalogue.
Other Archival Holdings [by Laura Coles, 1988]
In addition to paper records, photographs, maps, and sound recordings, other material might appear in the archives, such as secondary sources like books, ephemera, and newspapers, or other media, from artifacts to computer-generated records. if you acquire these items as permanent additions to the archives, you must evaluate them for their value to the archives, their relationship to your archives policy, and their physical qualities.
Books are kept as part of an accession only if they are an integral part of the collection, such as a book written by the creator of the collection or a pamphlet describing the work of the creating body. items autographed, annotated, or marked on by the creator, or with notes or marginalia in the book itself may also have archival value.
Books can also be kept as reference sources. These might include atlases, dictionaries, directories, local histories, books written by or about members of the community or organization, books on subjects relevant to the archives, or even technical books about archival or library work. Be specific when defining the boundaries for collecting reference material, so that you are not collecting items irrelevant to your archives.
Your collection of reference books can be expanded into a special collections library including books on specific subject areas related to your archival holdings. The expansion of an archival library can be prohibitively expensive. Consider the facilities and money at your disposal before widening your reference collection. Also establish strict guidelines for the type of material acquired, defining geographical, chronological, physical, and other criteria.
When deciding whether or not to keep books as part of an accession, as reference material, or as part of a special collections library, consider the following:
|
|
Books in an accession usually form a series, such as Publications, and they are described in the inventory as part of the record group as a whole. Keep a record of all the books in your archives, perhaps writing the bibliographic information on individual cards filed alphabetically by author. Archivists familiar with library cataloguing often use the Library of Congress or Dewey Decimal classification systems for describing and shelving books. other archivists may simply store books in alphabetical order by author. if you keep reference materials in the research area, add this location information to any finding aids. Avoid keeping rare or valuable books in the reference area and do not allow researchers to remove any books from the archives.
If you keep books as part of an accession, mark their accession and item numbers in pencil on the upper right hand corner of the first page of the book or on a slip of acid-free paper placed under the cover. if you decide not to keep any or all of the books in an accession, add as much bibliographic information as possible to the inventory, including where the books were relocated (such as to the library, the museum, or back to the donor). Remember to remove loose notes or papers from the books and add valuable items to the accession. Handle all books carefully: hold the sides, not the spine, when removing books from the shelf, don't stand them on edge or Jay them open face down on a table, and do not use adhesive tape to mend torn pages or broken bindings.
Ephemera are those everyday, impermanent items produced irregularly and designed to use and then throw away. Pamphlets, brochures, tickets, programmes, published reports, handbills, menus, advertisements, posters, and other miscellaneous printed or published items are all considered ephemera. in the archives, these transient items may offer important information about past events. An invitation to an historic dinner in 1954, a brochure from 1969 advertising a new car, or a poster promoting an important politician, all illuminate historical events. Treat ephemera as important archival material. Accession them, describe them, and store them properly.
Ephemera which arrive as part of an accession must first be evaluated for their significance in the collection. If kept, they will be organized as part of the accession as a whole. Store oversized or fragile materials, such as posters or programmes, separately and include their location on all finding aids.
Ephemera may also arrive in the archives individually, perhaps as an individual donation, as part of an anniversary or celebration, or even through the daily mail. Be active in your acquisition of miscellaneous material about your community: obtain copies of brochures or publications from community meetings, political or social meetings, theatre productions, or other events. Also join various mailing lists in your community or institution for regular bulletins, newsletters, or other publications.
As this material arrives in the archives, give each group of items its own accession number, identify it in the card catalogue, and file it by accession number in a box marked Ephemera. Remember, though, that material directly related to a larger accession will remain as part of that accession. (For a discussion of "Information Files," miscellaneous items such as clippings, articles, ephemera, and notes kept for their informational rather than archival value, see Chapter 13.)
 Small accessions of pamphlets and other ephemera may be stored |
Newspapers can offer valuable information about a community or society. A complete series of local newspapers should be kept by at least one institution in the community-either the library, museum, or archives either in original form or preferably in microfilm. Determine if the local library is preserving newspapers, which ones they are keeping, and what years they have or are missing. if the library is actively collecting newspapers, consider keeping only certain items in the archives, such as anniversary editions or commemorative issues. Remember that many local newspapers are available on microfilm through government offices and commercial microfilmers.
 Newspapers should be stored flat on shelves, stacked no more than two or three inches high. Scrapbooks may also be stored flat on shelves. |
If the local library and/or another institution is not keeping newspapers, consider preserving them in the archives if you have enough space for storage and enough money for subscriptions. Remember that newspapers are made of poor quality inks and paper and will eventually deteriorate. if a microfilm exists, the originals may not be worth the effort of extensive conservation. You may wish to keep one copy of the newspaper in storage and provide the microfilm for research use. To store newspapers, simply flatten the pages and place the papers flat on shelves. Avoid stacking papers more than two or three inches high. Do not mix newspapers with other archival material because the acid in the newsprint migrates easily.
Some archivists clip articles of local importance from the paper. Remember, you will need two copies of each issue for clipping, so that you can clip articles from both sides of a page. Clipping and filing newspaper articles is time-consuming work. Consider such a programme only if it is not being done elsewhere in the community and only if it can be on-going and comprehensive. A short-term programme that is never repeated leaves the archives with an incomplete finding aid. if you decide to establish a clipping programme, determine subject headings based on those used for your catalogue. Write the subject titles on acid-free folders and file the clippings in the folders. Write the name, date, and page of the newspaper on each clipping.
Instead of clipping articles, some archivists index their newspapers. This is exceedingly time-consuming and must be maintained rigorously for years to be a valuable finding aid. it may be a project requiring the involvement of the library, museum, and community in general rather than one maintained only by the archives.
Many people clip articles from newspapers and keep them in scrapbooks. if you acquire scrapbooks in the archives identify them with the accession number of the entire acquisition and store them separately from other material. The acid in the paper and glue will deteriorate the scrapbooks over time. Handle them as gently as possible but do not expend a great deal of effort trying to preserve them. Remove or copy any particularly valuable material, such as original documents or photographs; be sure to record any items removed and their new location. Consider photocopying the pages of scrapbooks and filing the copies under various subject headings in an information file.
Avoid collecting artifacts in the archives; turn them over to a museum whenever possible. Few archives can or should develop the facilities needed to care for large collections of museum pieces. However, if there is no museum in your community, and you are required to serve as both archivist and curator, only accept artifacts appropriate to your archives policy. Identify each artifact as part of the accession with which it came and make note of it on the inventory. Remove the object from the collection and store it separately. Tag it with the accession and item number and add any identification. Do not attempt to clean or restore museum pieces without consulting a professional conservator. For more information about artifacts and museum work, contact museum specialists and associations.
 I know it's late, honey, but I've only got one more chapter to go! |
The most recent innovations to enter the archives world are machine-readable records, including computer diskettes, software programmes, magnetic data tapes, and other electronic materials. This new medium can be found in many places. Individuals with computers generate diskettes holding correspondence, data files, and other records; business offices and governments keep much information on computer, including accounting information, employee files, tax records, and correspondence. Evaluate machine-readable records for the qualities outlined in Chapter 3. Do not keep records of little or no research value just because they are stored on computer diskettes or tapes. Ask yourself if you would bother to keep them if they were in paper form. Do evaluate machine-readable archives for technical considerations, however. Are there facilities available to store, retrieve, read, and print the material on the tape or diskette? is the diskette or tape of good quality, or is it physically damaged or worn?
Give machine-readable material an accession number, like all other accessions, and item numbers for each tape or diskette. Arrange material according to the contents of the diskette or tape. For example, computerized research data will be arranged as part of the series or file relating to that particular research project. Store diskettes and tapes separately from the paper records and add a note on the finding aids indicating their location. Store diskettes upright in their original folders and boxes and keep them at least one or two feet away from electric, mechanical, or other devices which may produce a magnetic field and erase the data. Store tapes upright in plastic or metal canisters; if possible, rewind them once a year to ease stress. Describe machine-readable material according to the contents of the diskettes or tapes but remember to include additional information about the type of diskette or tape and the software and hardware used. Always try to obtain related records, such as reports, codebooks, manuals, or other documentation. Give this information the same accession and item number as the machine-readable material and file it with the diskettes or in a separate location, depending on available storage.
The recommended standard for the description of machine-readable records is S.A. Dodd, Cataloguing Machine-Readable Data Files: An Interpretive Manual (Chicago: American Library Association, 1982).
|
|
