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APUS Richard G. Trefry Archives | Home: From the Archivist Blog

Creating an Archival Collection: The Ins and Outs

by Justin McHenry on November 21st, 2024 | 0 Comments

As much as I would like archiving to just be throwing a bunch of historical items in a box and calling it a day, it actually requires a lot more finesse and actual steps to properly receive, catalog, and create an archival collection. Building an archival collection demands patience and time as you meticulously go through the collection building it up piece by piece.

This month I am adding to the online local history collection available through the Archives. These are some of the pieces held in the Trefry Archives dealing with a local women’s college, Powhatan College. I thought it would be a good time to review just all the steps that go into creating an archival collection to see what is involved in the preservation of history.

Receiving the Records

To begin with, you need records in order to preserve them. Acquiring records is the cornerstone of any archival endeavor. To this end, any archives will develop a mission statement and a collection development policy that establishes the repository’s clear plan for the types of records or items that it accepts. A good policy will also come with some sort of form that will officially transfer ownership of the records to the institution. This ensures proper legal ownership and discourages takesies-backsies. If you would like a look at one, you can view the Trefry Archives collection policy.

Once you receive records, you obviously go through them all like Christmas day, but with more restraint and careful diligence. You take note of the items, assign each a unique acquisition number, and begin the process of preserving and archiving them.

Organizing the Collection

An important archival principle is original order that demands leaving materials as much as possible in the arrangement that they arrived. Rather than reorganizing into an artificial classification system, the original order can provide much needed meaning and context to the collection.

Using original order as the guiding principle organizing the collection commences as you start to begin the preservation process. This includes CAREFULLY unfolding any folded document. CAREFULLY brushing off any dust from the of the records using protection like a mask to make sure you aren’t breathing some weird 18th century diseases that have been lingering in the folded pages for a couple of centuries.* Creating a folder for the records that includes the name of the document, name of the collection, and location of the document (Box 1, Folder 5, etc.).

*Fun archival fact, you don’t really need to wear white cotton gloves when working with archival material. As long as you don’t mind your hands getting a little dirty. But for preservation’s sake, a set of freshly washed and thoroughly dried hands is just as good and provides for a little more dexterity when handling the records.

As you go about doing this, you are recording all of the information in whatever database, content management system, or spreadsheet you are using. This is where you will document the name, collection, authors, and description of the record(s). It’s also a time to do some background research to help you better understand what you are looking at, which you can then pass along to those who will be using these records.

Keeping a good record of each and every record will help down the line when it comes time to digitize the records and placing them online or when you start creating a finding aid for the collection.

A good finding aid will serve as a roadmap for researchers. They provide a detailed overview of the collection's content, making it easier for users to navigate and locate relevant materials. They include a collection-level description, outlining the scope, purpose, and historical significance of the materials. Item-level descriptions follow, providing granular details about each component.

Digitizing the Collection

If you happen to be a regular reader of From the Archivist, then you know I am all for digitizing archival records. But you know responsibly so. Not only does creating a digital copy aid in preservation of the record. It keeps those records nice and safe in their archival friendly homes. And if a catastrophe should befall the physical archives there is that back up. It also is a means for the world to enjoy and use these records for their research.

Making it Available to the Public

Why we are doing all of this is so these precious historical records and collection can be accessible to the widest audience possible. By going through and doing all the steps up above it will ensure that when a patron does step across your threshold or click on to your website that they will have the easiest time possible finding the records that they have come to find. Now it is on them to do with it what they will. Read them and find connections to whatever it is they are researching, but it is on the archive to facilitate the whole process. And what a process it is. It can be tedious, but fun nonetheless because nowhere else do you develop that very personal relationship with the past.


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