Archival Guidelines, Policies, and Best Practices

Learn through sharing: If you have a guideline, policy, or best practice that you can share on this site, please contact our ArchRS co-chairs.

Architectural Records: Managing Design and Construction Records by Waverly Lowell and Tawny Ryan Nelb addresses the many issues that arise when working with architectural records, including preservation, appraisal, arrangement, and description. The manual was published by the Society of American Archivists in 2006.

Mission Statements and Collection Policies

Publication of mission statements and collection policies allow institutions to become familiar with the collections and policies of other repositories. The following guidelines and policies are taken, with permission, from the University of Texas at Austin's Alexander Architectural Archive's Policies and Forms web page:

• Collection development and collecting practices can educate archival staff at other institutions about potential archives to refer donors to should a gift fall outside their collection development policy.
• Handling guidelines provide the architectural archive community with a variety of practices for handling specific types of materials.
• Copy work policies can help those in the field determine typical conditions imposed by the repository.
• Access and use policies allow institutions to compare guidelines and practices for serving users of architectural records collections.

By contributing your policies and practices to our web site's list, your institution can add to this valuable resource through which the architectural records community can share knowledge. Contact our ArchRS co-chairs to submit your policy or practice.