Information for Community Archives: Appraisal

Information for Community Archives

Appraisal / Paula Jabloner

PRELIMINARY DRAFT

The most important criterion for deciding what to collect and save is how well the materials document or explain the functions and activities of the organization that created the material or how clearly they state the goals, beliefs, actions, or motives of a person. In most cases records or papers that fail to include the above description should be eliminated from the collection or not collected.

Good questions to keep in mind while evaluating collections are:

•  Is this material necessary for the collection? Does it reflect any important activities in the career of the individual, or the history of the organization?

•  Is this printed material available elsewhere?

•  Is this duplicate material?

•  Does another repository already have these materials?

•  Are they within our collecting scope and mission? For example the papers of a feminist group with a large lesbian membership may or may not be more appropriate at a women's archive than a queer archive.

•  Does the collection present preservation problems that would take more resources than are available?

Generally you would want to retain records that fit the following criteria:

•  Is significant in determining the basic activities of an individual or organization.

•  Clarifies an individual's or organization's goals, beliefs, or the motives that underlie decisions or actions.

•  Illuminates an important aspect of your collecting scope.

Exceptions from the above are made for materials that do not directly address the functions or activities of the records' creator, but are nevertheless important to your collecting scope. For example, a person may have collected a substantive amount of material documenting the local pride parade. Though this doesn't reflect the activities of the creator, it is an important body of information for your repository to preserve.

There are various questions you can ask when you come upon dubious materials.

•  What research potential does the material have?

•  Is there enough to justify the space and processing time it will require?

•  Who is likely to use the material and for what purposes?

•  Are the papers legible?

•  Is information contained in these materials readily available elsewhere?

•  Is there duplicate material in the collection?

In general you don't want to acquire or save the following materials.

•  All duplicate material.

•  Non-summary financial records such as itemized account statements and canceled checks.

•  ”Housekeeping” records such as routine memos about meeting times, reminders regarding minor rules and regulations.

•  Drafts of non-critical documents or drafts only reflecting stylistic changes.

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