What Are Historical and Archival Records?
We create records to remember and to communicate information. Usually the information we record gradually becomes less important to save. Thus, most records can and should be discarded within a few years of their creation.
However there is a small percentage of any person’s or institution’s records whose information continues to be useful to society long into the future. Such records may be letters, reports, or other types of written documents, or they may be audiotapes, videotapes, maps/blueprints, photographs, computer data, or any of a myriad of formats. These records are referred to as historical and archival.
The determination that a record has historical or archival value rests not on the form of the record, but rather on the fact that it contains information of enduring administrative, legal, fiscal, or cultural value to the creating institutions or to researchers. The benefits these records provide to us depend on our ability to retain them in useable condition.
What records are collected by the University Archives?
This simple question has a rather complicated answer. Fundamentally, any record or piece of information which can help explain or document the life and work of an individual/organization should be considered for archival transfer and deposit.
Listed below are some general categories of materials which could have potential research value as archives. These are only suggestions and there may well be other types of archival records for which you are responsible that are not listed. If you have any questions or need more information, contact either Jackie Esposito or Robyn Dyke at 865- 7931.
How to Send Items to University Archives
1. Determine what records you want to send to the University Archives. Feel free to give either Robyn Dyke or Jackie Esposito a call (865-7931) to ask them if you are not sure what records to send.
2. If you need boxes to send the records in – give the University Archives a call (865-7931) and tell them that you would like to have ___ boxes sent to your office. Give the person answering the call your name, office name, and office address.
3. Once you receive the boxes you can transfer your files into the boxes and provide a list of records for each box. Either place the lists in the boxes, or send Robyn Dyke an email with the box lists attached in Microsoft Word or Excel.
4. After the boxes are packed and ready to be picked up, you need to call the University Archives and tell them how many boxes need to be picked up. Give them your name, office name, address and any other helpful information that the Libraries Receiving Room may need so that the boxes can be picked up. Label the boxes with “University Archives” so the boxes will be sure to be picked up by the right person/s. Once you call it usually takes up to five working days for the Libraries Receiving Room to pick the boxes up.
5. Once the boxes are delivered to the University Archives, Robyn Dyke, will inventory the boxes and provide a box list of your records. She will enter this information into the Special Collections Database and generate a report for your office that has the file/item title name, date and location of where it is kept in the University Archives. She will then mail the inventory to you either by email or campus mail.
6. If you ever need to have a file pulled from the University Archives, you just need to call and give the person answering the call the file/item title, date and location ex: AX/PSUA/0000 of your records that you want retrieved. The University Archives does an Annex run every Tuesday and Thursday and your records will be pulled at the time.
For more information contact:
Jackie Esposito or Robyn Dyke
University Records Management Program
104 Paterno Library
University Park, PA 16802-1800
