As the initial step in managing incoming materials, accessioning is a critical function within archival work. The process ensures that newly acquired collections are formally accepted, documented, and incorporated into the repository’s holdings.
Developing an acquisition policy is critical for archivists because it sets the foundation for how an institution acquires and manages its collections. A well-crafted acquisition policy ensures the archives remains focused, relevant, and aligned with the institution’s mission and strategic goals.
Archival acquisition is a crucial process in managing records; it encompasses the methods and principles by which archival institutions acquire and take responsibility for records. It is a fundamental aspect of archival work, affecting records’ immediate management and long-term preservation and accessibility. Understanding archival acquisition involves grasping its purpose, methods, challenges, and best practices.
Appraisal involves choosing which records to preserve based on their long-term value and relevance to the archives’ mission. This process requires archivists to balance users’ immediate needs with the potential future significance of records.
With a records retention schedule, retention policy, and collection policy in hand and ideal storage located, the archives program can work on the arrangement and description (also known as processing) of the records of enduring value.
Within each department, the archivist will refine the arrangement of materials to be prepared for the archives, rehouse material, and create inventories to facilitate future access by staff members and other researchers.
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Determining the flow of an organization’s records ensures that archivists schedule materials for disposition.
In addition, archivists can liaise with departments within their organizations to help retain significant documentation and inclusion of those records within the archives. If there is not already one, creating a records retention schedule should be one of the archivists’ first tasks after an archival assessment.
Many organizations have little room to store archival collections, so rare and fragile materials often end up in less-than-ideal locations.
In addition, most materials deteriorate over time, especially audiovisual materials, so a vigilant eye is needed to protect the items chosen for archival collections.
Only a fraction of an organization’s records finds their way into the archives. Archives hold non-current records with permanent historical value.
They are no longer needed during day-to-day institutional activities, but they document organizational history. Just as each organization is unique, its archives are equally distinctive. Professional archival principles and standards have been developed over decades of archival practice. However, each organization will adhere to them in its own way.
To produce sound historical research, we need reliable primary sources. Records created at the same time as an event, or as close as possible to it, usually have a greater chance of being accurate than records created years later, especially by someone without firsthand knowledge of the event. When you are conducting research, you want to corroborate the contents of the document you are working with with information from other sources that have been proven to be legitimate
