Introduction
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Archives have special needs which are different in many respects from those of museum objects, but their proper care and management is equally important. [Information Sheet 1 in this series provides a definition of archives, describes the range of material commonly found in museums, and gives general guidance on policy and management.] This information sheet covers the documentation of archives in museums. Where museums are planning to list and arrange substantial archives they are strongly recommended to seek advice from the appropriate record office.1
- Museums should recognise that holding archives implies provision for their permanent preservation and for making them available for consultation and study by members of the public in suitable conditions. If a museum is unable to provide the conditions necessary for the care and administration of its archives (or is unlikely to be able to do so in the near future) then it should consider transferring them to an appropriate record office, and it should decide against acquiring any further archives
Archives and their intellectual control
- Archives are "original documents in any medium created and/or accumulated by an individual, a family, a corporate body or institution in the course of its daily life and work,..."2 This means that they form a distinct entity and have their own internal logic, reflecting the way in which their component items have been generated. This natural integrity must always be respected. An archive should never be broken up, nor should separate items be abstracted from it as this would destroy its intellectual and evidential value.
- Museums frequently own 'artificial' archives, that is, collections that have not been naturally generated but brought together for a specific purpose (for example film posters or railway tickets). The component items may not have a common provenance or the original provenance may have been lost. A note to explain this should be included at the top of any list or catalogue, but otherwise the standard archival approach to listing and arrangement may be adopted.
Accessioning and Physical Organisation
- As with museum objects a formal record of the acquisition or deposition of an archive should be made in the museum's accession register, giving details of the donor or depositor, quantity and provenance of the material. Assign a unique accession number to the entire collection, whether it is fifty boxes or two files.
- Archives should not be made available for public consultation without first being properly sorted, boxed and listed. A rough list of items may be used as an interim security measure if immediate access is required.
- The accession number and any item or box numbers assigned to archives should be written on each item clearly in pencil. Any temporary numbers should be removeable and permanent numbers should not 'deface' the item in any way. Sub-numbers can be assigned to individual items.
- Do not separate items, files or bundles of paper which form a distinct entity. The integrity of an archive should be respected at all times (see 3 above) and individual pieces (loose photographs, letters etc) should not be removed from files, volumes or bundles. A note should be made of any loose items when describing the main item.
- Do not rearrange material. Archives are arranged by provenance and the original sequence of the records should be retained wherever possible.
- In the absence of full lists, provide a basic box list of the material. This should give details such as the date or covering dates of records, the format of the records and the subject area. For example:'File of correspondence on scientific observations of AN Other 1934 - 1942' ; or: 'Cash ledger of ABC Company Ltd 1893 - 1900.'
Item Listing
- Item listing requires an hierarchical arrangement of the material with reference codes or numbers which reflect the arrangement of the items. The collection number will be followed by the main group or series and then individual items below this. There may be several sub-groups or sub-series required depending on the complexity of the material.
E.g. . 34 - Papers of ABC Co. Ltd
34/1 - Design Department
34/1/1 Pattern book 1892-99
34/2 - Accounts Dept
- Where an 'item' is in the form of a bundle or file of individual or loose pieces,the description should reflect this. The number of items in the bundle or file should be given.
E.g. Small bundle of correspondence between A.Smith and B.Jones concerning financial matters
and the acquisition of land, 1878 -1902 (9 items)
Or
File containing loose papers, memoranda, correspondence and plans re purchase of a piece of land
at Cherry Tops, 1867 -1870. (15 items)
- Each item should have sufficient description to allow the reader to see at a glance whether the material will be of value.
- It is helpful to provide descriptive information at the start of any list. This should give an outline of the history of the company or individual (including important dates) and explain the nature of the collection and if necessary how the collection has been arranged.
- Once listing of the collection at any level has been done, copies of archive lists should be sent to the National Register of Archives at The National Archives (address below) and also to the appropriate national or local Record Office.
- It is sometimes possible to reunite items which clearly originally belonged together such as a series of minute books or a sequence of files. Where this has been done a note should be added to the list.
- Where there is no obvious sequence or arrangement, the list should reflect the creation of the records as closely as possible. For example records might be arranged by department of an organisation or by activity of an individual.
E.g. Papers of A.Smith, vicar of Clevedon and amateur archaeologist 1878 -1938
1 Personal and family papers
2 Ecclesiastical papers
3 Archaeological papers
Sources of help:
ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description, International Council on Archives
(2nd edition 1999)
SCAM Information Sheet 1: Collections Policy and Management (1999, minor revisions 2006)
SCAM Information Sheet 3: Archive Preservation and Conservation (1999, minor revisions 2006)
SCAM Information Sheet 4: Access to Archives (1999, minor revisions 2006)
SCAM Information Sheet 5: Managing a Museum's Administrative Records (2002)
The Code of Practice on Archives for Museums and Galleries in the
United Kingdom, which was first published by the Museums and Galleries Commission in 1990, and revised in 1996 and 2002.
Standard for Record Repositories (2004 edition) published by The National Archives.
Advice on archive matters in any part of the UK is available from:
National Advisory Services, The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU. Tel. 020 8876 3444; fax 020 8878 8905;
email: nas@nationalarchives.gov.uk ; website: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
or, in Scotland, from:
The National Archives of Scotland, HM General Register House, Edinburgh EH1 3YY. Tel. 0131 535 1314; fax 0131 535 1360;
email: enquiries@nas.gov.uk ; website: http://www.nas.gov.uk
or, in Wales, from:
The Convenor, Archives and Records Council Wales/Cyngor Archifau a Chofnodion Cymru. Details of the current contact can be obtained from the local record office or from The National Archives
or, in Northern Ireland, from :
The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 66 Balmoral Avenue, Belfast BT9 6NT. Tel. 028 9025 5905; fax 028 9025 5999.
email: proni@dcalni.gov.uk ; website: http://www.proni.gov.uk
Advice is also available locally from the appropriate local authority record office or from the regional agencies of the
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (listed at: http://www.mla.gov.uk ). They will be able to give guidance on other museums in the region which have developed appropriate archive policies, or tackled particular problems.
1 Names and addresses of publicly funded record offices are available from the online ARCHON Directory which is maintained by The National Archives
2 A Code of Practice on Archives for Museums and Galleries in the UK Standing Conference on Archives and Museums. Revised Ed.2002.
