“Documents,” “Old Papers,” and “Miscellaneous” describe the contents, but they provide little help if you’re trying to locate a particular record. Archival titles should identify and differentiate one folder from another; they should contain as much information as possible but not become a full summary. In practice, a folder title will consist of some combination of activity, record type, creator, subject, or dates covered, depending…
It is possible for two records groups to consist of similar types of records and yet need to be arranged differently. One may contain clearly labeled files arranged in the way they have been organized for decades. Another may contain a jumble of loose records resulting from a hurried relocation. While original order applies in both situations, preserving original order does not necessarily mean that…
A birthday card, a receipt for rent, a handwritten recipe, and a picture of a house we didn’t recognize may have little in common as subjects, but they can share a home if they were all made, sent, kept by the same person. The idea of provenance in archives is to maintain that link between records and the creator and often that link will tell…
Looking at a box of old records often inspires the desire to sort. Letters look like they can be organized by person. Photos look like they can be sorted by subject. Office papers look like they should be put in files by topic. It is tempting to pick up some folders and refile them. Doing so looks and feels productive at the moment, but it…