College and Research Libraries NICHOLAS C. BURCKEL Establishing a College Archives: Possibilities and Priorities Because the job of establishing a college archives often falls to li- brarians or historians who have had little formal training in archival work, some guidelines are useful. The author discusses how an ar- chives is usually created, ways of publicizing the archivist's activity, and the role and composition of a faculty-staff committee. The sec- ond half of the article highlights services the archivist can offer to students, faculty, and administration, including creation of subject and biographical files, collection of faculty and institutional publica- tions, development of an iconographic file, collection and use of memorabilia, and establishment of an oral history program. INCREASINGLY COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES must cope with the availability and demand for nonprint material for instructional use, research, and recrea- tion. Some institutions have met the challenge by establishing separate de- partmental, divisional, or college li- braries within the multiversity. Others have created special learning centers, archives, and recording libraries to han- dle nonbook material, while still others have centralized the entire operation un- der the direction of the library with specific departments to handle these spe- cialized needs. In nearly all these cases, the professional librarian has been the person who is charged with the responsi- bility for developing a viable program, but he has often not had the necessary training in graduate school. Once on the job he may not be given adequate room for innovation or sufficient direction Nicholas C. Burckel is director, Univer- sity Archives, University of Wisconsin-Park- side. An earlier version of this article was presented at a conference sponsored by the State Historical Society of Wiscom'in, March 29-30, 1973. 384 I and budget support to develop a pro- gram. Archivists in particular face that problem. They do not receive an aca- demic degree or certification in prepara- tion for their job, and often their edu- cation in history or library science does not equip them to establish a college archives. The best that a potential ar- chivist can hope for is an occasional course in library school which not only focuses on manuscripts and special col- lections, but on archives generally.1 Lacking formal preparation, a librarian who is appointed college archivist must tum to the literature of the field to find some guidance. Unfortunately, relevant information is difficult to find: library journals traditionally eschew archival articles and the American Archivist's ar- ticles on college archives are frequently no more than institutional case studies.2 The new archivist, therefore, confronts his job with few guidelines or sugges- tions. In an effort to establish a college or university archives, the archivist must realize that his own conception of the value of an archives may not necessarily correspond with the values perceived by those whom he must serve. The Pyrrhic purist, in defining too narrowly the archivist's purview, succeeds only in di- minishing his influence on the campus. Therefore, the archivist's role must be both one of educating the academic community about the nature of an ar- chives and one of accommodating ad- ministrators' and students' preconcep- tions of ·an archives. 3 In performing that dual role, the archivist must use his imagination, his budget, and his person- ality to maximize the importance of the archives in the minds of administrators, faculty, and students. A survey of pos- sible options for publicizing and pro- moting use of a college archives suggests the variety of approaches available. For purposes of discussion, they can be broadly categorized as personnel and service. PosiTION OF ARCHIVES IN A COLLEGE AnMINISTRA TION The staffing of the archives and its place in the organization of the college are perhaps the most important deter- minants of how successful it will be. In most cases, this has been determined by the administration before the archivist is hired. This does not necessarily mean that it cannot be changed in the future, but it is more difficult both because of the necessary red tape involved in any administrative reorganization and be- cause of the inertia of the system, once operative. The place of an archives in the over- all structure of the college may be im- portant less from a budgeting or deci- sion-making point of view than from the need for direct access to key admin- istrators from the chancellor or presi- dent on down. If this can be accom- plished, even if the salary is not com- mensurate with the rank or title, then half the battle has been won. Archivists usually function either in an adminis- trative support capacity under the su- Establishing a College Archives I 385 . pervision of the chancellor or vice-pres- ident for university relations or, fre- quently, in an instructional support ca- pacity under the supervision of the di- rector of libraries and special collec- tions.4 Either position has its advantages and disadvantages. In the former case, the archivist is on an equal footing with other campus administrators and may have more success in persuading reluc- tant directors and deans to relinquish their hold on noncurrent files. What is an asset in dealing with administrators may, however, be a liability with faculty or students. If, for instance, faculties view the transfer of their records as an invitation to the archivist to cull the collection and report to his supervisor, then he is unlikely to get the professor's complete record. This is even more true in dealing with student groups and in using the new techniques of oral his- tory. What professor would be willing to give his unvarnished opinion of uni- versity policy and administrators if he did not feel assured of the confidential- ity of his remarks? In these instances, the archivist who is less closely identi- fied with the administration and more a part of the college library would un- doubtedly enjoy more success.'; Often, establishment of an archives derives from administrative mandate rather than from specific faculty or re- gent legislation. In most institutions the boards of trustees or regents may not call for the creation of an archives, but an active and alert faculty government may recommend it to the administra- tion. If the archives is established at the behest of the faculty, then this fact can be used to emphasize broadly based support. Alternatively, if the archives is created by the administration, that fact should likewise be used to indicate high-level administrative recognition of the need for an archives. Either tack can be taken in prodding reluctant ad- ministrators and faculty to turn over 386 I College & Research Libraries • September 1975 their records before retiring, changing offices, or leaving the campus. PuBLICIZING THE ARCHIVES After establishment of an archives and appointment of the archivist, the job of publicizing the new office should begin immediately. Frequently the pub- lic information bureau or student news- paper informs the campus of newly cre- ated offices and their services. This is the first and most obvious method of intro- ducing the archivist to the campus com- munity and of explaining his role to the widest possible audience. Another meth- od would be a letter of introduction and explanation from the chancellor, president, or library director to the aca- demic staff. Whether written by the chancellor or some other important ad- ministrator, this letter can be of great help in publicizing the role of the ar- chivist on campus. No matter what the format of such a letter or memorandum, it should con- tain certain information designated to clarify the archivist's position, general duties, educational background, profes- sional experience, and any other infor- mation which Will make his case a strong and convincing one. The letter should be brief, allowing the archivist room to discuss relevant details in per- son at a later date with each depart- mental chairman or divisional dean. After the chancellor or librarian has sent a letter of introduction to faculty and administrators, the archivist should make personal courtesy calls. At these meetings he must be prepared to sell his services to the administrators and to al- lay any fears they may have regarding the loss, damage, or violation of confi- • dentiality of their records. The archivist will have to determine his policies in ad- vance so that he will be able to establish a consistent procedure for all depart- ments: If possible he should survey the records of each office he visits and pro- cure any · background information that will help him understand its function and history. Some offices may have de- partmental histories which not only trace the development of the depart- ment, but also provide information about the composition of the staff and their respective positions over the years. If such information is unavailable in this form, then the archivist can fre- quently obtain the same information through accreditation reports or old uni- versity catalogs.s ARcHivEs CoMMITTEE Although its members are not tech- nically part of the staff, an archives · committee can be a valuable tool in ed- ucating faculty, students, and adminis- trators to the role of an archives. This advisory committee should include the archivist ex officio and representatives from four areas of the university: ( 1) business, ( 2) historical, ( 3) legal, .and ( 4) administrative. The reason for each of these is fairly obvious. Since finan- cial records of the college will eventual- ly be transferred to the archives, it is important that a qualified member of the committee judge which records may later be needed for income tax data, employment record verification, and budget review. Although the archivist is often a trained historian, it is, never- theless, good to have a faculty repre- sentative, preferably from the history discipline and with a background in United States history, to act on behalf of researchers and social scientists who use the archives. Third, some sort of le- gal representative should be included to give advice regarding the archivist's re- sponsibilities to preserve the confiden- tiality of certain files, and to interpret the laws concerning the records of the institution (federal, state, or universi- ty). Finally, because the archives may be funded through the central adminis- tration or because it serves as a major support function for administrators, there should be an administrator on the committee who can speak with authority for the staff. 7 In addition to these four members, the director of libraries would guarantee his stake in the successful development of an archival program. This is espe- cially important when the archives is an integral part, physically and adminis- tratively, of the library system. Since a sizable portion of student records will eventually be transferred to the ar- chives, the registrar or director of ad- missions whose offices generate these rec- ords might be included on the commit- tee. In the event university policy per- mits student representatives on faculty and administrative committees, then the student government should be asked to furnish a representative. A student on the committee would not seriously jeopardize the confidentiality of non- public university material, and he might serve to introduce the archivist to the students. The value of a committee, no matter what its composition, is that it increases the visibility of the archivist to all seg- ments of the university community. Es- pecially where the archivist does not have an academic-administrative ap- pointment, the committee can publicize the archives and give it respectability on the campus. If appeals to faculty and staff can be drafted over the signature of a broadly based committee, the ar- chivist's job will be made easier. A SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHIVES All of these methods of publicizing the archives to faculty, students, and ad- ministrators relate to personnel policies: appointment of the archivist, courtesy calls on academic staff, and creation of an archives advisory committee. But what are the services an archives can of- fer that might be used to educate and serve the campus community? Services might include establishing and main- taining an extensive records manage- ment program and such diverse collec- Establishing a College Archives I 381 tions as institutional publications, sub- ject and biographical files, faculty pub- lications, as well as iconographic materi- al, memorabilia, and oral history. The archivist's first obligation, of course, is to preserve all significant non- current records of the university. That includes every - type of record: budget, financial, student, faculty, and adminis- trative. Beyond this the amount of col- lateral work that can be performed is dependent on staff and budget. Many activities performed by the news or public information service, the library, the registrar's office, or admissions office, can as easily be performed by the ar- chives. This is especially true where these other offices are understaffed or cramped for space, as is often the case at an older institution. Many of these services may be necessary, for as the archives comes to be known for these collateral resources, its more funda- mental purpose of collecting historical- ly significant records will be better ap- preciated. But in extending these ser- vices, the archivist should neither lose sight of his primary obligation of pre- serving important noncurrent records nor permit his office to become a dump- ing ground for inconsequential materi- al. In the case of the offices of the regis- trar, admissions, student affairs, payroll, and bursar, the archivist can provide a valuable service as a records manager. These offices generate a substantial num- ber of forms which vary in value from short-term items, such as requisitions or interoffice memos, to permanently val- uable student transcripts or budget rec- ords. The problem of these offices is one of storage space for important but in- frequently used records. A mutually ap- proved records disposal schedule should satisfy the needs of the individual of- fices for occasional reference work and free them of records which occupy prime office file and storage space. Such a records management program empha- 388 I College & Research Libraries • September 1975 sizes cost savings and internal adminis- trative services which a comprehensive college archives can provide. 8 VERTICAL FILEs If the archives is to be a clearing- house for all university-related activ- ities, then the possibilities for a research and resource center reflecting all aspects of the college are great indeed. A col- lege is known to the public mainly through the printed word, often by its own publications, including student newspapers, yearbooks, catalogs, time- tables, brochures, cbnference proceed- ings, colloquia, bulletins, and alumni newsletters. Internally, these publica- tions provide valuable information for those new to a specific job or interested in the history of the institution, the quality of its work, and the variety of its undertakings. For them, boxes of manuscript materials and volumes of budget records are overkill. But the pub- lications will often be the key to the en- tire college, the tip of the iceberg. So- liciting, collecting, and maintaining a complete set of all publications support- ed by or related to the college puts the archivist in contact with most units on campus. The file can serve as reference for the activities of the campus, pro- vide background on programs, and sup- ply information to the press for news releases. Naturally as the collection grows older it develops historical im- portance as one gauge of the universi- ty's growth and development. Closely associated with a publication file would be a subject file of clip sheets or newspaper clippings. Some large uni- versities have a news service or office of public information which collects all newspaper, magazine, and periodical ar- ticles relating to the university. In some cases the athletic department maintains its own sports file. Still other colleges subscribe to a state or regional news clipping service. The archivist should arrange with the offices which handle these files to draft a disposal schedule in which the clippings would be trans- ferred to the archives periodically. The offices originally responsible for the rec- ords should, of course, have access to the clippings at any time. Once the news items lose their current value, they be- come historically important for dating a speech, explaining a situation, or pro- viding information for a commemora- tive event. For that reason they should be kept in the archives along with other items of enduring value. This clipping file, in fact, can form the nucleus of a major subject file. By including mimeo- graph material and internal publica- tions, the subject file can become a val- uable resource to the university. As peo- ple begin to use these materials, they will remember the archives and may use its other collections to find valuable his- torical information. In conjunction with the subject file, or separate from it, is a biographical file which would include information on faculty, administration, and stu- dents. Sometimes biographical informa- tion can be solicited directly from fac- ulty or staff in the form of a question- naire. This has the advantage of stan- dardizing the information on each per- son. Of importance in documenting the achievements of faculty and adminis- tration is an author or faculty publica- tions file. Libraries occasionally main- tain a faculty publications file, but these are often incomplete because they include only books. A good working ar- rangement with the other librarians might call for the library to acquire all books published by the faculty and for the archives to collect all articles and published papers. Usually here the ar- chivist can count on the cooperation of the faculty. He can send a form letter to the faculty asking for reprints, or at least for the correct bibliographical ci- tations. After initial solicitation of the faculty, the archivist should circulate a similar form semiannually, or obtain a list of new faculty from the dean's office, departmental chairperson, or the college catalog. At a medium-sized or smaller college, the archivist might so- licit faculty publications on a person- to-person basis. Personalization assures good public relations between the ar- chives and the rest of the academic com- munity and introduces the archivist to all segments of the faculty. It also serves to encourage faculty use of the archives for its intended function-a source of reliable historical data. NoNPRINT FILES Increasingly important in a multime- dia world is nonwritten communication including iconography and video and sound tape recordings. An iconographic or photo collection is of importance not only for news releases or articles, but also for future research on the growth of the college or the biography of a particular faculty member or adminis- trator. The best method of acquiring a photograph file, while at the same time publicizing the archives, is to con- tact the yearbook or student ne\vspaper staff at the end of each year. The news service may be willing to provide pho- tographs as well. Sometimes local news- papers have photos from previous fea- tures on the campus or its activities and personalities. If the .archivist assures lo- cal newspaper editors that they are wel- come to use his own photograph collec- tion, they may be willing to tum over their old photographs to him, especially those of building construction now completed, of buildings no longer standing, of faculty who have died or retired, or of students who have grad- uated. Sound and videotape recordings are a valuable record of college activities. Often panel discussions of eminent people, lectures by visiting professors or celebrities, recitals of different musi- cal and choral aggregations, and stage Establishing a College Archives I 389 productions flesh out the history of a university. They also provide a record of many important activities that may not be available otherwise. In the event no one records important activities or events on campus, the archives should attempt to do so. However, with a lim- ited budget this is impractical and oth- er projects should have priority. To save time and money the archivist might ask the audiovisual department to supply the sponsoring agency with a tape re- corder and charge the archives for the tape. Someone sponsoring the event could then record the activity and send the tape to the archives. Such records are doubly valuable, in fact. They are both the proper domain of archives, and their popular appeal will draw stu- dents and faculty to the archives as a source of historical information. The most amorphous category of ar- chival material is memorabilia. Awards, trophies, and citations given to the col- lege, or to an administrator as repre- sentative of the university, are obvious examples of memorabilia. Other items of campus interest in this category in- clude alumni scrapbooks, ground break- ing shovels, student dance programs, something from a destroyed building, or relics of student traditions and activ- ities. Though these are perhaps more the stuff of museums, their deposit in the archives will publicize the archives and eventually draw attention to its more important collections. The variety of this material makes classification dif- ficult and storage nearly impossible. Yet these handicaps should not deter the archivist from actively soliciting mem- orabilia. Memorabilia is seldom of much historical importance in itself but is frequently the only tangible, three- dimensional representation of a bygone period. It is often eye-catching and makes an attractive display of the uni- versity's history. The archivist can serve the university by preserving the material .and can assist in arranging displays of 390 I College & Research Libraries • September 1975 the university's past when called upon to do so for open houses, centennials, commemorations, and reunions. ORAL HISTORY · A final dimension to an all-inclusive archival program is an oral history proj- ect. The value of some form of oral history has been proven by Columbia University and the various presidential libraries. Yet the costs of such a proj- ect should be well understood before implementation. Even on a modest bud- get, however, the archivist can under- take a limited project that might well complement his own collections. Where cost is a consideration, the interviews need not be transcribed immediately, especially since they will seldom be available for research use without time restrictions. Recording the interviews before key people leave campus should have a higher priority than eventual transcriptions. These interviews are val- uable because they supplement the writ- ten record and may be the only auto- biographical record a busy professor or administrator leaves. As much as any service the archivist provides, an oral history project which asks the right questions of the right people can be of great value. 9 SUMMARY This cursory examination of the va- riety of archival material and the dif- ferent types of services an archives can render should not imply that each ac- tivity is of equal value. The heart of an archives is its manuscript and admin- istrative files. Papers of faculty and staff are unique whereas publications may be found elsewhere. Therefore, papers of key administrators and prom- inent faculty are of much greater im- portance than biographical, clipping, or subject files. Scholars will seldom come to the archives in search of publications or memorabilia. They are usually inter- ested in the manuscripts of individuals, in records of various organizations, or in administrative papers that show how decisions were made, who made them, and what the lines of responsibility were. This is the stuff of which biogra- phies, institutional studies, and college histories are written. Auxiliary services can be emphasized, depending on the size of the staff, age and size of the institution, physical space available, and the energy of the archivist. Records management and re- tention of vital records are services to offices that generate the records and may be a necessary part of the operation of a college archives, but they should not take precedence over processing archival acquisitions. Like the maintenance of a faculty author file or newspaper fil e, records management may be necessary to win support for the archives within the administration, to establish good public relations with other departments or divisions, and to establish credibility and worth in the eyes of budget officers. The individual priorities must be set by the archivist to fit his specific needs, but administrative and faculty fil es should head his list. Securing and pre- serving historically important material must nevertheless be combined with a level-headed sense of service to the needs of the academic community. Too rigidly restricting the role of a univer- sity archivist reduces his value to the academic community ·and possibly jeop- ardizes his job as well! REFERENCES 1. Although the Society of American Archivists neither endorses nor accredits courses in ar- chives, its Committee on Education and Pro- fessional Development has published a di- rectory, Education Directory: Careers and Courses in Archival Administration (Ann Ar- bor: The Society of American Archivists, 1973). Twelve universities in the United States offer multiple courses on archives; an additional twenty colleges or universities in the United States and Canada offer single courses. These courses are fairly evenly di- vided between history departments and li- brary schools. One of the six institutes de- scribed in the directory deals specifically with college and university archives: an an- nual summer workshop at Case Western Reserve University. 2. A survey of articles included in "College and University Archives: A Select Bibliography," American Archivist 37:67-72 (Jan. 197 4) reflects the emphasis on individual archival institutions. This annotated bibliography of articles and books is the most recent avail- able published source of scholarly literature on college and university archives. Although several articles, reviews, and books on ar- chives are regularly listed in Library Litera- ture, there is a paucity of articles on college archives, and most of these deal with tech- nical areas of classification and retrieval. The most recent issue of Library Trends to deal comprehensively with archives was published in January 1957 and edited by R. W. G. Vail. Various technical aspects of a college archival operation, including a comparison between different methods of classification and control between librarians and archivists, is presented in Proceedings of the Conference on Archival Administra- tion for Small Universities, Colleges and Junior Colleges (University of Illinois Grad- uate School of Library Science, Occasional Papers No. 88, Oct. 1967). Another useful source for the technical aspects of appraisal, arrangement, and availability of archival ma- terial is Woodrow W. Was son, "Organizing and Administering a University Archives," College & Research Libraries 29:109-16 (March 1968). A brief overview may be found in Thomas E. Blantz, CSC, "The Li- brarian as Archivist," Catholic Library World 46:14-16 (July-August 1974). 3. This idea has been a popular theme of the College and University Archives session at recent annual meetings of the Society of American Archivists. The thirty-sixth annual meeting (October 31-November 3, 1972) included a session entitled "Justifying the College and University Archives in the 1970's," dealing primarily with the archi- vist's increased responsibilities in a period of fiscal restraint. "The Role of College and University Archives: Dimensions and Di- rections," a session at the thirty-eighth an- nual meeting (October 1-4, 197 4), ex- plored new uses of traditional sources, new methods of documentation, and new services which librarians and archivists can offer. Establishing a College Archives I 391 4. Committee on College and University Ar- chives, College and University Archives in the U.S. and Canada (Ann Arbor: The So- ciety of American Archivists, 1972) is an updated directory of the 1966 survey. The directory is based on a summary of data so- licited through nearly 1,400 survey question- naires of which over 850 were completed and returned. One of the questions dealt specifically with the place of an archives in the table of the institution's organization. Not surprisingly, more than twice as many were listed as reporting to the library than to all other administrative units combined. Other categories included chancellor's or president's office, vice-president for public relations, vice-president for administration, and the department of history. 5. Maynard J. Brichford, "University Archives: Relationships with Faculty," American Ar- chivist 34:173- 81 (April 1971); Herbert Finch, "The Problem of Confidentiality in a College Archives," American Archivist 31: 239---41 (July 1968); Walter Rundell, Jr., "Personal Data from University Archives," American Archivist 34:183-88 (April 1971 ). 6. This approach of soliciting departmental his- tories was successfully followed in compiling one of the pioneer university histories, Merle Curti and Vernon Carstensen, The U niversi- ty of Wisconsin: A History, 1848-1925, 2v. (Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Pr., 1949, 197 4 ) . These then became one of the first accessions when the archives was formally created; see series 0/5111 in University of Wisconsin Archives, Madison, Wisconsin. 7. The "Laws and Regulations of the U niver- sity of Wisconsin," for instance, provide for the creation of an Archives Committee. On the Madison campus, faculty legislation spells out exactly who serves on that com- mittee: "the University archivist, the secre- tary of the faculty, the vice-president for business affairs, the chairman of the Library Committee, the director of University Li- braries, the director of the State Historical Society, and three additional members of the faculty appointed by the Chancellor," Sec. 24.03 "Laws and Regulations of the Univer- sity of Wisconsin, 1969." 8. Clifford K. Shipton, "The Reference Use of Archives," in Rolland E. Stevens, ed., Uni- versity Archives (Champaign: Illini Union Bookstore, 1965), p.68-81; Helen L. Chat- field, "Records Management in the Adminis- tration of College and University Archives," American Archivist 31:243-45 (July 1968); William F. Schmidt and Sarah J. Wilson, ''A Practical Approach to University Records Management," American Archivist 31:247- 392 I College & Research Libraries • September 1975 64 (July 1968); William Saffady, "A Uni- versity Archives and Records Management Program: Some Operational Guidelines," College & Research Libraries 35:204-10 (May 1974); G. W. Cornell, "The College Archive: A Study in Administration" (Ph.D. dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1968), p.111-76; North Carolina State De- partment of Archives and History, College and University Records Retention and Dis- position Schedule (Raleigh: State Depart- ment of Archives and History, 1964). 9. William W. Moss, Oral History Program Manual (New York: Praeger, 1973) is worth reading, even though the book re- flects the type of funding the author has en- joyed during his work on the John F. Ken- nedy Oral History Project. Although it fo- cuses on California, there is much valuable information in Richard D. Curtiss, Gary L. Shumway, and Shirley E. Stephenson, eds., A Guide for Oral History Programs (Fuller- ton: California State Univ., 1973). Different aspects of oral history, although not confined to college programs, are discussed in four articles in American Archivist 28:53-83 (January 1965). Unfortunately, there exist little hard data on cost and time for tran- scribing interviews in oral history programs which supplement a larger archival opera- tion not primarily concerned with oral his- tory.