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Re: retention schedule for researcher correspondence



The real value of researcher correspondence is with the history of the
particular collection.  For instance when reporting to the parent organization
of the archive/museum or reporting to the donor,  the archivists can use the
correspondence to support further funding,  expanded vault space or even
deaccessioning of the collection.  If a collection has been used by 100
scholars a year for the last 20 years,  there may be some preservation issues
that need to be addressed.  Likewise if the archive can prove that not a single
researcher has used the collection for 35 years,  the lack of correspondence
will aid in supporting the removal of the collection to make room for one that
has been utilized my the public.
Just a quick thought.
Alex Rankin
Assistant Director for Manuscripts
Special Collections
Boston University

David Smolen wrote:

> Fellow Archivists, would anyone on the list be willing to share with me how
> long they keep researcher correspondence. I would imagine that institutions
> do not keep these records permanently.
>
> It is a record of what people were interested in at a certain time and it
> would be interesting to see what people were asking about at a given time.
> Maybe that would only be of interest to archivists :-)?
>
> Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this topic.
>
> Have a nice day,
>
> David Smolen
> Special Collections Librarian
> New Hampshire Historical Society
> Phone: 603-225-3381
> Fax: 603-224-0463
> dsmolen@nhhistory.org
>
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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>