Depositing
Records of permanent significance to the history of the college should be deposited with archives once they are no longer in active use. The content of files deposited in archives is stable and is not expected to change in the future. Records deposited in archives have no destruction date, but rather are so significant to understanding the institution that they will exist in perpetuity. Ideally, records deposited in archives are public-facing and open to researchers, although some will inevitably have embargo periods. In these cases, boxes should be clearly marked with “closed until” dates.
Records that arrive in archives will be processed by trained professionals, but should come with as much contextual information as possible, including the creating department, the file range (in year, alphabetical, or other span), and file type. All depositors must meet with the college archivist before depositing records to discuss a plan for the documents. Not all records can be kept; if a record is determined not to be of significance to college history, it will be returned to its creating department or destroyed.
Before depositing records, consult the college’s records policy for guidance regarding record types.