University of Missouri - Columbia Archives


Policy Number 8: Archival Finding Aids
12/2000


1. POLICY:

All newly created University Archives finding aids will provide content description at the summary description or file folder level only. All finding aids will conform to the format and style defined in this document. The inventory is the preferred and desired form of finding aid; however, summary descriptions will be prepared, encoded, and loaded onto the Archives Web Page as an intermediate descriptive tool. See Policy Number 9, Summary Descriptions, for detail on preparation of these initial finding aids.

2. PURPOSE:

2-1. The purpose of this Policy is to standardize finding aid preparation in the University Archives.

2-2. The Policy also defines the finding aid format for all descriptive tools created in the University Archives.

3. SCOPE:

This policy applies to all University of Missouri - Columbia Archives staff members and student workers.

4. RESPONSIBILITIES:

4-1. The University Archivist has the overall responsibility for organizing, editing, correcting, and maintaining the Archives Web page and associated files, directories, and utilities, with the assistance of the Technical Services Archivist and the Archives staff.  Major needs for alterations, deletions, or additions to the Web page may be completed by Archives staff in consultation with the University Archivist, and the Public Services Archivist and/or the Technical Services Archivist.

4-2. The Technical Services Archivist, under the direction of the University Archivist, is responsible for performing or overseeing all cataloging of University Archives holdings.

4-3. The University Archives staff and student workers (under staff direction) will draft archival finding aids in accordance with the procedures outlined herein.

4-4. The University Archivist will review and approve the final versions of all finding aids prior to their public distribution or publication on the University Archives Web page.

5. DEFINITIONS:

5-1. Accession Number - a unique number assigned upon receipt to each group of records. The number begins with the letter A, followed by the last two numerals of the current year, a hyphen, and the next number in sequence from that year's list of accession numbers. The number is usually set within parentheses, e.g., (A98-14).  The next available sequential number may be found by reviewing the entries in the Accession Register stored in Lewis Hall room 724.

5-2. Box List - a finding aid that describes in a very brief and generalized way the size and the contents of each box or container within a multiple container collection.

5-3. "C" - part of the call number of a record group or sub-group which indicates that the records were created by an administrative unit of the University of Missouri-Columbia campus and not the University of Missouri System.

5-4. " ca." - abbreviation for circa, an indication that a date is approximate and not exact. Its proper use is for records or documents for which there is no written date and the only evidence of the time and date is by inference from collection context.  It is written as ca. on any web page.

5-5. Call Number - a number which provides two pieces of information about the collection or record group. The first letters, either "UW" or "C," identify whether the records are University-Wide or Columbia-Campus records. The numbers which follow indicate the originating office and the number of collections processed from that office.

5-6. Cataloging - preparation of descriptions that will allow archival descriptions to be included in the Archives web site.

5-7. Container List - a file folder listing or inventory, which is more detailed than a box list.

5-8. Dates - dates of archival materials are noted in two forms, span dates and bulk dates. Span dates indicate the first and last date of materials in a body of records being described; bulk dates indicate the date span of most of the materials.

5-9. File Address - the URL (Universal Resource Locator) used in Internet markup language for tagging a location of a web page or Web site.

5-10. FF - abbreviation for file folder used in an archival inventory.

5-11. Finding Aids - indices, inventories, or summary descriptions, whether manual or automated, that are designed to make it easier to locate information within an archival collection.

5-12. HTML - Hypertext Markup Language, a code convention for use with Internet Web Browsers.

5-13. Inventory - A description of materials, either at the box level or at the folder level, which may be several pages in length.

5-14. Kardex - manual card-index system that contains summary descriptions and control information on archival accessions.

5-15. Location Codes - these designations list the physical location of the records. There are four different designations:

5-15-1. Locker Locations - examples: 121, 3 represents a box located in cabinet # 121 on the third shelf; 134, 1-2 represents multiple boxes located in cabinet # 134 on the first and second shelves.

5-15-2. Vault Locations - examples: B3A, B6, 4 represents a box located in vault B3A in the 6th bay and on the 4th shelf; B3A, B2, 6 indicates a box or envelope or package located in Vault B3A in the second bay and on the sixth shelf. B3A, Cub indicates a box, envelope or item located in the book shelves of B3A.

5-15-3. Seventh Floor Locations - examples: 704, 3, 3 indicates material is located in Lewis Hall room 704, Photo Vault, on the third range of shelving and on the third shelf; 703, MC locates records in Lewis Hall room 703, Archives Reading Room, in the map cabinet; 723, 1, 2-3 represents several boxes located in Lewis Hall room 723 on the first range of shelves and on shelves two and three.

5-15-4. Records Center Locations - examples: 047862 locates material in the Records Center at the unique shelf address, 047862. Always list every box location, even when there is a range of Records Center box locations.

5-16. Meta-tags or Meta-fields - descriptive terms or subject headings used within an HTML document so that Internet search utilities can index and search on specific terms.

5-17. Note Fields - short paragraphs that provide additional information about the collection. Some of the Note Fields commonly used are "Note to Researcher," "Historical or Biographical Note," 'Restriction Note," "Note to Archivist," and "Scope and Content Note".

5-18. OCR or Optical Character Recognition - a software program which permits a scanned page to be converted and translated into a digital document; the product is not to be confused with a scanned image of a document.

5-19. Processing - the series of steps required after records are accessioned, to prepare them for public use. Processing may consist of, but is not limited to, the following actions:

5-19-1. arrangement into series;

5-19-2. refoldering in new acid-free file folders with new descriptive file folder headings and identifying information;

5-19-3. rehousing in new acid-free boxes or cartons;

5-19-4. inventorying or making a list of the file folder headings for each container of records;

5-19-5. drafting a finding aid for the described records.

5-20. Provenance - description of the origin of the records, and general history of a collection, i.e., how it came to be and how it came to the University Archives.

5-21. Record Group - a body of organizationally related records.  In the University Archives, this may be a college or school, such as Record Group 9, College of Engineering or Record Group 1, administrative records.

5-22. Record Series - file units or documents arranged in accordance with a filing system or maintained as a unit because they result from the same filing or creation process.

5-23. Reformatting - the process of changing the form of a document or, specifically, a finding aid; i.e., scanning a paper document and producing an electronic document. The term also refers to converting photographic images to digital images or converting paper documents to microfilm.

5-24. Revision Statement - a notation appearing at the bottom of an HTML finding aid providing the specific date on which the finding aid was created and the date of the most recent revision.

5-25. Scanning - the process of transferring a typed or printed paper-based document or a graphic image to an electronic form. Items can be created in two forms using a scanner: (1) an image file (a digital picture of a written page) or (2) a character-based text document which is fully manipulatable (the document is useable as a word processing or an ASCII text file, rather than being a digital image of a page that can not be edited).

5-26. Series Description - description of the function or relationship of the records within a record series.

5-27. Series Outline - list of record series contained in a collection finding aid. When the outline is hyper-linked to parts of an inventory, it serves as an automated table of contents that facilitates navigation around the document.

5-28. Summary Description - a descriptive format that briefly outlines the materials in a collection and is usually only a paragraph or two in length.

5-29. Titling of Records - process of naming a record to show provenance and organizational placement.

5-30. Title Block - record group or collection title used to introduce a collection in an HTML finding aid.

5-31. UMUW Form 106 - University Archives Control Card - a 5x8 card used in the Kardex file system to describe archival collection holdings.

5-32. UMUW Form 171 - University Archives Inventory Worksheet. - a form used as a control form for all collections accessioned into the University Archives that are described to at least summary level. Accessions that are listed as not processed collections are not described on a University Archives Inventory Worksheet.

5-33. - URL - Universal Resource Locator, the address of a page on an Internet file server.

5-34. "UW" - used as part of the call number of a body of records, it indicates that the records were created by an administrative unit of the central administration of the University of Missouri System and not an office or unit of the campus of the University of Missouri - Columbia.

6. PROCEDURES:

6-1. Processing and description in the University Archives will be done at the file folder level and not at the item or document level, except in extraordinary situations. The most detailed finding aid created is the inventory.

6-2. If older and more detailed finding aids exist and they can be efficiently scanned and translated, then publication of the more detailed finding aids is acceptable. However, if the reformatting and editing requires an extraordinary amount of time and labor, the reworking of these finding aids will be done only with the consultation and approval of the University Archivist.

6-3. All finding aids must be reviewed by the University Archivist immediately after being loaded onto the Internet file server. Either the University Archivist, the Technical Services Archivist, or the Public Services Archivist will review these finding aids.

6-4. When a finding aid has been approved by the University Archivist or his/her designee, a printed copy will be generated and attached to the collection's inventory worksheet which is stored in the inventory file in 723 Lewis Hall.

6-5. The following format should be followed in preparing a finding aid for loading onto the Archives' Internet file server. All descriptive tools, whether created anew or scanned and migrated to the HTML format, should use one of the finding aid templates as a base document. Use of a template alleviates the need to perform numerous formatting steps prior to beginning the drafting and/or editing process.

All fonts in the finding aid will be uniform size but may vary in style. All elements of the Title Block, and section headings such as Scope and Content Note, Provenance Note, Series Outline, etc. shall appear in bold text.

The abbreviation FF and its number as well as the word Box are in bold text when they appear, but the titles of file folders and boxes are not.

Section headings shall be separated from the ends of previous sections by one space and from the text to which they refer (the following text) by one space.

There are some places within the HTML coding of the template where information is entered.

6-6-1. Meta-tags - <META HTTP-EQUIV= "KEYWORDS"> are used for the purpose of making the Archives finding aids usable with external Internet search utilities. It is for this reason that the selection of the keywords for Meta-tags is vitally important. The total number of keywords for a single web page should not exceed forty (40) words. If an abbreviation represents a significant part of the collection, it should be added as a Meta-tag. Periods should not be used in the abbreviation for the Meta-tag or for its use in the text. Single nouns that describe record type, program names, personal names, place, and building names may be used. All terms must be separated by commas and be in lower case letters.

6-6-2. Title - <TITLE></TITLE> These two tags enclose the title of the collection as it appears in the title block at the beginning of the finding aid.  The text will appear on the uppermost portion of the web page. This text will also appear as the file name on printouts of the HTML document.  In addition, when the search engine locates a word, it lists the title of the page on which the word can be found. The title will be composed of the following elements separated by semicolons: either UMC or UM-System; Record Group designation; and type of record e.g. UM-System; Board of Curators; Official Correspondence.

Note: Be sure not to leave a space before the beginning of the tag in the title field. If you do, the script will insert an additional letter.  The title field will terminate with a double letter.

6-6-3. Title Block - For either summary descriptions or full inventories, it will consist of a minimum of 5 bold lines, flush left at the top of the first page (more lines may be required if the records title is exceptionally long.) The following is an example:

Record Group: 3 C
Record Sub-Group: 6
Records Title: UMC; College of Agriculture; Dean's Office: Administrative Correspondence
Dates: 1961-1995, bulk 1975-1995
Volume: 2 and 1/3 c.f., 2.92 linear feet

Note: The first series of dates are the span dates, which are then followed by the bulk dates, if applicable.

6-6-4. Call Numbers - One of the last items within the SCAN COLUMN of an inventory is the collection identification.  A call number is also known as the collection number or Kardex number.

Summary descriptions will differ from records inventories in that summary descriptions will have their call numbers listed separately within each series description. The call number and accession number(s) will be listed directly after the series number and before the summary description. The following is an example:

Series 1. - C:8/7/1 (A78-51; A83-23)

6-6-5. Containers - In both inventories and in summary descriptions, there are abbreviations and notations for different types of record containers.  The initial letter of each designation is capitalized.  If an acronym is used, the initial letter of each word is used and capitalized, e.g. Oversize Box, OSB.

6-6-5-1. Inventories use the following notations:

Box - could be 1/3, 1/6 or 1 cubic foot box

Pkg - package

Vol - bound volumes

Cyl - cylinder

Fic - fiche

Env - envelope

FF - file folder

MFR - microfilm reel

OSB - oversize box

OSF - oversize folder

OSP - oversize package

Tube - tube

The volume is only listed in the heading. The amount included is the volume for the entire collection. Only the volumes of boxes are combined to arrive at the total volume. All storage units that have a box shape from which cubic volume can easily be calculated should be included in the total. Thus for over- or under-sized boxes, one can multiple HxWxD (in inches) and divide by 1728 (cubic inches in a cubic foot), resulting in a numeric value for cubic feet which can be rounded to the nearest 1/6 c.f. (for example, a shoebox which measures about 4.5x12x5.75 gives 0.18 of a cubic foot, which can be rounded down to 1/6 cubic foot). Nonstandard containers such as envelopes, oversize folders, and bound volumes cannot be included in the volume calculation and should be listed after the cubic feet and linear feet calculations. In the case of a collection whose entire contents are in one or more nonstandard size containers, the type of container (Envelope, Oversize Folder, etc.) should be written in the volume line e.g. Volume: 3 OSF or Volume: 2 Env and 1 OSF.

The conversion from more conventional cubic feet to linear feet can be easily calculated by a conversion chart (one is located on the bulletin board in room 725 Lewis Hall) or by multiplying cubic feet by the coefficient 1.25.

6-6-5-2. Summary descriptions use the same notations for records containers as inventories. The calculation of total volume for summary descriptions is also prepared in the same manner as inventories.  The placement of this information differs between inventories and summary descriptions, however.  Since the inventory is a single collection, the total volume is listed in the heading. Since there are several collections listed on a summary description page, the total volume in the heading is for all the collections listed on that page. Unlike the inventory page, however, the nonstandard containers are not appended to the volume line in the heading.
The volume for each summary description is listed in parentheses on a new line at the conclusion of the summary description text. Indicate total volume of the material in a series at the start of the new line at the end of the summary. A total volume need not be given if a collection consists of only one box container or of only non-box containers, e.g., (1/6 c.f., 104, 2). Following the total volume place a colon and then list each storage unit (the volume of a standard box or its abbreviation if it is a non-standard box or other container) followed by its location, e.g., (2 1/3 c.f.: 1 c.f., 110111; 2/3 c.f., 110, 2; 1/3 c.f., 704, 6, 2; 1/6 c.f., B3A, B2, 3; shoebox, 704, 1, 2; OSF, 703, MC). Each container and its location are to be separated by a semicolon.

6-6-6. Storage Units - In addition to specialized abbreviations used for archival containers, there are specialized abbreviations for storage units or configurations. These abbreviations are the same for inventories and summary descriptions.

6-6-6-1. These are the abbreviations for storage units:

C - Cabinet

B - Bay

Cub - Cubby, B3A

P - Pallet, B3A

MC - Map Cabinet, 703 Lewis Hall

MFC - Microfilm Cabinet, 703 Lewis Hall

VF - Vertical File, 703 Lewis Hall

6-6-7. Location Codes -

6-6-7-1. For a collection located in the B3A Clark Hall vault enter the vault location code, B3A. To complete the location code, add a comma after the vault code and then add the bay, cabinet, or pallet designation, and shelf number or range of shelves.  

6-6-7-2. For materials located in one of the yellow lockers in the basement of Lewis & Clark Hall, the following is an example, 122, 4.  122 is the locker number and 4 represents the shelf location.

6-6-7-3. For materials located in the University Records Center on Lemone Blvd., the location identifier is a 5 or 6 digit number. This number represents the location of the box at the Records Center. This is an example of a Records Center location, Box1-038612.

NOTE: An exception to this style of notation is made when the collection is made up of 20 or more boxes or other units. In these cases, the actual locations are listed on a separate and linked location page. In the case of such a summary description, the volume line should be:
(X c.f., Follow this link for box locations.)

6-6-7-4. For materials in several different locations, provide each location. The following is an example:

Box 1-142, 5, Back

Box 2-018237

Box 3-B3A, B1, 5


6-6-7-5. For materials located in the rooms on the seventh floor of Lewis Hall, the 703-726 range which indicates the room number is noted first.  Next, the bay number and shelf number, or other designations if applicable, are added, following a comma e.g. Pkg 1-703, MC

6-6-7-6. The location and volume information will be included at the end of each record-series in a summary description, e.g.,

Series 1. - C:8/7/1 (A78-51; A83-23)
This Series contains Laboratory School annual reports, including copies of student publications entitled U.E.S. Monthly and La Petite Revue, (ca. 1926-1954). Along with evaluations and testing results, records for these Summer Schools include sample lesson plans, book lists, enrollment statistics, and daily program schedules.
(3 c.f., 138, 2-3)

6-6-7-7. The location and volume information will be included in the left side bar for each full inventory. Follow this link to see an example: c-rg3-s17

6-6-8. Scope and Content Note: The Scope and Content Note of a full inventory should briefly describe the character and context of the collection or body of records and thereby define its importance to the University of Missouri. The note should also describe the contents of the Sub-Group in order to provide a researcher with a good understanding of the collection's general characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, or gaps. It may also include a processing statement as to the preservation and housing decisions made, as well as information as to the amount and types of materials that were removed from the collection. The Accession Number(s) of the collection is listed on the line preceding the start of the Scope and Content Note paragraph. Example:

Scope and Content Note:

(A90-4; A94-142)
This Record Sub-Group contains photographic prints, negatives and slides of the University of Missouri-Columbia's Memorial Union and Brady Commons. Images of the Memorial Union include the Bengal Lair, the.....

NOTE - The above example applies only to full inventories. If the paragraph has been part of a summary description, the collection number or numbers would precede the accession number or numbers on the line preceding the descriptive text. See Policy # 9, Summary Descriptions, for more in-depth explanation.

6-6-9. Summary Description: When a full inventory is not available for publication on the Web page, the Kardex description or a summary description serves as an intermediary descriptive tool for researchers until a full inventory can be produced.

6-6-10. Historical or Biographical Note: This block consists of an administrative program history, when the finding aid is describing the official department records or organizational records. The two or three paragraphs need not include a listing of the administrators who directed the office, program or organization. When the finding aid is being prepared for an individual, then it should include of a brief biographical sketch highlighting the individual's involvement with the University of Missouri.

6-6-11. Series Description: The series description helps the researcher to understand how the collection or sub-group is arranged and how the series relate to one another. For each separate series, the description should include the series number and title, list of the principal types of documents in the series, and a statement regarding the arrangement of items within each series. Finally, each series should have a sentence or two about the contents or general topics which define the series.

6-6-12. Series Outline: The series outline functions like a table of contents for the finding aid. In a hyper-linked version, it also serves as a intra-document navigational mechanism. The series should be laid out in numerical order (Arabic numbers) and simply list the series titles as defined in the "Series Description" section, e. g.,

Series Outline

1. Series One - Correspondence

2. Series Two - Budget Working Papers

3. Series Three - Classified Personnel Files

4. Series Four - Reports


6-6-13. Restriction Statements: This section consists of a brief paragraph that broadly describes any restrictions that may be placed on the materials by law, donor agreement or university policy. The paragraph is placed at the end of the page just before the Search our Holdings keyword search section in a full inventory. The paragraph is used when the body of records is known to have restricted materials or is likely to have restricted materials.

Restrictions Note: The Archives of the University of Missouri-Columbia is required by law and Board of Curator's policy to restrict access to some files and information. Student records are held as confidential under the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 and by University policy. Faculty promotion and tenure records and Academic Personnel files are restricted for 75 years, or the lifetime of the individual. All grievance, disciplinary, and medical records are treated as confidential files. Consultations with legal counsel, both in-house and external, are protected by the attorney/client privilege and will not be released.

6-6-14. Note to Researcher: Use this section to note additional things about the body of records. Also use this section to cross reference related materials in other University Archives holdings. Reference may also be made to materials in other institutions, such as the Western Historical Manuscript Collections and the Missouri Historical Society, when holdings are known. If materials being referenced are in electronic format, then a hyper-link to their location is appropriate. Cross reference notes should be in the following form:

Note to Researcher: For additional information concerning UMC College of Human Environmental Sciences' faculty publications, see Record Group 5 C, Sub-Group 10, Series 2

NOTE: The names of the finding aid to which patrons are referred series, sub-group, and record group are listed in ascending numerical order. In the case of a full inventory sub-group (rather than a series within a summary sub-group), no series number need be included. If more than one cross reference is indicated, do not begin a new note. Simply add the additional cross reference links as separate sentences, following the initial link or note.

6-6-15. Container List: The descriptive body of the inventory is the container list. The value of time and labor prohibit the development of item by item finding aids, except in the most exceptional situations (a person or office has tremendous importance to the University or a finding aid at the item level already exists and can be reformatted using the scanner and OCR software without the investment of massive amounts of labor and time.) The decision to describe beyond the file folder level should always have the approval of the University Archivist. The file folder list or inventory shall have the following format: c-rg5-s12.html.

NOTE: If the file folder title offers little or no information about the contents of the file folder, then a short one sentence description may be added to the list after the title.

6-6-16. Revision Statement: When the finding aid is fully prepared, edited, (including spell checked) and ready to be transferred from the PC's hard-drive to the remote Internet file server, the lines from the end of the text need to be updated with the dates of the creation and revision: day, month, year, e.g.,

Copyright © Curators of the University of Missouri 1997 - 2002
Published by: University Archives muarchives.missouri.edu/
Prepared: 30 April 1997
Revised: 30 November 2002

6-6-17. File Address: The very last line of the text is the new URL of the finding aid.  For example:

URL: https://muarchives.missouri.edu/c-rg1-s1.html.

6-6-18. General Style Conventions:

6-6-18-1. In each section or in each new series being summarized, the first appearance of an organizational unit name or program name is to be fully spelled out and may be followed by an acronym placed within parenthesis. Following references within the inventory or within the same section need not be repeated in the fullest form.

6-6-18-2. In each section or in each new series being summarized, the first appearance of an individual's name is written as first name, middle initial followed by the family name. Following references within the inventory or within the same section need not be repeated in the fullest form. The family name is enough information thereafter.

6-6-18-3. In each section, the first appearance of an individual's name includes the title. Following references within the inventory or within the same section need not include the title. The correct title is the title at the time the records were created, not the most current title.

6-6-18-4. When a document's day and or month of creation is not known, it may be described in the following way: "ca. 1996."  Use "ca." as the abbreviation for circa. When the full date or partial date of creation is known, do not use "ca." e.g., 04/06/1997 or 04/1997 are both proper without ca.

6-6-18-5. When using a date, do not spell out or abbreviate the month's name, use instead its Arabic ordinal number. When indicating a year, use all four numerals, not just the last two, e.g., 04/05/93 is unacceptable; 04/05/1993 is acceptable.

6-6-18-6. When there is no reliable evidence of a creation date for documents, do not use, "?" or "ca.", instead use the notation, "n.d." for no date.

6-6-18-7. Eliminate the use of ? to indicate a questionable spelling or date of creation. Instead, type the questionable term as it appears followed by the term sic in brackets i.e. [sic].

6-6-18-8. Dates are placed at the end of the description and enclosed in parentheses, e.g. (1995). They are also preceded by a comma.

6-6-18-9. Avoid the use of the back slash (/), forward slash (\), greater than (>), less than (<), and the ampersand (&) symbols in the creation of HTML documents. Instead of being read as a simple word separation device, the symbols activate the web browser to look for file structure . Use a double hyphen
(--) or a space hyphen space ( - ) wherever a separation symbol is required. Spell out the word "and" in preference to the use of the ampersand.

6-6-18-10. Proper titles in a description should follow these conventions: Play titles, journal titles, report titles, article titles, and book titles should be italicized.

6-6-18-11. Developing record sub-group and series titles should follow the following forms and conventions:

6-6-18-11-1. For titles of index pages which list a number of sub-group inventories or summaries, apply this format:

UMC; College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources
Record Group 3 C Sub-Groups:

or:

UMC; College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources
Record Group 3 C Summaries:

NOTE - Semicolons separate title elements and the designations UMC (for Columbia) and UM-System (for University-Wide). However, use the full names of these highest level organizational elements (University of Missouri-Columbia and University of Missouri) in Scope and Content Notes, Researcher Notes and other textual portions of finding aids, at least for the first time that those names appear in a paragraph.

6-6-18-11-2. For University-Wide Sub-Group and Summary index pages, the following format should be used:

UM-System; Board of Curators
Record Group 1 UW Sub-Groups:

or:

UM-System; President's Office
Record Group 4 UW Summaries:

6-6-18-11-3. When adding individual sub-groups titles to inventory and summary index pages, use semicolons to separate the record-group name, record sub-group name, and series name (if any) within a finding aid title. Use a colon to introduce the records' range of dates.

Record Sub-Group #6
UMC; College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources; Department of Horticulture; Administrative Records: 1906-2000

or

Record Sub-Group #2
UM-System; President's Office; Printed and Duplicated Materials: 1920-1934

6-6-18-11-4. When titling inventories or summary descriptions, the highest organizational level (Record Group) should appear at the top of the web page. This is achieved through including the full title in the title space near the top of the template designated, It should appear like the following:

<TITLE>UMC; College of Engineering; Dean's Office Records</TITLE>

6-6-18-11-5. The level of organization should appear in the "Record Title" line in the descriptive block at the top of the inventory or summary description:

Record Group: 9 C
Record Sub-Group: 26
Record Title: UMC; College of Engineering; Dean's Office Records
Dates: 1950-1987
Volume: 1 cubic foot, 1.25 linear feet


6-6-18-11-6. In the case of an inventory with specific record types or when all series in a complex summary description have only one type of record (such as correspondence), use the following format:

Record Group: 3 C
Record Sub-Group: 26
Record Title: UMC; College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources; Dean's Office Correspondence
Dates: 1912-1990
Volume: 60 cubic feet, 75 linear feet

6-6-18-11-7. As to the problem of the irregular use of descriptors for records, apply the following working definitions and use guidelines:

A description should use "Records" for most materials that are of an administrative or organizational origin. "Records" describe the accumulated product of a department or office that performs an official function or responsibility.

A description may use "File," sparingly, to describe the accumulated product of a single office holder when there are non-administrative, personal or professional materials mixed with official administrative materials, termed above as Records.

The descriptor, "Papers," should be used when materials are personal or academic, but are not or are not primarily related to administrative duties or responsibilities linked with the person's job.

When descriptors such as "Administrative," "Programmatic," or "Committee," are used they should be followed by the term "Records," "Files," or "Papers."

When specific record types are in the majority within a described unit, the use of a descriptor in the title, such as "Correspondence," "Photographs," "Reports and Publications," is encouraged. These terms take the place of the more generalized descriptors, "Record," "Files," or "Papers."

"Broadside" is the term applied to a publication bearing information, printed as a single page, on one side of the sheet. It is usually intended to be posted, publicly distributed, or sold.

6-6-19. When describing photographs, indicate whether the photograph is color or black and white. The dimensions of the photograph are not necessary.

6-6-20. When describing photographs, if the photographer is known, include the individual's name in parentheses.

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7. APPENDICES:

7-1. University Archives Control Card (Kardex), UMUW Form 106, completed.

7-2. University Archives Inventory Worksheet, UMUW Form 171, completed.

7-3. University Archives Inventory Template, blank.

7-4. University Archives Summary Description Template, blank.

7-5. University Archives Box Location File Template, blank.

(Revised: 21 April 2003)

Copyright © Curators of the University of Missouri 1997-2005
Published by: University Archives muarchives.missouri.edu/
URL: https://muarchives.missouri.edu/man-p8.html

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