When departments or offices have records of permanent historical value to transfer to the University Archives, the first step in the process is to contact the Archives staff by e-mail or phone at 882-7567. Staff members will discuss with you the type and quantity of records to be transferred. The University Archives can also provide you with copies of the Transfer of Records to Archives Form (UM 34A) and assist you with properly completing it. The Transfer of Records to Archives Form is used to list the record series being transferred and to transfer administrative custody of the records from the originating office to the University Archives.
It may be appropriate for a member of the Archives' staff to visit your office to look at the records, or arrangements can often be made over the telephone. When the department and the University Archives have agreed on what and how much to transfer, the department should call Records Management at 882-6362 to arrange for the delivery of box labels and to arrange for the purchase and delivery of record-center boxes.
Pack the records and their original file folders and filing guides into the boxes in the same order in which they were maintained in your filing equipment. It is important to transfer the file folders to the Archives with the records, but please do not transfer hanging-folders if they are part of the filing system in use. If your files are kept in hanging file folders without internal folders, it will be necessary to either remove the metal hanging rods at the upper margin of the folders before boxing the files or to place the records into regular manila folders and label them before sending them to the Archives. Both legal and letter size files can be packed in the same type of record-storage box. When packing records into boxes leave two or three inches of space in each box so that files may be removed and refiled more easily.
The self-adhesive box labels should be obtained from the Records Management Department, filled out completely and affixed to the small end (sides with hand-holes) of the box. In order to provide for a close accounting and to retain the proper order of a multi-box transfer it is important to write in large characters on the side of each box, the office name and the number of the box, (i.e. ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, Box 1 of 5, Box 2 of 5, etc). Place the first two copies of the Transfer of Records to Archives Form in the first box of the records to be transferred. Retain the last copy of the three-part form for your office records. When all preparations have been completed for transferring the records, contact the archives staff to make arrangements for the pick-up and the delivery of materials to the University Archives.
Upon occasion a department may need to recall a file or a box of records from the Archives. To recall records that have been transferred to the University Archives, contact the Archives staff and give them the date of the transmittal and the box number, information found on the Transfer of Records to Archives Form, as well as the information on records you want to reference.
Transfer of University Records from the Records Center to the Archives
