Accessions

This week I had the opportunity to learn about the accession process.   Several boxes of materials from a former IU faculty member came in over the weekend; about half contained loose papers in old beaten-up boxes and the remainder was found in old letter boxes.  I should mention an accession material in the custody of the archive but not yet processed with a complete finding aid made available to the public.  My job was to ascertain the contents of the new accession, note the various folders (where present), form some kind of organization, and re-box the papers into our standard archival boxes.  Few things are more horrific than a pile of papers lying haphazardly in a dusty box, yet little-by-little I was able to find a system, and thankfully some jumbled notes in the piles of papers.  However, before I could re-box, I first had to learn how to build a box.   This was initially harder than it looked.  Yet after being told not once, but twice, how to construct an archival box, I discovered I had a knack for box-building.  I labeled each box with its number in the sequence.  Sixteen boxes later, I completed my organization scheme and made extensive notes on the papers within each box.

Following re-boxing, I learned the procedure for assigning accession numbers to newly-arrived records.  Each new accession is assigned a number based on the current year as well as the current number of accessions in that year.  This was the 89^th new accession of the year 2010; hence, the accession number for this group is 2010/089.  This number is critical for tracking unprocessed records.  The date, accession number, creator, number of containers (in this case boxes), and initials of the processor are recorded for reference.  The next step was to enter the data collected during my initial survey of the records.  The Indiana University Archives utilized an internal database to track accessions.  The database is not made available to the public.  The Archives accession database system is a program named askSam, which allows for basic information entry in regards to accession number, creator, date ranges, and department of origin.  After this vital information, the next critical step is to enter the list of materials within each box.   Entering this information allows the Archives to have an electronic record available to quickly search if necessary in case a relevant research question comes in prior to actual processing.

The final step is the preparation of the boxes for long-term storage.  Due to the vast number of materials in the archive, new accessions are sent to the ALF for storage until the determination is made to process.  In order to facilitate quick and easy retrieval of these accessions, each box is assigned labels.  The accession number is written on each box and a barcode is attached.  These barcodes are entered into a database with the accession number and box number.  Finally, each box is secured with a plastic band.  At last the accession is complete and ready to be stored for processing at a later date.

So I helped accession a new group of records.  I always enjoy learning new things, so this was a fun process.  I learned some skills I will use for a long time and explored another aspect of the Indiana University Archives.  Finally, a quick tip for all future archival subjects:  when you donate your materials, please organize it neatly; it makes everything better!