Archives: About

Mission

Briar Cliff University Archives collects, organizes, preserves, and provides access to the records, publications, and other materials that document the history and events of Briar Cliff College and Briar Cliff University, its faculty, administrators, staff, students, and alumni.

Scope and Purpose

The Archives documents all aspects of Briar Cliff College and Briar Cliff University history from 1930 to the present. The purpose of Archives is to:

• Provide historical information about Briar Cliff in support of the mission and ongoing operations of the university.
• Serve faculty, student, alumni, and nonaffiliate research interests related to the institution.
• Support the university’s educational mission.
• Support exhibits, commemorative activities, and use of historical materials in university communications, and other examples of public history.

Subject Coverage

The Archives collect materials in a wide variety of formats, including paper documents, electronic and digital-born records, artifacts, photographic media, audio, and moving images. In addition to content, the Archives also consider the long-term preservation needs of the materials collected, and the preservation capabilities and capacities of the archives themselves – including spatial and other capacities such as the need to add duplicate copies of materials into the Archive’s holdings. The Briar Cliff University Archives will collect items in the following areas:

University records that have historical, fiscal and/or legal value. These records include:

• Governance and policy documents.
• Administrative files.
• Departmental historical files.
• Events and programs.
• University contributions to research and discovery.
• Campus related audio and visual materials.
• Student organization materials.

Historical materials that help to tell the Briar Cliff’s story and to document the people, places, and events that contribute to that story. These records include:

• Records of student life and activities such as correspondences, scrapbooks, photographs, programs, administrative records, programming and outreach materials, and memorabilia.
• Publications in which the University is described and mentioned, or which provide background for the history of the university.
• Materials collected by people or organizations not connected to the university, but which document the intellectual, cultural, administrative, and social life of Briar Cliff.

University publications and organizational records that were published and distributed either internally or externally. These records include:

• Yearbooks
• Serial publications such as university newspapers and newsletters.
• Minutes and reports from student, faculty, and staff organizations.

Record Genres

The Briar Cliff University Archives is dedicated to preserving critical historical information, and as such, does not categorically accept or reject records based on their type. However, it is the position of the University Archives that the following types of records are mostly likely to contain important historical information that should be preserved in the archives:

• Publications and printed materials such as programs; newsletters and newspapers; leaflets, brochures, and booklets; catalogs and bulletins; posters; press releases and other promotional materials.
• Reports: annual, quarterly, working group, committee and similar reports that summarize, draw conclusions, or make recommendations.
• Architectural plans.
• Meeting agendas, minutes, and associated materials from departmental and task force committees, as well as from governance bodies.
• Correspondence of a substantive nature, e.g., emails, letters, and memos discussing or communicating information to a limited number of individuals.

Similarly, there are genres of records that are not likely to warrant permanent retention in the archives. These include:

• Working files and drafts for publications or reports when final versions are available.
• Accounting and financial records for routine transactions.
• Data entry forms and worksheets.
• Correspondence of a routine nature, e.g., form letters and standard cover memos.
• Files that contain only copies of forms that are permanently maintained by another office.

Exclusions (i.e., Things That the Archives Does Not Collect)

Below are the areas and resources that the archives either does not collect or no longer collects. Materials that the archives do not accept generally fall into three broad categories: materials better suited to other repositories, short-term or active records, and materials duplicative of our current holdings. These items include:

• Non-university records
• Student files such as transcripts, registration records, grades, degrees earned, etc.
• Personnel files of employees
• Plaques, awards, and trophies
• Large items that are better suited for museum displays
• Materials exhibiting mold or exposure to rodents and pests
• Severely damaged or extremely fragile items
• Material unrelated to the university and outside of the archives collecting areas
• Duplicate copies of materials already held by the Archives

Note: A maximum of two copies of any printed publication or memorabilia item will be collected by the University Archives.

Deaccessioning (i.e., Removing Materials from the University Archives)

Deaccessioning is an essential function and tool of collection development and curation. Material selected to be deaccessioned may be returned to the donor (based on donor agreements), gifted/transferred to a more appropriate repository, or discarded. In identifying materials for deaccessioning the Archives staff considers the following:

• Does the material in question fall within the scope of the archives collection development policy and collecting practices?
• Has the material deteriorated in such a way that it cannot be reproduced or is beyond being useful due to its condition?
• Have the materials been subjected to poor environmental conditions, resulting in mold, water damage, fire damage, or do the materials show evidence of being exposed to rodents or pests?
• Do any established externally imposed restrictions such as records retention schedules, deposition authorizations, or donor agreements apply to the materials?
• Are there more than two copies held within the archives?

Review Cycle

This policy will be reviewed every 5 years from the initial date of approval.

Approved

December 2023

When using the Briar Cliff University Archives, please abide by the following regulations in order to ensure that the archival materials and books continue to be available for future use.

You Must Always

• Use a pencil when working with archival materials.
• Handle the archival materials and books with care.
• Make sure your hands are clean before handling archival materials.
• Avoid putting strain on the spine of any open volume. Don’t try to force it to lie flat; don’t leave it lying open face downwards; and don’t mark your place with anything other than a strip of acid-free paper.
• Open only one file, box, or bundle at a time to avoid mixing paper between files. Ensure that you return files with the pages in the original order in which you received them.

You Must Never

• Use a pen or eraser.
• Eat or drink when handling archival materials.
• Use flash photography.
• Remove items from their archival clear protective sleeves.
• Touch images.
• Mark documents in any way.
• Lean on or place anything on top of documents, plans, or books – whether open or closed.
• Try to force documents open.
• Try to separate any documents that are stuck together.