Scope: Guidelines for routine preservation measures such as rehousing into standard-size, acid-free boxes and folders, sleeving, storage and housing of special formats or fragile items, and weeding of duplicates and some printed material.
Contact: Freddy Loew
Unit: ATS/RMC
Date last updated: March 2025
Date of next review: March 2026
Roles: all processing staff
Contents:
Whether or not a collection is refoldered is based on the physical condition, value, and age of the collection.
Remember that the folder titles will appear in the guide, so they should be concise, clear, and accurate. Print neatly and legibly so that researchers and staff can easily read file titles.
*Each box should start with folder 1. If there are no folders in a box, you can leave the folder field blank.
Refoldering guidelines:
Open and/or flatten items when refoldering.
Hanging folders must be replaced, since they are acidic and will also damage the box. Some exceptions apply.
Replace ring binders but maintain contents in their original order. If the binder has artifactual value, remove the contents and keep the binder behind it in the box.
Make sure that each item fits completely inside the folder (i.e. do not house 8 x 14” documents in an 8 x 11” folder). Documents should not stick out of folders.
Security concerns and physical condition will drive the quantity of items in a folder. Many literary manuscripts, for example, should be individually foldered. The curator or archivist should be consulted.
Do not overpack folders. Crease the folders at an appropriate place (one of the pre-scored marked creases), and do not put in any more material than can lie flat.
Make sure all folders in an upright box are upright and not bowed. If needed, use a box spacer.
When selecting appropriate containers to rebox a collection, always remember that the box size helps mandate the storage location in the vault, mezzanine or Annex, but has nothing to do with the intellectual arrangement of the collection. Efficiency in space management require that items of similar size or format be stored together to maximize storage facility, so different boxes in the same collection will not necessarily be housed together.
All records should be treated with the same arrangement and descriptive principles and incorporated into the processing plan, regardless of their media. However, the physical housing and handling of media materials may require some specialized supplies or handling.
In general, different formats are NOT separated into different series. Most frequent exceptions are Photographs, Audiovisual material, and Museum Objects. Whenever possible, these materials should remain in their appropriate intellectual arrangement/original intellectual order, even if they are physically separated for preservation purposes.
Examples: Dr. Joyce Brothers papers, #4254.
Series: Tell Me, Dr. Brothers
Subseries a. Scripts
Subseries b. Publicity
Subseries c. Films
Note here that the series contains paper material and film recordings, which do not appear in their own series at the bottom of the guide (former common practice).
Non-textual records vary widely by media and storage conditions. Many decisions whether material is stored off site at the annex or in the vault depends on the type of material in the boxes.
Many collections come either in acidic folders or envelopes, plastic binders, or with no enclosures at all. Most original folders (manila folders for example) can be kept unless there is a clear need or funding to refolder. Older acidic or unstable folders should be replaced with acid-free folders, taking care to transfer significant information from the old enclosure to the new, such as folder title, dates, etc. Where there handwritten notes or other extensive information on the original enclosure, either the enclosure itself may be preserved and housed in or near the new folder, separated by sheets of acid-free paper.
Other non-archival enclosures may deteriorate over time and should be removed from the collection. Papers should be removed from binders, folders, plastic sleeves (which may be made of PVC or vinyl). Also carefully remove any adhesive items such as Post It Notes.
Acidic/Degrading Documents
Newsprint is an example of a highly acidic paper as are many of the early forms of fax and photocopies (e.g., thermo fax and wet copy photocopies). Consult your supervisor to identify these types of papers.
The retention of news clippings and faxes is made on a collection-by-collection basis depending upon the relevance and context of the material. ALWAYS confer with your supervisor before discarding any material.
see section “Attached items”
In an ideal world all photographic records would be housed and described individually in acid-free envelopes, however, our resources do not allow us to treat most items at such a detailed level nor does much of the material in our collections merit such treatment.
As with paper records all decisions about housing need to be made on a case-by-case collection basis according to the significance, research potential, and value of the collection. ALWAYS consult your supervisor. Since removing single photographs from archival textual records also removes them from their context and may diminish their research value, unless an item is a valuable photographic work of art, snapshots and prints should stay with files according to their original order.
If there are a number of photographs, they may be housed in acid free envelopes in place of folders. Envelopes should not be over packed solid and items should be able to be easily removed without damage to themselves or others.
Descriptive information should be written on the envelope with the following provisos:
Nitrate and diacetate plastic film based negatives may show signs of deterioration. Nitrate is by far the more unstable of the two and great care should be taken handling this material including avoiding inhaling the fumes that deterioration causes. All nitrate negatives should be segregated from collections as they will continue to off-gas and can cause irreparable damage to other items in the container. If you are in any doubt about identifying the composition of film in a collection, consult the Assistant Director for Technical Services for advice. Diacetate film bases tend to shrink over time and are the culprits to blame for “vinegar syndrome.” Deteriorated items should always be segregated and stored separately. Preservation copying of either base is very costly, so resources would have to be specially allocated to facilitate this process.
RMC has a large holding of films, VHS, and other moving image materials. 16mm and 8mm moving image records still often appear in collections, as do videos and DVDs. (Digital film will be included in Electronic Records.) Each format has a specific housing need, which will be described below.
Here are some helpful identification resources:
Formats for video tapes: http://tech-notes.tv/Standards-Practices/TVTapeformats.htm
Helpful resource for identifying motion pictures:
https://www.archives.gov/preservation/formats/motion-picture-film-identify-formats.html
Magnetic media includes VHS, Betacam, U-matic, and more. Here is a helpful resource for identifying format:
https://www.archives.gov/preservation/formats/video-identify-formats.html
When in doubt, ask DCAPS for help with identification or storage. Note that no media is playable in RMC, either to staff or researchers; to listen or watch media, it must go through digitization and DCAPS.
There are many different formats of sound records, ranging from wire to magnetic tape to digital (see electronic records). Most common in RMC’s holdings are magnetic reel-to-reel tape recordings.
Here are some helpful identification resources:
https://www.archives.gov/preservation/formats/audio-identify-formats.html
When in doubt, ask DCAPS for help with identification or storage. Note that no media is playable in RMC, either to staff or researchers; to listen or watch media, it must go through digitization and DCAPS.
All CDs, DVDs, hard drives, etc. must be assigned an appropriate number in the Accession Book.
See page on digital media stabilization workflow.
Frequently we acquire collections containing Disc sound recordings, such as vinyl LPs.
Generally architectural plans and drawings and cartographic material are oversized. It is best practice to store these items in map cases in acid-free folders, however given space and resource limitations and depending on their significance, monetary worth and research value, oversized items may be kept in the condition in which they arrived i.e. folded or rolled in boxes.
Great care must be taken with items that have arrived rolled and will be stored flat. They should be sent to conservation for flattening and then stored in file folders that completely fit around the item and placed in mapcases.
Materials that are to remain rolled should be stored in archival tube boxes.
Over the decades, RMC has had different ways of separating, storing, and describing objects. Legacy collections, such as the Museum Items collection, contains objects that were separated from their original collection and stored together. Many references to this amalgamation of objects exists throughout our records.
Our current practice is to NOT remove items from their collections. They may be housed separately for preservation purposes, but not removed from the collection*
This is RMC’s term for anything that does not fit into the definition of paper, photographic, printed, or audiovisual categories. Frequently this includes: awards, memorabilia, figurines, buttons, coins, publicity “swag”, clothing, ribbons, stickers, cups and mugs, and any other object.
The current standard for RMC is to:
*exceptions to this rule are: Cornell textiles, mascots, and clothing; Cornelliana not related to the collection with which it arrived; other items as the curator sees fit. All items must be traced in the accession record to its original shipment if added to another collection.
Common terminology to use:
Pinback button–these are the (usually) circular pins, also referred to as badges, buttons, etc. Please use “pinback button” for these.
Unopened envelopes should be opened carefully during processing to facilitate access. Enclose the envelope and its contents in a piece of acid-free paper annotated with the following text: “This envelope was unopened at the time of acquisition. It was opened by the library, [date].”
When a significant quantity of unopened envelopes is present, add a processing note at the collection level.
Items attached to documents—including items attached with adhesives, staples, and paper clips—are generally left as encountered when collections are processed to a series, box, or file level of control. This is particularly true in collections boasting a large volume of stapled or paper-clipped items in good condition.
Exceptions to this guideline include:
Item-level processing of attached items
When processing at the item level, notes and other items attached with adhesive, staples, paper clips or other hardware may be removed to facilitate use or due to preservation concerns.
An attachment should be kept with the item from which it was removed, enclosed in an acid-free file folder.
If the placement of the attached item is significant, consider making a photocopy or photograph of the complete item with the attachment(s) in place and storing the copy or photograph with the original as a record of its original appearance.
Other options:
Framed items—including framed photographs—are usually removed from frames and provided with appropriate alternative housing and storage; rehousing provides efficient storage, handling, and retrieval and is recommended in most situations. Before removing items from frames, you may need to consult with your supervisor, the curator, or the Conservation Lab. In certain cases the frame contributes to the aesthetic and monetary value of a work of art, and the curator must be consulted when this could be a factor. In other circumstances, removal from a frame may damage the material, in which case the item is best removed by conservation staff.
If the item remains in its frame and is located without an enclosure, it is labeled as “Frame [#]” as the top container in ASpace, and the frame is barcoded.
TO DO: Revise this section for more detail.
Although archival material has always been subject to various classifications and restrictions on access, archivists serve their users by making as much information available as possible. Although the wishes of the donor and the interests of third-party privacy may be addressed in the MOU or transfer documentation, it is preferable to acquire archival and manuscript collections with few or no restrictions.
If restricted items are found in a collection and they are to be maintained as part of the collection, they should be separated from the unrestricted material. The boxes should be clearly marked “RESTRICTED” so that the Collections Manager can add a label and put the information into the item Voyager record.
A note should be made in the catalog record explaining the scope of the restrictions, and the information in the finding aid should be adjusted accordingly.
If items that violate third party privacy concerns (e.g., forms with Social Security Numbers) are found in a collection, these may be shredded with the agreement of your supervisor and the curator.