Collections Management, Care and Storage

Collection Management Policy

In order to properly manage the collections held in the public trust, a collecting institution must have a collections management policy that defines the scope of the collection as well as how materials are acquired, cared for, and used. The State Archives of North Carolina and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission both have great introductions to policies, the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) talks more about the importance of collection policies for preservation of those collections, the American Alliance of Museums has a great guide for crafting your own policy, and Connecting to Collections Care has a helpful webinar on the essential elements of a collections management policy. For a more comprehensive approach to collection management policy development, work through the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts’ CMPToolkit. Learn more about the collection scope, or collecting policy, and accessioning and deaccessioning below.

Scope of Collection, or Collecting Policy

A collecting institution needs to define what it wants to document, who it wants to serve, and what types of material it will collect to achieve that. Creating a collecting policy to document what the collection will and will not include is essential, and should describe the geographic areas, time periods, and subjects that the collection includes.

Accessioning & Deaccessioning

It’s important to track information about how collections are acquired, as well as where the materials are stored. All acquisitions (whether donated, transferred, or purchased) should be formally accessioned into the institution’s permanent collection, if the acquisition is determined to be within the collection scope. Accession records are important because they document when materials come into your custody. Accession records do not have to include much beyond a brief description of the materials, the date of accession, and an accession number. It is best practice to accession materials in a timely manner, ideally as soon as a signed deed of gift is received. This information can be tracked in something as simple as a spreadsheet, or in a more sophisticated system such as PastPerfect, depending on what makes the most sense for the institution. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has an introductory video on appraisal and accessioning, and Connecting to Collections Care has a webinar on documenting your collections. The Rhode Island Historical Records Advisory Board has a recorded workshop on managing complex collections, covering accessioning and deaccessioning practices.

As collection management work continues, materials may be discovered that are out of scope with the collecting policy. In these situations, it would be appropriate to deaccession the material. To help in this work, see the American Association for State and Local History’s leaflet “A Guide to Deaccessioning and Abandoned Property” and the Vermont Historical Society’s resource "Evaluating Your Collections for Possible Deaccessioning".

Inventorying, Cataloging, and Arrangement & Description

An inventory process is a way to become more familiar with archival collections. The basic data that should be recorded about each grouping of archival materials would be the creator (the organization, company, family, or individual who created or collected the materials), record type, date range, size (how much shelf space it needs, usually expressed in linear feet), location, and a brief description. The Connecting to Collections Care’s “Conducting (and Maintaining!) a Collection Inventory” webinar is a useful resource for creating your own institution’s inventory.

When dealing with archival records, you should respect the provenance of material, meaning that the records of a business or an organization, or the papers of a family or an individual, will be kept together as an intellectual unit and not intermixed with other collections. Archivists also respect original order, which means maintaining the order materials are in when they arrive at the repository, as long as it represents some sort of reasonable organizational structure that will make it possible for researchers to locate information. If the original order has been disrupted or there never was much of an order to begin with, an order will have to be imposed.

Archival collections are usually described in what is called a “finding aid.” The finding aid includes a description of the material, which might be brief or extremely detailed, depending on the size and complexity of the collection. The finding aid for larger collections will include a box and folder listing that allows specific materials to be located. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has a short video on finding aids as well as basic arrangement.

Physical arrangement does not have to mirror the intellectual arrangement. If a collection includes any oversize items, those should be described in the appropriate place(s) in the finding aid based on their content but should be stored in larger boxes or rolled on tubes set aside for oversize materials and the box and folder listing can simply note the unique location of that one item.

If working retrospectively to identify and describe collections, it may not always be possible to determine the provenance or original order. In those cases, organize materials in a way that will facilitate use by researchers.

Remember – description is an iterative process. Once there is a collection-level description, you can always return to a collection to describe the series, or even the items within it, if warranted. But every collection should have at least a collection-level description.

To learn more about archival arrangement and description, see Getty’s Introduction to Archival Organization and Description, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s tips for description and cataloging, the archival processing webinar from Connecting to Collections Care, and the videos on introductory and advanced arrangement and description from the State Archives of North Carolina. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission also has an instructional video on reference services to help facilitate access to records. You can also view our YouTube playlist of past Virtual Office Hours which include presentations on topics related to archival arrangement and description.

A Note for Museums

The focus of this section is on archival records, but there are some great resources for museum objects. Connecting to Collections Care has a webinar on managing previously unmanaged collections and another on marking and labeling collections. See also the Vermont Historical Society’s roundtable on museum cataloging, databases, and naming standards.

Collections Care & Storage

The Basics 

Collections care is a broad term for the various activities that ensure the preservation of the materials entrusted in the care of archives, historical societies, museums, and other cultural heritage organizations. These activities include the proper housing and storage of all materials as well as the conservation of fragile materials.  

The State Archives of North Carolina has an introductory video on collections care and the building environment. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has a video on preserving and housing records as well as basic arrangement. The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) also has a leaflet on storage methods and handling practices for records.

Shelving & Other Storage Furniture

As a general rule, shelving should have a smooth, non-abrasive finish and to be free of sharp exposed edges or protrusions like exposed nuts and bolts. Powder-coated steel shelving is the best storage furniture for collections, but any non-rusting metal or sealed wood can also work. A thick acid-free paper or polyester sheet can be used to line the shelves to protect unboxed materials from any chemical reactions happening in the wood or in the sealant. Weight is an important consideration, and each should shelf should be able to support a minimum of 200 pounds. In addition, the shelves’ dimensions should be big enough so that a volume or box doesn’t hang off the end. The steel thickness should be 18-22 gauge steel.

Unbound paper records can be stored in acid-free folders and boxes, which can be shelved on simple steel racking. This type of shelving is available from the major archival supply companies, including University Products, Gaylord, and Hollinger Metal Edge. Wire shelving from Uline and home improvement stores is another option, and is also available on sturdy casters, if mobile shelving is desired. Stationary high-density mobile shelving is another way of maximizing available space but can be expensive. Spacesaver is a company specializing in this type of shelving.

Roller shelving has often been used in vault settings and is ideal for records in large, bound volumes. A few companies that design these systems include Southwest Solutions, the Store More Store, and Spectra Associates. If the collection includes a large quantity of oversized materials like maps, plans, and posters, a flat file case might be a worthwhile investment. If materials are stored in a public space, a locking cabinet might be the best solution. The NEDCC has a review of furniture options where you can learn more. 

Don’t overcrowd materials on shelves and all materials should be at least four inches off the floor to mitigate the risk of damage from ground flooding. Materials should be stored on numbered shelves so you can find them, and storage spaces should be mapped. 

Sometimes, it’s hard to expand what storage capacity you have. Connecting to Collections Care has a helpful webinar on making the most of the storage you have as well as one on storage solutions generally. Don’t know where to begin? Connecting to Collections Care has a collections care basics webinar and a webinar on the fundamentals of caring for archives. 

Housing & Care of Specific Collection Types 

“Housing” refers to the containers materials are placed in before they are stored on shelves or in cabinets. These containers are typically acid-free boxes and folders. Housing is the first line of protection against air pollutants and is the first thing that will get wet in a water event. Boxes should not be too full (making it difficult to remove folders or papers) nor too empty (papers can develop permanent slumps, the box takes up space, and objects might rattle around and be damaged).  

Archival materials should be placed in folders and objects should be in trays and/or wrapped in tissue. Ideally, like should be stored with like. Similarly-sized objects or photographs or records of similar dimensions should be stored together. Placing similarly-sized items together provides a base of support; papers and photographs can warp if they are leaning or curling over smaller sized materials. But if items are removed from their original location for safer storage, a note should be left with the original collection or in the collection record noting the item’s existence and new location. 

Not everything needs to be housed. Most published books and some bound manuscript volumes can be shelved upright, but they need to be supported by other books or bookends so they don’t lean. If they are too large to fit upright or are in poor condition, they should lie flat on the shelf. If they are fragile or rare, volumes can be housed in individual book boxes, which will protect them from light and dust and give them some additional support. See the NEDCC for more information about book and paper storage.

Large papers should be in a large flat file or flat archival box, but if they are really oversized they can be carefully rolled around an acid-free tube. The NEDCC has a resource on storing oversized paper documents. 

Photographs can be stored in size-appropriate acid-free envelopes or folders or in polyester, polypropylene, or polyethylene sleeves. The NEDCC talks more about storage enclosures for photographs and the care of photographs. 

The National Park Service’s Conserv-O-Grams give more information about housing and care of specific types of collections, and the NEDCC explains how to create custom protective enclosures for many types of materials. The Rhode Island Historical Records Advisory Board also has a recorded workshop that demonstrates DIY enclosures and exhibit supports. Connecting to Collections Care has a webinar on the care of paper, photograph, and audiovisual collections. 

Some of the most common suppliers for archival boxes, folders, and other supplies include University Products, Gaylord, and Hollinger Metal Edge.

Conservation

Conservation is the repair or stabilization of materials through chemical or physical treatment to ensure that they survive in their original form as long as possible. This is not restoration, which is the process of rehabilitating an item to return it as nearly as possible to its original condition.  As noted in the Society of American Archivists’ Dictionary of Archives Terminology, conservation does not always eliminate evidence of damage; restoration includes techniques to return materials to their original appearances (which may include fabrication of missing pieces). Carefully weigh the resources needed to treat a single item against the resources available for collection management overall. Depending on labor and resources, the money and time spent on conservation treatment might be better spent elsewhere. For the good of the collections as a whole, the best treatment is storing materials in a stable, cool environment, as described in the Buildings and Physical Environment page. If it is decided to pursue conservation, the NEDCC has a guide to choosing and working with a conservator.

A local resource for collections care information and training is the Collections Care & Conservation Alliance (CCCA).