What’s the state of your archive?

This is the time of year when we do spring cleaning – and think about how to store our AAUW records. Here are some documents that have offered guidance to my branch:

Added 4/16/06:

Preserving Historical Records, AAUW NY – 18 pages, 1992. This may be the definitive work on this subject. Note that the last page has a checklist for branch archives. [Backup copy saved by AAUW NC]

Instructions for the Historian, AAUW NC – 1 page, c. 2003

Original list:
The Do’s and Don’ts of Historical Records – from 1982 Leader in Action*

Branch Archives – from Winter 1994 Leader in Action

Suggestion for the structure of a branch archive

One branch’s list of what has been archived

Pass the baton – from Leader in Action Spring 1998 (not archives, per se, but what one officer should pass to the next)

Does anyone have any more up to date information here? AAUW has changed immensely since the first of these articles were written and some of the items they reference no longer are published. What may be even more important is that the whole notion of archiving has added a component of how to store electronic files. Will these PDFs be readable in 10 years? 50? How should we give our electronic data to the archive?

Comments are welcome!

*Leader in Action was published (quarterly? seminannually?) and distributed to all AAUW branch and state leaders. Fall 1998 is the last issue in my files. It has been replaced by www.aauw.org and e-communication vehicles.