Records Preservation Workshop
Sponsored by the Princess Anne County / Virginia Beach Historical Society
Virginia Wesleyan College, October 27, 2002

I.        Why preserve records?

1.    New members and officers need to know about previous activities, commitments and decisions.
2.    The larger community may benefit from this documentation of how citizens have used, and benefitted from, civic organizations and activities.
3.    References to individual members may be helpful for newspaper reporters, genealogists, etc.

II.       Initial questions to raise

1.    Who will be the probable users of the preserved materials?
2.    Do records pass from one officer to the next, or does the organization have a permanent repository?
3.    Are some relevant materials likely to be housed elsewhere, in a public repository such as a public library, Chamber of Commerce office, district church office, etc., so that duplicate material need not be kept by the organization?

III.     Types of Records/Materials to preserve

1.    Mission statements of the organization
2.    Membership rosters/directories
3.    Newspaper clippings describing organizational activities
4.    Copies of Printed programs, invitations, event annoucements
5.    Photographs of organization activities
6.    Correspondence involving officers and members, and the public
7.    Scrapbooks
8.    Typed interviews with founding members, past presidents, etc.
9.    Newsletters

IV.     Preservation Methods

1.    While hot attics and damp spaces should be avoided, almost any storage space is better than none at all.
2.    Acid neutral or acid free file folders, storage boxes, etc., are the ideal means of protecting clippings, photographs and other paper items.
3.    Some records can be stored on computer discs indefinitely, as long as the discs are appropriately labeled.  As technology advances, however, information would need to be transferred to new formats so it can be read.
4.    Items (photographs, newspaper clippings, program announcements, etc.) should be identified and dated for future reference.

 Outline created by
Dr. Stephen S. Mansfield
for The Princess Anne County / Virginia Beach Historical Society
Record Preservation Workshop, October 27, 2002.