Records to be Retained
Introduction
Material that should be retained include those that:
Are significant in determining the basic activities, functions, or fundamental policy goals of the creator.
Illuminate an important aspect of a creator's organizational history or personal biography, the history of a specific academic or professional discipline, social or political causes, or the history of the state.
Clarify a creator’s goals, beliefs, or the motives that underlie decisions or actions.
Supports the collecting priorities of the Bentley Historical Library.
Examples of Material to Be Retained
Records that are rich in information or evidence are complete should generally be retained. Some examples include:
Committee records, particularly of governing bodies, hiring committees, and executive committees.
Correspondence files, including personal, business, and administrative files.
Summary financial data, such as annual budgets or annual financial statements.
Meeting minutes and agendas.
Personal journals, diaries, unpublished manuscripts.
Photographs and photograph files (see footnote 1).
Political or research activity files.
Printed items or publications by or of the creator, such as histories, monographs, newsletters, newspaper clippings, and photocopied journal articles, publicity brochures,
Reports, such as annual reports, special reports, etc.
Sound recordings and moving images (see footnote 2).
Subject or topical files, especially if they help contextualize other records or shed light on the creator's interests and activities.
These kinds of records are retained because they tend to be the most cohesive and complete sources of substantive information about the creator.
Exceptions will occasionally be made for material that does not directly address the creator, but:
Are important to the history of the university, a particular academic discipline or movement, or the history of Michigan.
Are also otherwise unavailable or difficult to locate.
Footnote(s)
Footnote 1: It may also be appropriate to retain images that document the people, places, and events directly associated with an individual or organization.
Footnote 1: It may also be appropriate to retain recordings that document the people, places, and events directly associated with an individual or organization. Additionally, rolls of moving images—8 mm, 16 mm, and 35 mm film—should be brought to the Lead Archivist for Audiovisual Curation attention to determine if they need to be rewound before placed in storage.