Recognizing the need to ensure the preservation and availability of the official records of the Institute for legal, administrative, and historical purposes, the MIT Corporation has adopted the following archival policy.
All records generated or received by the various administrative and academic offices of the Institute in the conduct of their business, regardless of the form in which they are created and maintained, are the property of the Institute and constitute archival material. The records covered by this policy include:
official printed material
correspondence
machine-readable files
record books
minutes
committee files
financial records
and associated papers
All photographs, other visual material, and artifacts significant to the Institute's history shall be sent to the MIT Museum.*
*Note: Today we collect visual material
The Institute would also welcome the offer of privately owned material bearing on the history of the Institute and of science and technology, provided, however, that the Institute incurs no obligation to retain such material as an integrated collection or in any prescribed form.
The implementation of this policy is the responsibility of the Institute Archives and Records Management Program of the MIT Libraries.
A complete copy of the Archival Policy entry is available at http://web.mit.edu/policies/13/13.3.html
The purpose of the Records Management Program, administered by the Institute Archives of the MIT Libraries, is to promote economy and efficiency in the creation, organization, maintenance, retention, use, and disposition of the Institute's official records.
These records include all papers, maps, photographs, sound or video recordings, machine-readable records, or other documentary material, regardless of physical form, created or received by an employee in connection with the transaction of Institute business.
The records management policy provides for the following:
orderly and periodic transfer of inactive Institute records from prime office storage space or inadequate remote storage to the Institute records center;
systematic destruction of noncurrent Institute records that have outlived their administrative usefulness;
identification of Institute records that are of sufficient and continuing administrative and historical value to warrant their transfer to and preservation in the Institute Archives; and
assistance and advice to administrative and academic personnel about efficient record-keeping practices.
A complete copy of the Records Management entry is available at http://web.mit.edu/policies/13/13.4.html