Establishing levels of description at the point of accession can ensure that the acquisition at least receives baseline descriptive treatment and is discoverable by researchers in a timely manner.

Harvard University Archives accession processing levels chart

Below is a chart that outlines the processing activities associated with various levels of accessioning at the Harvard University Archives. While open access and appropriate housing are the goals of accessioning at Harvard Library, baseline accessioning at HUA is beyond what is prescribed in the Accessioning Module and may not always be possible for small repositories.

Interoperability between Hollis/MARC and ArchivesSpace

One way to make accessioned material quickly available is to create a collection level MARC record from your accession record. If the accession record contains the DACS minimum required elements for single level description, this activity does not add much overhead to your accessioning workflow.

Tools have been created in which you can export MARCxml from an ArchivesSpace accession record and import it into Aleph. Documentation can be found on the ArchivesSpace User Documentation within the LTS wiki.

If your repository does not use ArchivesSpace for accessioning, exploring other ways of reusing your accession records as front-facing, collection level records is a worthy endeavor.  

Donor Lists

It is advantageous to utilize description that donors have already created for their material. Spreadsheets can fairly easily be linked to collection level finding aids or converted into archival description by import into ArchivesSpace.

Spreadsheet Importer

Collection summaries

A  collection summary completed by the acquisitions staff can provide the processing staff with details about the accession that may be helpful for description, but may not be apparent from the accession form.  

This document, which can be useful for accessions of personal papers, university records, and records of associated organizations; provides background on the accession, including historical context and provenance, and any information from the donor which may not be apparent from the accession form.  The collection summary can streamline description for processing staff, as the information can often be easily repurposed into MARC records or finding aids for the accession.

Harvard University Archives sample collection summary

The following is the appraisal memo which accompanied completed accession form example (Theodore Ryland Sizer personal archive).

Interoffice Memorandum

to:                 XXXX

RE:                 Theodore Sizer Personal Archive

from:           XXXX

date:            6/23/2017

Description/Provenance

This collection was dropped off at GSE by Nancy Faust Sizer, widow of former GSE Dean Theodore Sizer, in October 2012. Ed Copenhagen contacted the Archives to have the materials transferred here: he explained to Mrs. Sizer that their appropriate home would be the Archives.

The materials includes a mix of personal papers and records from Sizer’s tenure as Dean of GSE from 1964 to 1971. The collection dates from 1962 to 2000, and contains manuscript and published speeches and talks by Sizer, including some given in his role as dean; manuscripts and writings; Harvard course materials consisting of syllabi; a small amount of correspondence, including letters from Harvard president Nathan Pusey and US President Lyndon Johnson; news clippings and articles about Sizer’s appointment as dean; GSE publications, including dean’s reports, photo directories of students, and guides to the school, and other Harvard publications, some of which are annotated by Sizer; photograph album, labeled “Ted and Nancy Sizer, HGSE, June 1972, those last days!”, containing photographs of parties given in Sizer’s honor after stepping down as dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and other events; awards and certificates, including programs from honorary degree ceremonies; and a copy of the April 25, 1969 issue of Life magazine documenting the student unrest at Harvard.

Historical/Biographical Note/Significance of Item

Theodore Ryland Sizer (1932-2009) was a leader of educational reform in the United States, the founder (and eventually President Emeritus) of the Essential school movement and was known for challenging longstanding practices and assumptions about the functioning of American secondary schools. He received his BA in English from Yale in 1953 and his master’s and doctorate in education from Harvard in 1957 and 1961. He was a faculty member and later dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a position he held during the 1969 Harvard student strike. While dean, he reorganized the school into seven departments, expanding the resources available for research (particularly in the area of urban education), while expanding minority enrollment. Sizer left Harvard to serve as headmaster of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts from 1972 to 1981. From 1983 to 1997, Sizer worked at Brown University as a professor and chair of the education department, and in 1993, he became the Founding Director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform.

HUA/Library Holdings

The Archives holds a large collection of records created during Sizer’s tenure as Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The Brown Library has a large collection of Sizer papers, which consists mainly of personal papers and the advocation of the Essential Schools movement. The collection consists of correspondence, research materials and reports, manuscripts, and subject files which document the work of Theodore R. Sizer and his involvement with the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES).

Recommendation

The Archives should accept this offer. It should be accessioned as personal papers; however, it should be noted that speeches delivered during Sizer’s tenure as Dean are considered to be University records, as is correspondence created or received during the same period.