Faculty papers and the Bluffton University Archives
The Bluffton University Archives seeks to collect faculty papers, which complement other institutional archival records and reflect the teaching, research, and service missions of Bluffton University. Collections of faculty papers would include materials which document the work of university faculty members in all facets of university and professional function. Faculty members who have made major contributions to their disciplines and/or to Bluffton University should contact the University Archives when reviewing their professional papers and consider donating those papers to the collections of the University Archives.
We are particularly interested in materials which document an individual’s career at Bluffton University, including teaching, research, and service internal to the institution and as an agent for the institution.
What we do collect:
Biographical Material: resumes, curriculum vitae, bibliographies, auto/biographical sketches, chronologies, genealogies, memoirs.
Correspondence:
Official – outgoing and incoming correspondence generated in the course of conducting university business.
Professional – outgoing and incoming correspondence related to all facets of one’s academic career, including correspondence with colleagues, publishers, professional organizations, and students.
Personal – letters to and from friends and relatives.
Diaries and/or journals: including personal periodic recordkeeping, notebooks, and annotated appointment calendars.
Classroom material: Lecture notes, syllabi, course outlines, reading lists, examinations.
Grant and/or research files: Outlines, proposals, research designs, lab notebooks, research notes, analyses, reports of findings.
Departmental and/or committee records: These will be added to University Archives collections for that committee unless uniquely annotated.
Professional contributions: drafts and manuscripts of articles, books, reviews, and speeches; materials which document involvement in professional or research organizations.
Audiovisual material: photographic prints, negatives, slides, and digital files taken by or of the faculty member or which document the faculty members activities; recordings of lectures, talks, speeches, discussions, and/or interviews.
What we generally do not collect:
Non-personally addressed mail and routine letters of transmittal and acknowledgment (i.e., "Junk Mail")
Duplicates and multiple copies of publications, course materials; all other duplicate material: transfer only the original and heavily annotated copies
Equipment and software
Student records, grades, or other academic information
Reprints or pre-prints
Reference collections of books, research papers, journal articles, and reprints written by other persons, unless they contain significant amounts of your annotated remarks or notes
Personal financial records including cancelled checks, tax returns, and receipts
Extensive amounts of artifacts or memorabilia (but please ask if you think you have something which is especially important for the University’s history)
Records relating to service outside of Bluffton University: Such materials may be better suited to deposit at the archives of relevant organizations sponsoring this service, but if no such archives exists, keeping the collections together may be a better choice.
Preparing your records:
To prepare your materials for transfer to the Archives, it is best if you pack the records in standard cubic foot storage cartons (sometimes called bankers boxes). Ideally, the material should be in labeled file folders.
If in doubt, do not throw it out. Contact Carrie Phillips, Archives & Special Collections Librarian, for any questions related to these parameters.
Reviewed by Archives and Special Collections Advisory Committee 11/5/2015
