Hello again! Amanda here with another edition of the C-SPAN Chronicles. As processing has progressed, I now find myself with the task of reboxing and finalizing the official inventory of the C-SPAN records. Though a somewhat straightforward task, reboxing and inventorying isn’t without its challenges. But first of all, let’s unpack these simple yet critical processing steps.
Reboxing is both exactly as it sounds and deceptively simple: it involved removing archival materials from either non-archival quality or archival quality boxes, and placing them in other archival quality boxes. There are three groups of boxes that I generally encounter in processing: records boxes, document boxes, and everything else. Now you might be asking yourself, a box is just a box – what can make these three kinds so different? Well, below are some important criteria when selecting boxes to house your records, manuscripts, or whatever you may have in your archives.
- The box must be acid-free
- The box must hold your records comfortably without damaging them
- The box must be in a condition that is accessible to researchers (not too large or too heavy – this is a much more malleable criterion depending on your institution.)
A typical Hollinger records box.
The two boxes that fit these criteria are records boxes and document boxes. Records boxes fit more materials, and can fit legal and letter sized folders. Document boxes can do the same, but come in legal, letter, and oversize so your records fit snugly and securely. The most popular and reliable source of these boxes is the company Hollinger Metal Edge, and as a result the larger records boxes are colloquially known as “Hollinger Boxes.” One records box equals about two and half legal-size document boxes, and this must be taken into consideration when ordering enough document boxes to house your collection. A box that does not fit the above three criteria is not an archival-quality box and should never be used for long-term preservation.
Hollinger boxes are expensive – thus it is common practice to reuse them indefinitely in an archives.
Though your records or manuscript collections will be safe in either records or document boxes, I prefer document boxes. Not only are they easier to handle during processing, but more importantly, they are easier to handle for the researcher. Access is of the utmost importance in an archives or special collections, and if your researchers find the boxes which house your records unwieldy, you’re in for some trouble. In my opinion, document boxes also make inventorying easier, as I don’t have to count to larger numbers, thus keep the sub-inventories (so to speak) much more manageable and easy to correct. For example, if you incorrectly label a file within a large records box, you might potentially have to relabel the entire box, which could house 100 files or more depending on the materials within. With a document box, however, mistakes like this can easily be caught and fixed.
Document boxes holding the C-SPAN records.
When it comes to inventorying, I prefer to have a system of checks to ensure that the inventory is as accurate as possible (yet again, ensuring ease of use for potential researchers.) During my initial baseline processing, I take a rough inventory of the entire collection – or in other words, inventorying everything as-is, unarranged. Once the final processing stages have begun and I am reboxing the collection, I will create my final inventory by copying and pasting from the first, and doing so after each box has been completed. Pacing myself like this ensures that I am not missing any files, helps find and correct spelling errors or double entries, and doubly ensures that the correct file, labeled the correct way, is in the correct box. At times this stage can be painstaking, but it is critical to ensuring the collection you are processing is accurately represented in your finding aid.
That’s all for now folks! Thank you for taking this processing journey with me – as always!
Keep your eyes peeled for the next installment of the C-SPAN Chronicles in June!
Follow SCRC on Social Media and look out for future posts on the processing of the C-SPAN Papers on our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. To search the collections held at Special Collections Research Center, go to our website and browse the finding aids by subject or title. You may also e-mail us at speccoll@gmu.edu or call 703-993-2220 if you would like to schedule an appointment, request materials, or if you have questions. Appointments are not necessary to request and view collections
