Page History

Introduction

Archival collections are groups of materials created and kept by individuals and (in our case at MIT) departments, labs, and centers (DLCs) during the course of their lives and work. Often creators of collections have imposed a certain arrangement of the materials. Archivists want to keep this original arrangement when possible. But sometimes there is no or limited original arrangement The arrangement of a collection should reflect its original order, or the way in which the materials were used by the creator(s). Sometimes, however, there is no original order and the archivist may impose one an arrangement to provide better provide access to collections. Arrangement, along with description, are the two main activities in processing archives. Arrangement is the order material is put in by creators or archivists - and can be done physically and intellectually, or just intellectually. 

Physical arrangement

a collection. Arrangement can be approached physically and intellectually, but is usually just done intellectually. 

Physical arrangement

Physical arrangement is a time-consuming activity that should generally be avoided, especially since online, searchable finding aids make this work unnecessary; rather, like materials can be grouped together intellectually to make it easier to browse a collection's description and find patterns and related materials. For example, if an alphabetical run of correspondence within a collection is spread across several boxes, you do not need to physically consolidate all of the correspondence into the same box; instead, you can group the description of these materials together in your folder listing. Exceptions will often be made for born-digital formats, audiovisual media, and oversize items, which may need to be removed from their original physical placement within a collection and stored in speciality containers to better preserve the materials and facilitate reading room access. In these cases, however, the intellectual context of the materials should be maintained. 

Intellectual arrangement 

Collections can be arranged at the collection level, series level, file level, and, in extremely rare cases, at the item level. 

Collection level arrangement: Often appropriate for homogenous materials or small collections of five or less linear feet; no container list is required

Series level arrangement: Materials are grouped together by a common document type, topic, function, or other organizing principle; particularly large or complicated series may benefit from further arrangement into sub-series, though not all series will require this, even within the same collection

File level: In addition to being arranged into series, the materials within a collection are also grouped into file folders. Note that this does not refer to arranging materials within individual files, which would be considered item level arrangement. 

Item level: Only used for highly intensive projects; consult with your supervisor before arranging at the item-level

Robust description at higher levels can often take the place of more detailed arrangement and description work; for example, a small collection that can be adequately described with a strong scope and content note at the collection level may not need a box or folder list or any arrangement into series. You can also group like materials intellectually without creating formal series or subseries, which keeps container lists concise and makes them easier to navigate.