Transfer Guidelines for Professional Associations

Items to be transferred include:

1. Official records: constitutions and by-laws, minutes and proceedings, transcripts, lists of officers and members;
2. Office files: correspondence and memoranda (incoming and outgoing); subject files concerning projects, activities and functions; and summary financial and audit reports;
   
3. Historical files documenting policies, decisions, committee and task force reports, questionnaires;
4. Publications: one record copy of all programs, journals, monographs, newsletters, brochures, posters and announcements issued by the association or its subdivisions;
5. Audio-visuals: photographs and sound recordings;
6. Personal papers of members which relate directly to association work;
7. Charts and maps.
   

Records which should not be transferred to the Archives include:

1. Records of specific financial and membership transactions, except summary and audit reports;
   
2. Letters of transmittal where the date and routing information is on the document transmitted;
3. Requests for publications or information after the requests have been filled;
4. All blank forms and unused printed or duplicated materials;
5. All duplicate material: keep only the original copy and annotated copies;
6. Papers, reports, work papers and drafts; which have been published;
7. Replies to questionnaires if the results are recorded and preserved either in the archives or in a published report.
   

Material should be transferred in the order in which the records creator maintained it. A letter briefly identifying the material and describing the activity to which it relates should accompany the shipment.

Note: All information formats (e.g., published, typescript, audio-visual, and electronic data, such as computer disks and files) are appropriate for consideration for transfer. For documents in formats requiring any machine intervention, such as videotapes, kinescopes, and all computer files, consideration should be given to transferring the equipment needed to access the documents or, preferably, converting the documents to a format accessible to the Archives' users. Early consultation with the Archivist is strongly encouraged for all such materials.

This list is intended as a general guide. If there are questions about records not listed here or questions about the retention or disposal of specific record series, please contact William Maher at (217) 333-0798.