Collecting guidelines

The University Archives is the repository of the historically valuable documentation of South Dakota State University units and individuals, including faculty, staff and administrators The guidelines below were drafted to assist staff and faculty in determining which kinds of records are of potential historical or long-term administrative value. These records should be regularly and routinely transferred to the Archives. The guidelines are organized to reflect the types of records usually associated with particular offices and individuals. The guidelines are not comprehensive, though. Please consult the Archives before destroying or removing records.

What do I send to the Archives?

University offices:

The University Archives collects the records of South Dakota State University. These may include:

Accreditation records or self surveys, both internal and external. May include reports, correspondence, questionnaires or guidelines.
Accreditation Self-Study Files: Records concerning accreditation. May include minutes, publications, working papers, drafts and the completed self-study.
Administrative files. General records concerning the administration of the university and its colleges, departments and programs. Files may include reports, memoranda, correspondence.
Alumni materials. These include directories, reports and publications.
Annual Operating Budget Requests
Annual reports of colleges, departments, programs, centers.
Annual reports of the university and its units.
Audio-Visual Files: Films, sound recordings and other audio-visual records created through activities, functions, facilities and its staff.
Audits. Final reports and appendices only.
Biographical materials of long-term faculty and senior administrative staff. May include obituaries, memorial service programs, interviews, curriculum vitae. (Please note that promotions and tenure files do not come to the Archives).
Budgets. Summary reports and appendices only.
Calendar of Events
Certificates and awards
Committee and council records. Internal or external, university-wide or on the college, departmental or program level such as task forces, curriculum committees, consultative committees. May include minutes, agendas, reports.
Committees and Councils Files: Records concerning committees and councils that are either internal to the department or division or are university-wide in nature and govern the activities of the department or division. Files may consist of minutes, proceedings, reports, notifications, correspondence and related files.
Constitution and by-laws
Course descriptions and schedules
Correspondence: Files of both general and intracampus correspondence. Drafts, routine acknowledgements and transmittals and copies of widely distributed correspondence and memorandums should be weeded before transfer. Widely distributed correspondence originating from office should be kept.
Curriculum development records. Documenting the development and planning for courses offered at the university. May include correspondence, memoranda, proposals, and faculty recommendations.
External organizations and associations. Records of multi-institutional collaborations or associations in which the university is a participant.
Film and video. All formats, documenting university activities, functions, facilities and its faculty, staff and students. Must be identified in some way (such as dates, names or captions).
Grants. Materials documenting awarded grants. May include proposals, interim and final reports and summary data. All other records may be discarded after administrative and legal retentions are met.
Photographs. All formats, documenting university activities, functions, facilities and its faculty, staff and students. Must be identified in some way (such as dates, names or captions).
Planning records. Records of the university and its colleges and departments documenting its mission and goals. May include reports, correspondence and policy and program proposals.
Policies and procedures files. Material specific to the university, documenting past and present policies and procedures.
Publications. One copy each, includes newsletters, magazines, reports.
Research projects. May include proposals, interim and final reports and summary data. All other records may be discarded after administrative and legal retentions are met.
Self-surveys. Internal and external reviews. May include reports, correspondence, questionnaires, guidelines.
Speech files of senior administrators. Speeches, addresses, or comments made while representing the university. Identified.

Personal / professional papers of faculty, administrators and alumni:

Personal papers provide essential documentation of university history. The University Archives collects the personal and professional papers of senior administrators, long-term faculty, selected alumni and others whose primary institutional affiliation has been with South Dakota State University. Administrators, faculty and alumni such as Senator Tom Daschle; freelance author and humorist Bob Karolevitz, and university alumnus and Nobel Prize winner Theodore Schultz have entrusted their papers to University Archives.

These collections complement departmental holdings and reflect the teaching, research, and service missions of South Dakota State University. Personal / professional papers may include:

Bibliographies or publication lists.
Biographical material about the faculty member including curriculum vitae, obituaries, photographs, interviews, bibliographies.
Correspondence with colleagues and students.
Consulting files.
Department and committee records created in an individual's capacity as a university administrator, department chair, committee chair or member.
Diaries and journals, personal and professional.
Family papers, particularly if family members have shared in research efforts.
Grant and research files, lab notebooks, project records
Photographs taken by or of the faculty member, documenting research colleagues and staff, laboratories, equipment, family and friends (identified photographs only)
Professional contributions. Materials documenting involvement in professional or research organizations.
Publications (if not otherwise available through libraries).
Talks and lectures.
Teaching materials including lecture notes, course syllabi

Records of campus organizations, faculty associations, staff and student groups:

The Archives collections include records of groups associated with the university including student, alumni, staff and faculty organizations. Publications such as newspapers, newsletters, journals, books by or about the organization.

Administrative records
Annual and other reports
Brochures
Budgets and financial summary documents
Charters and by-laws
Correspondence
Directories or lists of officers and members
Mission statements
Meeting minutes
Photographs, film and video. All formats, documenting university activities, functions, facilities and its faculty, staff and students. Must be identified in some way (such as dates, names or captions).
Publications. May include newsletters, newspapers, brochures, books by or about the organization.

Student papers and ephemera

The University Archives collects materials that document the student experience at South Dakota State University. These can include documents that are contemporary with an individual's status as a student or recollections and reflections on the student years. There are many topics of interest; some examples include academic, athletic, artistic, social, and political activities. (Please note that the archives does not collect student transcripts, grades, or other private information considered private).

Correspondence.
Diaries, memoirs, commentaries and fictional or humorous accounts of student life.
Drawings, and paintings of campus scenes and life, including interior views of residence halls and student rooms, and images student dress or traditions.
Film, video, and audio (analog and digital) documenting student life.
Lecture notes and course assignments
Photographs (if identified)
Posters, flyers, announcements, tickets, programs
Writings and publications including essays and research papers.
Scrapbooks