Electronic Control Files: Filing Guide and Naming Conventions

Owned by Jessica_sedgwick (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Apr 22, 2020 by Meghan Kerr
6 min read

Paper Control Files

Establish control files for each archival and manuscript collection (three folders per collection for manuscript collections, two folders per series for archival collections).

Manuscript Collections Control Files

1. Donor File
Please be aware that the Center also maintains a biographical vertical file for individuals whose papers we hold, whose papers will be coming to us, or are persons of interest/prospects. There is also an electronic component to these files on the shared drive, which are maintained by the Acquisitions Archivist, the Harvard Chan Archivist, the Deputy Director, and Director. Both the N:\ and the control file should be consulted. 

  • Signed instrument of gift 
  • Associated drafts and copies of related correspondence (pre- and post-donation), including information related to site visits and conversations, custodial history, and provenance 
  • Biographical information relevant to the immediate acquisition of a collection 
  • Correspondence culled from the office files of previous administrators/curators as appropriate

 

2. Accessioning and Processing File
Processors should always check the Center’s finding aids folder on the shared N:\ drive for additional information, as many preliminary box and folder lists and processing plans have not been printed and filed.
  • Completed accessions form
  • Accession-level box inventory and/or accession level box and folder list 
  • Name authority worksheet for the creator 
  • Preliminary and full processing plans 
  • Email and related notes that could inform processing 
  • Collections workflow checklist

 

3. Description File
  • Printed copy of the stub catalog record created as a product of accessioning (need to figure out best way to print in Alma)
  • Copy of the catalog record for each major revision in Alma
  • Fuller forms of the preliminary box and folder list; and a copy of the finding aid

Archival Records Control Files

1. Name Authority File
This file is found at the beginning of each department's main hanging folder. All name authority paperwork should be placed in this folder and be updated as department names change.
2. Accessioning File
Departments will have multiple records series, therefore, there will be one accession file per series. All box/folder lists created by ARM staff upon receipt of the records at the Center, are stored on the shared N:\ drive control file and are not printed out.
  • Completed accession form
  • Accession-level box inventory and/or accession level box and folder list
  • Accessioning checklist
  • Internal transfer receipt

3. Description File
Folder is usually not created until the records series or archival collection is being processed. 

Electronic Control File Guidelines

Where to save documents

All records related to acquisition and description should be saved to the appropriate location on the shared drive according to the file structure outlined below.

Personal files should be saved to individual home drives (M:/)

Outline of File Structure

Text in bold = folder title. Do not add additional high-level folders; when necessary, subfolders should be nested within this structure.

(N:)> Collections

01_Archives

HMS

[office name]

Communications [email correspondence, meeting notes, acquisition interviews]

[FYXX]

Acquisition_Documentation [Scanned transfer receipt and accession record]

[Series XXXX]

Survey_Notes [pre-acquisition description of records surveyed]

[FYXX]

Resources [history of department, publications, websites]

WAM_documentation (if applicable): Contents are shortcuts to related folders within other collecting areas.

Manuscript_documentation (if applicable): Contents are shortcuts to related folders within other collecting areas.

HSDM

[sub-structure same as HMS]

HSPH

[sub-structure same as HMS]

02_Books  (*PLEASE NOTE: not individual items, but collections of books)

[FYXX]

Acknowledgement_Letters

Purchase_Documentation

Description

03_Manuscripts (*includes BWH)

[Creator] [Lastname_Firstname OR Name_in_Direct_Order]

Acquisitions

Communications [email correspondence, meeting notes (separated from survey notes), acquisition interviews]

Acquisition_documentation [Deed of Gift, appendices, transfer receipts]

Surveys [pre-acquisition description of records surveyed]

Resources [biographical information: obituaries, C.V.s, websites]

Appraisal_documentation (if applicable)

WAM_documentation (if applicable): Contents are shortcuts to related folders within other collecting areas.

Archives_documentation (if applicable): Contents are shortcuts to related folders within other collecting areas.

Description [subfolders to adhere to current Description folder standards]

[Boxlist files created during acquisition]

04_WAM

Description

WAM CATALOGUING

Object Folders

Object Number Ranges

Object Number

Collection Name

Warren_Archives

WAM_Collections_Reference

Acquisitions

Accepted_Donations

Year or Fiscal Year

Accession Number_Collection Name

Communications

Documentation

Images

Reference

Surveys

Appraisal

Archives_documentation (if applicable): Contents are shortcuts to related folders within other collecting areas.

Manuscript_documentation (if applicable): Contents are shortcuts to related folders within other collecting areas.

Acquisition_Denied

Year or Fiscal Year

Collection Name_Date

Archives_documentation (if applicable): Contents are shortcuts to related folders within other collecting areas.

Manuscript_documentation (if applicable): Contents are shortcuts to related folders within other collecting areas.

Bequests

Collection Name_Date

Forms

Legacy Donations_Not Accessioned

Collection Name

Manuscript Transfers_Not Yet Accessioned

Collection Name

Potential

Collection Name_Date or Institution

Archives_documentation (if applicable): Contents are shortcuts to related folders within other collecting areas.

Manuscript_documentation (if applicable): Contents are shortcuts to related folders within other collecting areas.

Purchases

Fiscal Year

Accession Number_Collection Name

05_Image Collections

06_Publications

07_Collections Databases and Lists

 

Naming conventions

Standardized naming conventions improve the speed of retrieval, and organizing them chronologically creates a clear narrative that enables future archivists to browse acquisition files more efficiently. Therefore, ALWAYS use the following naming conventions for acquisition files:

YYYY-MM-DD_[type]_[LASTNAME]

YYYY-MM-DD_[type]_[DEPT CONTACT’S LAST NAME]

 

Type can be:

  • Acknowledgement
  • Acquisition_Appraisal [WAM only]
  • Acquisition_interview
  • Appendix_A
  • Books
  • Boxlist
  • Catalog_Description
  • DoG
  • DoG_SIGNED
  • DoG_Letter [WAM only]
  • Email
  • Internal_Transfer
  • Invoice
  • MeetingNotes
  • Memo
  • Monetary_Appraisal
  • Phone
  • Photograph(s)
  • Survey
  • transfer_receipt

Examples:

2015-09-09_Survey_ZELEN.doc

2016-01-01_Email_PAA03.01

 

Other considerations:

  • For emails or other groups of related documents, the date should reflect the most recent date in the set.
  • For emails relating to a particular topic, create a folder within “Communications” and name as appropriate. For archival collections: if appropriate, further delineate long strings of correspondence by fiscal year.
  • Do not use periods or spaces in file names. If division is necessary, use underscores or dashes.
  • See “File Types” (below) for additional guidance on how to save files.

 

Accruals

Accruals are additional accessions made to an existing collection. When an accretion is made, subfolders (ACC. YYYY-###) should be established in the existing structure as follows:

[Creator]

Acquisitions

Communications

ACC. YYYY-###

ACC. YYYY-###

Acquisition_Documentation

ACC. YYYY-###

ACC. YYYY-###

Surveys

ACC. YYYY-###

ACC. YYYY-###

Resources

Please remember to integrate all files from the initial accession into their accession folder in addition to establishing new folders for the most recent accession.

 

Versioning

Drafts should have “V#_” appended, followed by initials of editor.

Example: 2014-08-23_DoG_LOWN_V2_HM.docx

Final copies should have “_final” appended.

Example: 2014-08-30_DoG_LOWN_final.docx

Previous versions of documents should be moved to folder named “Superseded,” with only the most current version at the top level.

Example:  \Lown_Bernard

\Acquisition_Documentation

2014-08-30_DoG_LOWN_final.docx

\Superseded

2014-08-21_DoG_LOWN_V1_HM.docx

2014-08-23_DoG_LOWN_V2_HM.docx

 

File Types

Correspondence/Email

Important emails should be saved outside of Outlook as PDFs in the appropriate folder in (N:)> Collections. Notes from phone conversations can be left as .DOC or .DOCX files.
Correspondence should adhere to the naming conventions specified above.

Examples:

2015-10-03_Email_ZELEN.pdf

2015-10-14_Phone_Lown.doc

Always save attachments separately from the email, itself (as PDFs, whenever possible), using the naming conventions above followed by “attch” and a number, if multiple.

Examples:

2015-10-03_Email_ZELEN_attch1.pdf

2015-10-03_Email_ZELEN_attch2.jpg

 

Images
When possible, images should have both a high-res preservation copy and a smaller reference copy.

Preservation copies should be saved as a TIF image file at 300dpi. It should be named according to naming conventions for its proper location, then followed by “_pres”. (ex: 2015-03-21_Photograph_ZELEN_pres.tif)

Reference copies should be saved as a JPG image file at 72dpi with the longest side measuring no more than 700 pixels. It should be named according to naming conventions for its proper location, and then followed by “_ref”. (ex: 2015-03-21_Photograph_ZELEN_ref.jpg)

 

Boxlists, Inventories, Surveys, and Additional Documents
All other documents, including word processing files, flyers, presentations, spreadsheets, etc. should be saved as Microsoft Office file types.

 

Guidelines for Acquisitions LHTs

Where to save documents

All files should be saved to the Center’s shared network drive. There is some differentiation between how manuscript and archival (aka institutional) collections are saved due to how collections are prioritized for processing, so please refer to the guidance specified below.  

 

Manuscript Collections

Manuscript collection files are located in: N:\Collections\03_Manuscripts within folders named for a given collection’s creator (or, in rare cases, for the collection title). Within each collection file, there should be two top-level folders: 1) Acquisitions 2) Description

Descriptive documentation such as box or folder lists, biographical notes, scope notes, or lists of subject headings should be filed within the Description folder for the appropriate collection.

Example: N:\Collections\03_Manuscripts\Rosenberg_Charles_E\Description 

 

Archival Collections

Archive collection files are located in: N:\Collections\01_Archives. Each school has its own folder (HMS, HSDM, or HSPH). Within these school folders are control files for each office, department, or institutional project. Control files are structured first with an office code followed by the name of the office. Unless an archival collection has been processed (which is very rare) there will be NO Acquisition or Description subfolders. Instead, there will be four top-level folders: 1) Acquisitions_Documentation 2) Communications 3) Resources 4) Survey_notes

Example: N:\Collections\01_Archives\HSPH\P-DT03 Dept. of Environmental Health\Acquisitions_Documentation

 The Acquisitions_Documentation folder is further broken down by series. Series numbers, just like accession numbers, are unique to each department. Acquisitions staff usually create series folders prior to requesting the collection to be listed.

Example: N:\Collections\01_Archives\HSPH\P-DT03 Dept. of Environmental Health\Acquisitions_Documentation\Series_00504_Executive_administrative_files

The types of files that should be saved within a Series folder are folder lists and any supporting documentation (such as transfer receipts and inventories provided by the office/department). Multiple accessions will be added to a Series folder over time. Accession subfolders within a series folder should only be created if there is more than one document related to the accession.

Administrative histories, lists of subject headings, and other reference material should be saved in the Resources folder.

Box labels do not need to be saved for each collection; the LHT should edit the template (which is different from manuscript box labels) found here:

N:\Collections\01_Archives\boxlabels_arch_example.doc

File Naming Conventions

Standardized naming conventions improve the speed of retrieval. As a general policy, do not use periods or spaces in file names. If division is necessary, use underscores or dashes.

Manuscript Collections

Each file name should contain the same basic elements, separated by underscore (_) and structured as follows:

[Type]_[Creator]_[Date-OR-AccessionNumber]

Type – i.e. the kind of descriptive content in this document. Examples include, but are not limited to:

    • BoxFolderList
    • BoxList
    • BoxLabels
    • Bionote
    • SubjectHeadings

Creator – For most individual manuscript collections, last name alone will suffice, but in some cases it may make sense to include a first initial after the last name (i.e. RosenbergM vs. RosenbergC)

Date OR Accession number

    • For collection-level description elements like biographical notes or lists of subject headings, append the date of document creation or revision, formatted: YYYYMMDD
    • For accession-specific description, like box or folder lists, append the accession number, formatted: AccXXXX-XXX

Examples: 

BoxList_RosenbergCharles_Acc2018-261.xls
Bionote_RosenbergCharlesE_20180525.doc


Archival Collections

In order to avoid redundancy and reduce file path and naming lengths, folder lists for archival collections should be named as follows: Acc_XXXX-XXX

Example: Acc_2018-249.xls 

Administrative histories should be named according the guidance specified for manuscript collections. 

Example: Bionote_P-DT03_20180525.doc

Copyright © 2024 The President and Fellows of Harvard College * Accessibility * Support * Request Access * Terms of Use