II. Principles

Preserve any existing meaningful order (original order)
Preserve all evidence of origins (provenance)
Practice appraisal only if:
- curator has identified discardable categories of material
- wrappers/containers within the collection are taking up space and do not carry meaningful manuscript information (or carry minor annotations that may be easily photocopied and the original discarded, with curator's permission)
Rehouse as appropriate for archival stability, safe travel, and safe use
Create/enhance a listing of the material that serves curatorial and public services needs and that is or may be easily converted into a preliminary finding aid
Document all decisions and actions that affect the collection, either in the box list or in a separate document kept in the curatorial file