Many accessions are additional material (sometimes small, sometimes substantial) to existing collections. These may present any number of issues, and decisions about how to handle each different accession is dependent both on what is in the new donation AS WELL AS what the situation is with the existing material.
When working with addenda, begin by doing some research into the existing collection. Questions to ask include:
- Is it closed until processed? If so, you can also close the new addition and send it to HD. (However, do your best to make a folder or container list to assist future processors. This is especially helpful if there are titled folders and with collections that are already or you know will be very large. If we know what's in the cartons at HD, we can call them back in easier chunks when processing.)
- Is it processed with a finding aid and this is the first additional donation?
- Is it a collection that a current archivist has processed or is preparing to process? If so, you may be able to give the addenda directly to that archivist. Discuss with that archivist the feasibility of adding addenda directly into the existing finding aid. This is an ideal way to handle addenda, but may not always be possible due to the amount of material in the addenda, the time constraints of archivist, etc. If the original archivist can not do this work for whatever reason, you could either do it yourself, or move on to a different way of handling it below.
- If the original archivist is no longer on staff, you could add the material to the finding aid yourself. Again, this choice depends on the amount of material, the ease with which you might add it to the finding aid, and any number of other issues.
- Is it a collection that a current archivist has processed or is preparing to process? If so, you may be able to give the addenda directly to that archivist. Discuss with that archivist the feasibility of adding addenda directly into the existing finding aid. This is an ideal way to handle addenda, but may not always be possible due to the amount of material in the addenda, the time constraints of archivist, etc. If the original archivist can not do this work for whatever reason, you could either do it yourself, or move on to a different way of handling it below.
- Is it processed with a finding aid and already has other (unprocessed, undescribed) additional donations?
Is it processed with a finding aid and this is the first additional donation?
- Is it an unprocessed collection that is open to research? Does the unprocessed collection have earlier addenda and has it been relabeled with umbrella accession numbers? If so,make sure that you use the umbrella accession numbers for the new addenda
EXAMPLE: - Is this addenda to an unprocessed collection that is open to research? If this particular addenda does NOT seem as if it can be open for research, make sure to note that on the barcode sheet.
OTHER ISSUES to consider:
Donor age. If you know a donor is quite elderly, it may be better to wait for processing until they die (I know, how morbid), as we may then receive more material and it could be easier to work with it all at once.
Format of material. Paper material (even better, that in folders) is always easier to accession quickly than anything multiformat. As usual, imagine how it could be served in the reading room, and what the processing work might entail.
NOTE: When working with addenda, the same basic record keeping and reboxing guidelines apply as with new collections.