Documenting Davidson College - Records Management

Employees of the College in every job create and store records every day.

What's a record--the definition is pretty broad and includes any data or information that is evidence of individual or institutional activity. Plus, as shown by the images above, it can be found in numerous forms, paper, audio, visual, digital.

Most of the College records are created for a specific purpose and are only needed within the organization for a short period of time.  If you continue to use a record fairly regularly, it's considered current and not ready to travel to the College Archives.  While an archives collects all kinds of records, we can't collect everything!  

If you have questions about which records to keep, which records to dispose of, and which records to transfer to the Archives, please review this guide for answers to these questions.

If you still have questions, please email archives@davidson.edu.

Office or administrative files: Correspondence and memos (incoming and outgoing) pertaining to policy, major events, gifts, activities, and functions of the organization.

Reports: Annual/biennial reports that provide a summary of activities for a given period of time; Final Research reports that provide summaries of major research activities; plus special reports including reports of the President, Vice-Presidents, Deans, and Directors, the special reports and studies received from consultants, and other reports having continuing value.

Governance and policy documents:  Constitutions and by-laws, proceedings, guidelines, policies and procedures, including policy statements governing recruiting, interdepartmental relations, and administration of departments, committees, etc.

Meeting minutes: Minutes of any boards, councils, committees, task forces, or similar organizations created by mandate, statute, order, or Board of Trustees or President’s decision. In many cases, meeting minutes are an organization's only record of activity.

Official publications: Yearbooks, student newspapers, departmental brochures, bulletins, newsletters, directories, handbooks, posters, monographs, and announcements issued by all College offices, schools, and departments, as well by faculty, student and alumni organizations.

Audiovisual and photographic material: Any material that provides important visual documentation of Davidson College activities, students, personnel, and the campus as well documentation of events and programs organized and sponsored by entities within the College.

Celebration and special event records: Programs, substantive promotional and informational material, and final reports resulting from College or department-sponsored celebrations and special events.

Awards, honors, fellowships, scholarship:  Files for student, faculty, and staff

Records that document the significant activities and core functions of a department, program, or committee such as