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Archives & Special Collections

This is the home page for Archives & Special Collections, Dean B. Ellis Library, 7th Floor, Arkansas State University

Introduction

Archives & Special Collections is a unit of the Dean B. Ellis Library located at Arkansas State University. We serve the university’s mission to educate leaders, enhance intellectual growth, and enrich lives through supporting the research and instructional needs of students, staff, and faculty of Arkansas State University, and other researchers and by collecting, preserving, and promoting access to our archival materials.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to outline the scope and rationale behind collecting materials for the Archives & Special Collections unit of the Dean B. Ellis Library to:

  • Assist in furthering the university’s mission and upholding the professional standards of the library and archival communities;
  • Aid library and archival personnel in selection of materials in a way that is planned, realistic, cohesive, and tied to the institution’s resources and priorities; and
  • Inform the university and public of our selection priorities and encourage the donation of materials which support the university’s mission and goal.

Archives & Special Collections collects materials of enduring, historical, and cultural value which document the rich heritage of Northeast Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta region along with the history, organization, and functions of Arkansas State University. Further detail within this broadly outlined scope is set out below:

  • Format & Types of Materials

We collect a variety of formats and types of materials. Within the archives, we collect original, unpublished materials, including personal papers and organizational records; drafts of written works; oral histories in both transcript and audio and video formats; photography and moving images in print and digital formats.

For digital materials, we prefer file formats which can be accessed by non-proprietary software/applications. These formats include, but are not limited to, plain text (.txt), portable document format (.pdf), Open Office formats (.odt, .ods, .odp), LaTeX documents (.tex), hypertext mark-up language (.html), comma-separated tables (.csv), image files (i.e., .tif, .jpg, .png), audio files (i.e., .mp3, .wav, .flac), and video files (i.e. .mp4, mxf). Digital materials requiring proprietary software/applications will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

  • Geography

The main geographic scope of collecting is the northeast region of Arkansas. Archives & Special Collections will continue to collect materials pertaining to the heritage of Northeast Arkansas.

  • Time Period

Collections primarily span the period of the 20th century. Archives & Special Collections will continue to collect records from the 20th century while actively seeking records from the 19th and 21st centuries.

  • Language

Collections are predominantly in English with a small selection of material in German and French. We will continue to collect primarily in English but will consider collections with a portion of materials in other languages, as appropriate.

Collecting Areas

The collecting areas listed below are meant as a general guide to the top collecting priorities, rather than an exhaustive list of all subjects covered in our collections. Some of these build on existing strengths in the collection, while others outline more recent acquisition initiatives for collecting areas we wish to develop. The list is in alphabetical order.

  • Agriculture

Archives & Special Collections currently houses records pertaining to the operations and functions of plantation farms and gins along with agricultural activism. These records include Judd Hill Plantation, Twist Planation, Pitzele Gin Company, Mabel Gieseck’s records of Lansing Company’s operations in Parkin, and the papers of Larry Corbett and Noel Baker who lobbied congress to ease rice allotment. We will continue to collect materials documenting the history, operations, and functions of agriculture in Northeast Arkansas. We are specifically seeking records documenting the lives of sharecrop and tenant farmers and their families who worked on plantation farms. We also seek records documenting agricultural activism and plantation records from the 19th and 20th centuries.

  • Business

We seek records pertaining to the operations and functions of small neighborhood businesses from Northeast Arkansas. We will not accept records from franchised businesses and businesses whose records are to be transferred to their parent company. We will not accept routine financial records (i.e. bank statements and checks), materials with personal identification information (i.e. Social Security numbers), tax records, and other materials which do not reflect the operations and functions of a business.

  • Community Organizations and Advocacy

We seek to document community organizations and organizers from Northeast Arkansas. This includes, but is not limited to, community advocacy, community centers, community leaders, clubs, fraternal orders, professional organizations, and sport organizations.

  • Manuscripts and Drafts

Archives & Special Collections currently holds manuscripts and drafts from Arkansas authors. We will continue to collect manuscripts and drafts of books, novels, poems, unpublished works, and other works by authors from Northeast Arkansas. Along with the manuscripts and drafts, we will accept correspondence with editors, publishers, and fans, galley proofs, and other materials related to the creation of the drafts.

  • Oral Histories

Archives & Special Collections currently houses a few oral history projects, including the Mid-South Center for Oral History, Judd Hill Oral History project, and Arkansas Delta in Transit. We will continue to collect oral histories documenting the lives of Northeast Arkansas residents.

  • Politics

Archives & Special Collections currently houses over seventy years of congressional papers from the 1st Congressional District of Arkansas along with some state representatives, senators, and governors. We will continue to collect political papers from local and state politicians from Northeast Arkansas along with the congressional papers from the representatives of the 1st Congressional District of Arkansas.

  • Religious Organizations

We seek to collect records pertaining to the various religious organizations of Northeast Arkansas. This includes, but not limited to, churches, church organizations, and religious clubs. We are primarily looking for churches and organizations which were/are the pillars of communities, including religious organizations which primarily served minority and immigrant populations.

  • University Records

Archives & Special Collections currently houses select records pertaining to the operations and functions of Arkansas State University. This includes Faculty Senate Records, Board of Trustees minutes, 75th Anniversary Steering Committee Records, Centennial Committee Records, copies of The Herald, and a few clubs which operated on campus. We seek to establish a subsection in the archives to house the operations, functions, and history of Arkansas State University. These include the offices of the provost and chancellor, student and faculty organizations, governing bodies, and committees.

Collection Acquisition

Collection donations are accepted by Archives & Special Collections. Archives & Special Collections will not purchase archival collections.

Records originating from Arkansas State University may be transferred to Archives & Special Collections

  • Collection Appraisal and Tax Deduction

The determination of a donation’s monetary value and the related possibility of a tax deduction is the sole responsibility of the donor. Archives & Special Collections staff cannot give tax advice, nor are they permitted to appraise the monetary value of any records or material.

  • Deeds of Gifts, Transfer Documents, and Acknowledgements

All acquisitions donated to Archives & Special Collections require a Deed of Gift signed by the donor(s) and a representative of Archives & Special Collections. The elements of the Deed of Gift include the identification of the donor and recipient, a specification of a preliminary collection title and a brief description of materials, definition of the terms of the transfer of ownership, including intellectual and physical property rights, delineation of any access restrictions and explanation of the condition for the separation of materials from the collection.

Materials transferred to Archives & Special Collections from departments of Arkansas State University require a University Transfer Document, signed by the office transferring the documents and a representative of Archives & Special Collections.

Refusal of Donation

Archives & Special Collections reserves the right to refuse any potential donation or transfer for any reason. Listed are some reasons why materials may be refused:

  • Materials do not pertain to the heritage of Northeast Arkansas or the operations and functions of Arkansas State University;
  • Overly restrictive conditions of access and use have been requested by the donor;
  • Donor’s legal ownership of materials are uncertain;
  • Collections on deposit;
  • Space and resources are not available to accommodate a collection, both physical and digital;
  • Collection materials are not unique and are available in other repositories;
  • Collection materials are photocopies for which original material exists, including materials which exists in other repositories;
  • Materials have been damaged by mold, insects, pests, or other factors;
  • Materials on obsolete formats;
  • Materials needing proprietary software or application to access;
  • Materials created and/or authored by generative artificial intelligence

Processing

All materials donated or transferred to Archives & Special Collections are assumed to be processed with the collections. We ask that materials the donor does not wish to be a part of the collection or may violate local, state, and/or federal statutes be removed from the collection prior to donating/transferring materials. Due to limited resources, personnel from Archives & Special Collections cannot review every piece of material in collections.

Due to limited resources, materials cannot be processed to an individual level. Instead, materials will be processed by the current best practices of the archival profession to an acceptable level of access for researchers. Once processed, collection materials will be made freely available to researchers. Statistics will be kept to determine use of materials.

Deaccessioning

Deaccessioning is an essential function and tool of collection development and curation. Material selected to be deaccessioned may be returned to the donor (based on the donor agreement), gifted/transferred to a more appropriate repository, or discarded. In identifying materials for deaccessioning, Archive & Special Collections personnel consider the following:

  • Does the material in question fall within the scope of our collection development and collecting practices?
  • Has the donor specifically asked material not to be included in the collection and returned to them?
  • Has the material deteriorated in such a way that it cannot be reproduced or is beyond being useful due to its condition?
  • Have the materials in question rarely been accessed to question the ongoing preservation of said materials in Archives & Special Collections?
  • Have the materials been subjected to poor environmental conditions, resulting in mold, water damage, fire damage, or show evidence of being exposed to rodents/pests?

Review

This document will be reviewed in five years in January 2030.