Archival Policies - Section V

Ohio Northern University will seek to obtain both the non-current records of the University and the personal papers of faculty, staff, alumni, former students, and others associated with the University. Manuscript and archival collections documenting the post-University careers of alumni are actively collected to provide documentation that supports the research interests and needs of faculty and students and to strengthen holdings in subject areas of the University. Collecting and preserving such records provide important insights into the history of the University and can provide a basis for research in broad areas of American life and culture. Such records are considered non-official records. The following guidelines are intended to assist donors of such records, and their families, in identifying those portions of their files that are appropriate for transfer to the University.

Items likely to be of archival interest include:

1. Biographical information: resumes, bibliographies, memoirs, genealogies, and published and manuscript biographical sketches;

2. Ohio Northern University correspondence and files: outgoing and incoming correspondence, diaries, photographs and negatives, and scrapbooks that provide documentation of university experience relating to enrollment, attendance, involvement in student and alumni organizations and activities;

3. Professional correspondence (outgoing and incoming) with business associates, colleagues, and professional organizations;

4. Personal correspondence with Ohio Northern University alumni and students;

5. Course material: class notebooks, student papers, exams, and correspondence relating to the academic career at Ohio Northern University;

6. Publications: one copy of all articles, books, reviews or works of art and other professional construction;

7. Audio-Visuals: photographs, films, and sound and video recordings;

8. Family correspondence, diaries, photographs, and financial, legal, and technical documents, except where there is family interest in retaining and preserving such materials;

9. Summary financial records where relevant to business and career activities documented elsewhere in the records;

10. Organizational records and correspondence relating to membership and participation in professional, civic, and social associations and organizations.

Note: All information formats (e.g. published, typescript, audio-visual, and electronic data such as computer disks and files) are appropriate for consideration and acceptance. For documents in formats requiring any form of machine intervention, such as videotapes, kinescopes, etc., and all computer files, consideration should be given to donating the equipment needed to access the documents or, preferably, converting them to an accessible format. Consultation with the ONU Archivist is strongly recommended for all such materials.

Documents which generally should not be donated or transferred without prior consultation with the ONU Archivist are similar to those outlined for the faculty and staff in the previous section.