At 08:01 PM 6/1/2005 -0400, you wrote:
>more appropriate to put the container information at the lowest level,
>i.e. repeat it in each c02, so that each
>piece has its own container information?
I strongly advocate putting the container for each lowest-level element,
especially since technology like macros makes this easy. Suppose, for
example, you have correspondence Abbot through Inglis and Noble through
Zippy. You might easily assume that you have an entire A-Z
sequence. Later, the heirs find Jackson through Mussorgsky and you need to
add this. What do you do? Re-box the entire thing and re-number the
boxes? Nope, not if you put the box number on each folder. You can insert
the missing pieces in the middle of the series list, but use the next box
number. This is especially helpful with archival records, which typically
have series that go on and on ... you can always add material to a series
and never worry about box sequence.
Abbot Box 1
Bucks Box 1
Cabot Box 1
[etc.]
Hurley Box 5
Inglis Box 5
Jackson Box 12
Kirk Box 12
[etc.]
Mussorgsky Box 15
Noble Box 6
Opie Box 6
[etc.]
Zippy Box 11
The other thing this allows is separation of media into different boxes,
even if they belong to the same series. Suppose you've got lectures,
mostly text, but a few of them have audio or video recordings instead, or
in addition to the text. Thus:
League of Women Votes, Tulsa, June 1, 1948 Box 25
Library Association, Chicago, September 1952 Box 25
Mothers for Peace, San Francisco, June 7, 1972 (text) Box 25
Mothers for Peace, San Francisco, June 7, 1972 (audio recording) Box 37
Mothers for Peace, San Francisco, June 7, 1972 (video recording) Box 39
(or...
League of Women Votes, Tulsa, June 1, 1948 Box 25
Library Association, Chicago, September 1952 Box 25
Mothers for Peace, San Francisco, June 7, 1972
(text) Box 25
(audio recording) Box 37
(video recording) Box 39
)
Kate Bowers
Collection Services Archivist
Harvard University Archives
Cambridge, MA 02138
voice: (617) 495-2461
fax: (617) 495-8011
email: [log in to unmask]
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