Post processing report and retrospective

Once we've processed a collection, there are two more things we need to complete. First, everyone who worked on the collection meets with the processing archivist for a retrospective meeting, in which we discuss:

• What went well in the project
• What went wrong
• How we will be changing our process in the future
• What we would do with the collection if we had infinite time and resources
• Anything future archivists should know about the collection

Second, the processing archivist writes all of this information in a post-processing report. In addition, they also explain anything which was in the original plan that changed and why any decisions were made. The report is intended as a way for future archivists to understand what we did and why, as well as to record any recommendations for further work on the collection.

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CONTENTS

• Smith College Special Collections
  • Our Repositories
  • The Records Life Cycle and How Processing Fits In
• Processing Overview
  • Glossary of Archival Terms
  • Structure of Collections
  • Traditional vs MPLP Processing
  • Overview of the Processing Workflow
• How to Read Processing Plans
• Arrangement
  • Intellectual vs. physical arrangement
  • Handling Archival Materials
  • Rehousing
  • Restricting materials
• Appraisal
  • Kinds of Value
  • Getting rid of material
  • Records Retention
• Description
  • Writing a Finding Aid
  • Tips for using ArchivesSpace
  • Container control and labeling boxes
• Post processing report and retrospective
• Expectations of students
• Appendices
  • Processing checklist
  • Examples