GW Archives and Records Toolkit: Evaluating Records

The following types of records are most likely to contain important historical information that should be preserved in the archives:

• Foundational documents
• Publications and printed materials such as programs; newsletters and newspapers; leaflets, brochures, and booklets; catalogs and bulletins; posters; press releases and other promotional material
• Reports: annual, quarterly, working group, committee and similar reports that summarize, draw conclusions or make recommendations
• Architectural plans
• Meeting agendas, minutes and associated material from ad hoc, standing, departmental, and task force committees, as well as from governance bodies such as the Faculty Senate
• Correspondence of a substantive nature, e.g., emails, letters and memos discussing or communicating information to a limited number of individuals
• Audio-visual materials

The primary subjects to be documented in the GW University Archives are:

• The goals, activities, decisions and policies of GW governing bodies, administrative divisions and academic units, including major committees, task forces and other working groups
• The acquisition and development of GW campuses and associated infrastructure
• The achievements of GW’s academic and research missions
• Campus life, which is broadly defined to include the individual and collective experiences of students, faculty, staff and other affiliates in their interactions with GW and its environs
• The areas defined above for schools incorporated into or acquired by GW, including Mount Vernon Seminary and College, National University, Benjamin Franklin University and the Corcoran College of the Arts and Design

• Working files and drafts for publications or reports when final versions are available
• Accounting and financial records for routine transactions
• Data entry forms and worksheets
• Correspondence of a routine nature, e.g., form letters and standard cover memos
• Files that contain only copies of forms that are permanently maintained by another office, e.g., departmental student files that contain only copies of forms permanently maintained by the registrar