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BUILDING A RESOURCE CENTER: MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR COMMUNITY’S LOCAL HISTORY COLLECTION
By John Stewart
Local History Notebook, November / December 1988
If it has been a long time since you looked at your community's local history collection, take a look at it now. It could be a potential gold mine for a local history resource center. Many extant collections form the nucleus of well-structured, impressive resource centers. The kind of resource center and accompanying decisions on the arrangement of the collections depend on the starting point of the project. If the center is going to be associated with a public library, numerous conditions already exist that will influence the organization of the material. Similarly, if a local historical society will be the caretaker, preexisting conditions will influence the decision process and results. An assessment of what is and what could be available is the first step in developing a resource center. Here is a checklist to help you begin:
Space
When you evaluate the amount of available space for a resource center, include room for storing and maintaining collection materials, office equipment, and patron use.
Personnel
A resource center requires personnel who can access, organize, process, and provide reference assistance for the collection. Possible candidates may be librarians or archivists assisted by volunteers. If you decide to use volunteers, you will need to offer some training programs. You may find that you need more information on collections maintenance activities than is locally available. If so, contact the Ohio Historical Society's Office of Local History Office or the Local Government Records section of the Archives/Library for assistance.
Financial Support
When considering a resource center, you will have to build in financial support for controlled growth and proper collection preservation and use along with the traditional overhead expenses of utilities, equipment and supplies.
Collection Policy
Your local organization should review its collection policy if one currently exists. The policy should closely relate to the assessment of resources. If a policy has not been developed, consider the following before establishing one: purpose of the project, the kind of material to be collected, geographic area to be covered, and the estimated time frame. If you decide a historical resource center is the right choice for your organization, the next step is determining what materials are worth collecting. You can find some answers in numerous books published by the American Association of State and Local History. One particularly useful book by Enid T. Thompson (see suggested reading below) discusses the types of materials a public library should collect as a local historical center.
The following are some of the most useful materials that can help you put your community and its history into an interesting perspective.
Books
One of the most wondrous sources you will encounter are books. Among the most beneficial in this category are state and local histories, adult and children's books about life in the area, travel and recreational guidebooks, biographies, city and business directories, school and club rosters, and telephone books.
Pamphlets
Brochures produced by local businesses, store and theater advertisements, catalogs for local merchants and schools, and reports generated by local government agencies can yield a wealth of historical information.
Local newspaper files are the backbone of a local history collection. You may want to supplement these files with newspaper clippings arranged chronologically or by subject and with an index to the newspaper file. Contact the Ohio Historical Society for information on publication dates, editors, name changes, and microfilmed copies of local newspapers.
Photographs & Prints
Next to newspapers, you will probably find photographs to be the most frequently used materials in your historical collection. Consider including film negatives, glass or film slides, picture books, postcards, albums, lithographic prints, sketches, paintings, and photographic prints.
Maps & Measured Drawings
Maps and drawings appear in various forms and on numerous materials besides commercially produced maps. Look for small localized maps of farms, ditches, train routes, and buildings. Sales handbills, posters, and pamphlets might also include sketched maps. Commercial and residential blueprints are worth collecting even if they are worn or produced on poor quality material.
Tape Recordings & Ephemera
By digging a little deeper into less traditional resources, you can fill in any gaps in your community’s history. Tape recordings and oral histories are excellent sources of information that otherwise may be unavailable. Look for interesting information in ephemera such as programs, menus, handbills, sales notices, announcements, posters, and ballots.
Manuscripts
You can often find one-of-a-kind records, usually kept together as a unit, in essays and business and church records. Remember to consider the special problems in ownership, processing, and servicing when you collect these information laden sources.
Government Records
Along with the materials mentioned above, your local historical organization may consider adding government records to its local history collection. Because government records reflect actions and businesses that the public has a right to know about, these records carry significant responsibilities and liabilities.
Ohio statutes provide a procedure whereby public records may be deposited with local institutions through the auspices of the Ohio Historical Society. When a public official wishes to retire records from the office's direct custody, the official must work through a county, municipal, township, or school district records commission to obtain authority to do so.
If the commission approves the requested disposition, the request is referred to the Ohio Historical Society which serves as the archives administration for the state and political subdivisions. The Ohio Historical Society has deposited local government records with a network of state university libraries and larger local historical societies.
The Ohio Historical Society has also developed an agreement for depositing records with other public libraries, county historical societies, state universities or other public or quasi-public institutions, agencies or corporations capable of meeting accepted archival standards for housing and use of archival records. If your local organization would like to explore this possible deposition procedure, contact the local records section of the Ohio Historical Society.
You will probably be overwhelmed by the volume of local government records that are available to you. However, many records, such as financial records with transitory values do not warrant the expense and effort necessary to maintain them after they have served their initial purpose in the origination office. The local government should be encouraged to destroy these records in accordance with procedures outlined in Ohio statutes. It is estimated that only five to ten percent of local government records are worth maintaining as historically significant. These are usually records that document specific persons, places, subjects, events, and transactions.
The Ohio Historical Society has made weeding through local government records less overwhelming and more structured. Its suggested records schedule lists over 2,200 record series produced by Ohio's local governments, of which about 150 are designated as having permanent value.
The following are among the most beneficial local government records you should consider for your collection:
• minutes of boards and commissions
• annual reports or financial statements
• government charters
• ordinance and resolution codes
• budgets
• chief executives' journals
• legal opinions of counsel
• indebtedness statements
Public Safety, Health & Enforcement
In addition to records of general interest, consider records from departments which administer public safety, health development, and enforcement. The following are among the more typical ones.
• building permits
• zoning certificates
• water and sewer line locations
• occupancy and vacation permits
• condemnation and demolition records
• engineering field notes
• property deeds files
• easements
• birth and death certificates
• communicable disease records
• court journals and case dockets
• indexes to probate
• civil criminal case files
• jail registers
• arson and fire investigation records
Human Service & Educational Records
While you can find numerous records through human service agencies and the educational system, many contain confidential information which must be carefully handled to protect the rights of the persons who received the services.
The records created by local governments may be used by scholars, genealogists, and local historians for a variety of purposes. A detailed discussion of these uses and the multiple nature of local government records would take more space than allowed here. If more information is desired, the American Association of State and Local History has published an excellent book by H.G. Jones (see suggested reading below) which describes in detail the nature and uses of county and municipal government records.
Watching Out for Pitfalls
As with any project you begin, knowing what pitfalls might snag the works can prevent the snags from occurring. Poor planning, lack of cooperation between the local organizations and insufficient space, personnel, or supplies are among the more common difficulties you may encounter. The usual result of such shortcomings are collections that end up in a comer or out-of-the-way place. Eventually, the collection is used in an uncontrolled manner.
You will also want to avoid unintentional misuse on limited resources. This can happen either by acquiring inappropriate materials for the collection or by processing the documents at a level that is too detailed for its users. And while it may seem logical to organize manuscripts or government archives into subject schemes, you'll achieve better results if you follow two cardinal principles of archival arrangement and description: provenance and original order. Using these principles, you arrange records as they are acquired and describe them as organized by the originating office.
A local history resource center may also suffer if the organizers fail to adhere to the developed collection policy. Ensure that the manager of the collection is conscious of its strengths and weaknesses. This individual should know the limits of the organization's resources, keep the defined collecting emphasis in mind and refer potential donors with collections which exceed the scope of the policy to more appropriate organizations. While this may be difficult for many reasons, such a cooperative policy serves the collection in the long run. The manager of the collection should always seek assistance when a question arises about the value of potential materials or the correct procedure to use for processing an accession of records.
Eventually, the staff working with the collection will encounter a document or group of records which requires conservation work. The future usefulness or preservation of the document depends on appropriate measures. The Society of American Archivists has produced an excellent manual on basic conservation methods; however, you may still have questions about procedures. In such instances, consult an expert. There are a number of conservation experts in Ohio who may be able to answer your questions or contact the conservation lab of the Archives/ Library division of the Ohio Historical Society.
These cautionary comments are not meant to discourage local organizations from developing local historical resource centers. To the contrary, such attempts are encouraged. Ohio's local history is a treasure trove with much that is unique and grand; none that is insignificant or common. In order that these riches become better known it is desirable that organizations within the communities of Ohio undertake the effort to collect and make available information reflecting on their community. A well-maintained local historical collection is a source of pride for citizens of the community, and a resource which will enrich the lives of all who come to use it.
John Stewart is assistant state archivist for the Archives Library Division.
Suggested Reading
American Association of State and Local History. Technical Leaflets Series.
#86 "Conserving Local Archival Materials on a Limited Budget." 1975.
#121 "Local Historical Records: Programs for Historical Agencies." 1979.
#131 "Manuscript Collections: Initial Procedures and Policies." 1980.
Association of British Columbia Archivists. A Manual for Small Archives. 1988.
Jones, H.G., Local Government Records: An Introduction to Their Management, Preservation and Use. American Association of State and Local History. 1980.
Society of American Archivists Manual, particularly: "Archives and Manuscripts: Conservation: A Manual on Physical Care and Management." Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler. 1983.
Thompson, Enid T., Local History Collections: A Manual for Librarians. American Association of State and Local History. 1978.
The Local History Notebook is edited and published by the Ohio Historical Society's Local History Office in order to bring useful information to people working in the local history field. The selection of subjects and authors is based on inquiries to the Local History Office and on the editor's determination of issues which are timely in nature and lasting in scope. The reference inserts are copyrighted 1988 the Ohio Historical Society. Reprints are available; please specify volume and number. For further information, contact:
Local History Office
Ohio Historical Society
1982 Velma Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43211
Phone: (614) 297-2340
Toll-free: (800) 858-6878
Fax: (614) 297-2318
oahsm@ohiohistory.org
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