n.an internal set of records kept to document the acquisition of an archival resourceButterfield 1949, 140The perforated control slips are then separated and distributed in three files: a chronological file, an alphabetical file (letters being filed under the name of the writer or recipient other than Jefferson), and an accession file.Wallace 1965, 432–433The third control record, the accession file, is kept in ordinary letter-size filing cabinets. It contains an accession record for each acquisition, recording the date, source, circumstances, and terms of acquisition; brief biographical or historical information about the creators; and a preliminary description of contents, including if possible the general nature of the papers, the time coverage, the geographical areas concerned, and the approximate size of the accession.Roe 2005, 50An accession file is an internal resource for documenting the legal transfer of records to an archives. It contains documents giving proof of custody and information on donors. It should never be given to researchers.Roe 2005, 50Once the records arrive at an archives it is essential to establish an accession file documenting the transfer information. A surprising number of institutions have not maintained this kind of information in the past.Huggard and Jackson 2019, 525Perhaps recognizing this responsibility, survey responses indicate that most transferring institutions provide what documentation they have about deaccessioned collections, including copies of donor/accession files, container lists, and finding aids if the collection had been processed.Meissner 2019, 71The administrative control piece largely involves assembling that documentation into an accession file comprising a number of standards forms and documents that will serve as a central file for all staff on the nature and status of the acquisition: . . .Flynn 2020, 7The accession sheets served as a precursor to the department’s deed of gift, which was not in regular use until 2006. Thus, the existing documentation held in the Special Collections department as of the fall of 2017 was comprised of paper accession files, stored in the department, which included a file on each collection, organized by accession number. Files for collections accessioned from 1977 through 2005 either included an accession sheet, or were empty, with no accession documentation. While in theory all files for collections accessioned from 2006 onward should have a deed of gift, a number of collections from the period from 2006 to 2017 were missing one.
Notes
An accession file is also called an acquisition file or a donor file, among other terms. Such a file is generally for internal use only, though its contents may sometimes be of value to a researcher and the archivist could consider providing supervised access.
