n.a record created or received by an organization in the course of its activitiesWarner and Blouin 1976, 322Business records and church records may not simply be the records of businesses and churches but might also contain the history of immigrant communities which they served. In a field where individual personal papers were seldom preserved, often these institutional records are the sole avenue for investigation of immigrant life.Maher 1989, 345Faculty influence thus contributes to the preservation and use of documents, but it often diverts crucial attention from the institutional records program that one would expect to predominate in academic archives. In too many cases, only a few faculty members are interested in studies of their own institution or in pursuing broader topics through institutional records.Weber 1989, 508, fn. 10Access by function provides a means for identifying information based on the intent or purpose with which the organizational or institutional records were created. Identifying the function of the materials answers the question of why the records were created, because corporate bodies come into existence for identifiable purposes.Evans 1990, 21I would also remind those promoting documentation strategies that scheduling the retention and disposition of institutional records was the first and still remains the most successful of documentation strategies.Cook 1996, 141–142These questions beg another: which records creators or “functions” (rather than which records) have the most importance. And its converse: which functions are poorly documented in institutional records and must be complemented by private manuscripts, other archival media, and nonarchival documentation (publications, “gray literature,” oral history, buildings, inscriptions, museum and gallery artifacts, etc.)—none of which are necessarily collected by archivists, or at least by the institutional or corporate archivist.Patkus 1997, 116Another question concerns who should administer archival collections in the first place. Does it make sense to expend energy trying to educate untrained managers and archivists, or would it be better simply to deposit noncurrent records with other institutions which already possess the requisite resources and knowledge for archival management? Much of the literature argues in favor of religious organizations keeping their own records, since there are distinct advantages to maintaining the stuff of corporate memory on-site. At the same time, some have begun to question this practice and have offered new models for preserving institutional records.Greenberg 1998, 405Institutional records may also be identified as corporate or organizational records (e.g., hospital, bank, museum, etc.)Dearstyne 2000a, 2Records generated by an organization or institution such as a government are often called official records or institutional records.Dearstyne 2000a, 65Institutional records may include such things as incorporation documents, minutes, plans, administrative files, and records showing the development of products, advertising, labor relations, advertising etc.Gasero et al. 2011, 22With the ongoing closing of Jewish institutions, important organizational records are disappearing. As individuals and families relocate, their records go with them. Often the institutional records that do remain are held in non-dedicated archival spaces. Significantly, Rabbis own their own records and can take their papers with them when they depart. Given these factors, institutional records are fragmented; without an active field collecting and tracing program these records are likely to remain scattered.Montgomery 2012, 330The convention does not define what it means by “archives,” but the general definition relates to noncurrent public or private institutional records that have enduring historical, legal, or administrative value.Hernandez 2022, 37Internal collecting refers to the retention of institutional records, or those records created by the parent institution. These records preserve institutional identity and memory, support decision-making, and are essential to internal and external researchers.
Notes
While institutional record and organizational record generally appear synonymous in the archival literature, institutional record is the more common usage in academic, government, and religious contexts.
