n.a collection of personal papers, family papers, or organizational recordsBerner and Bettis 1970, 277If the operation of manuscript collections is to be guided by the two archival concepts regarding provenance and respect for the source that generated the record item (i.e., respect for the integrity of the records), then potentially all the types of nonmanuscript materials listed in the questionnaire should be kept with the manuscript group or record group. However, most manuscript collections are parts of a larger institutional complex such as a library or historical society and often have other special departments or units in which many of these record types will be normally acquired or wanted.Moseley 1973, 216The Schlesinger Library today includes—besides books, periodicals, audiotapes, microfilms, photographs, posters, and memorabilia—over two hundred manuscript collections. About thirty-five of them are from organizations and the rest are individual or family papers, some dating from the eighteenth century; collections increase in number and size from the middle of the nineteenth century.Rendell 1983, 307Archives and manuscript collections are [financially] appraised for four principal reasons: to determine the amount of tax deduction to which a donor is entitled, to determine the lair market value an institution should pay for a collection, to meet the requirements of settling an estate, and for insurance purposes.Burke 1997, 158The need to organize a manuscript collection imposes a burden on the manuscript archivist that can consume hundreds of staff hours, with many implications. In the realm of expertness, the processor becomes an expert in the life and activities of the subject of the collection.NLA 2005Although the literal meaning of manuscript is ‘handwritten,’ the Library’s manuscript collections cover all kinds of unpublished written records and many contain published and pictorial records as well. The kinds of records are extremely diverse: letters, diaries, notebooks, speeches, lectures, drafts of books and articles, research or reference files, cutting books, photographs, drawings, minute books, agenda papers, logbooks, financial records, maps and plans.synonym for manuscript repositoryPhillips 1984, 32Collecting policies can also assist the curator in fulfilling the mission of the manuscript collection, but guidelines for producing such policies unfortunately have not yet been formulated. A method for dealing with the complexity of manuscript collecting should be devised.Burke 1997, 67Over time faculty and curriculum may change, and with them the collecting policies for the manuscript collection, leaving a residue of collections in an area no longer active. The collection then becomes attractive to outsiders who are pursuing research in a field where the university may have significant holdings but little institutional interest.
