n.a record created or received by an organization in the course of its activitiesBrooks 1940, 228Sometimes copies go to different offices and there become operating records, that is, further entries are made upon them and each copy becomes a formal record of an operation. In such cases, of course, they cease to be true duplicates, even though they may bear the same form numbers or titles.Ullman 1942, 30The operating records are those created in the establishing and functioning of the organization and include the records of personnel, rate of work, finance, equipment and supplies, and other material pertaining directly to the operations of the organization.Buck 1947, 14“Noncurrent Records of the United Nations Organization and its Various Affiliated Bodies.” There is already a considerable bulk of such records, including those of the San Francisco conference and of the United Nations Preparatory Commission. Obviously their preservation is a proper function of the United Nations, and the defense of their integrity requires that they be kept apart from current operating records.Lethbridge 1953b, 189The Oneida Historical Society at Utica, N. Y., has acquired most of the operating records of the Julliard Textile Mills, formerly the New York Mills at Utica. The records cover plant operations from about 1815 to 1915 and consist of 185 manuscript volumes.Topham 1954, 111The records required to have service installed, render the service, and bill for it are only small parts of what we call “operating records.”Fishbein 1970, 178Fewer rules guide archivists in appraising other administrative and operating records. Most of these classes fall into the ‘informational’ category as defined by Schellenberg.Stender and Walker 1974, 526Another major task was the salvaging of vital records. Several items of great importance were removed from the center on July 12. First were the computer tapes that serve as an index to a major segment of the center's holdings. Simultaneously, plans were made for off-site computer operations so that the center could resume at least some reference activity as soon as possible. Valuable operating records of the center were removed at the same time.Davis 1992, 459–460There have been apparently few uses by mining historians of the rich variety of record types such as exist in the Day collections. Ronald Brown, in Hard Rock Miners, cited employee time slips of the BOB Mining and Milling Company of New Mexico (for discussions of wage stability) and leases and minute books (for property holdings and development). More recently, Clark Spence, in The Conrey Placer Mining Company, used among other records accounting journals (for property purchases, maintenance costs, and capital investments), expense accounts (for freight and equipment costs), sales orders (for equipment and conditions of shipment), specifications books (for quality and design of equipment), and deeds and patent notices (for acquisition of claims). ¶ Clearly, past research use of similar material provided little guidance for appraisal decisions—but then, no such large and comprehensive collection of mining corporation operating records has heretofore been available in a repository.
