Contextualizing Appraisal and Acquisitions within the Archival Program

• Type of Material: Book Chapter
• Authors: Carrie Hintz, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2025
• Publisher: Society of American Archivists
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © Carrie Hintz
• Final Published Version (URL): https://escholarship.org/uc/item/86n0v4kc
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Selecting and Appraising Archives and Manuscripts
• Series Title: Archival Fundamentals, III
• Keywords: archive; library; manuscript
• Research Categories: Library science

Abstract

This chapter explores the ways that acquisitions and appraisal work informs and impacts the ongoing management and stewardship of any archival collection and plays a key role in all aspects of a thoughtful, sustainable archival program. It looks at stewardship of an acquisition as an ongoing set of activities that starts with acquisition and appraisal and that should be based in organizational mission, understood across a repository, and supported through an entire infrastructure of policies, documentation, collaboration, and communication. It reflects on the ongoing relationship between donors and archival repositories, suggests how knowledge about new acquisitions be shared within a repository, explores how acquisitions and appraisal decisions help establish an institution's priorities for ongoing collection management work, and discusses how to assess appraisal decisions and their impact on an organization. The chapter also addresses assessing an institution’s holdings, evaluating acquisition and appraisal decisions, and how to establish a robust reappraisal and deaccessioning program. Throughout, it also considers the value of applying appraisal methodologies to other core functions throughout an archival enterprise.