News Items of Interest to ARMS

B134 Memorial Library
728 State Street
Madison, WI 53706-1494
Phone (608) 262-5629
FAX (608) 265-2754
E-mail:University Archives

Last updated:
October 4, 2001.

Originally published:
October 2001

Fall 2001

Records Management

Web sites and Records

New ARMS Bulletin Coming Soon

Deadlines and Campus Records Review Group

Records Schedules

Archives

Exhibit to celebrate Archives Week, October 20-27, 2001

This year's theme is Wisconsin Family History: Digging Our Roots, and will focus on the importance of primary historical records in genealogy and family history research.

The upcoming exhibit is part of Archives Week, a statewide celebration of the importance of historical documents. It will be displayed in the reading room of UW-Madison Archives in Memorial Library starting the beginning of Archives Week on October 20, 2001.

The exhibit explains primary and secondary source material available for genealogy and family history research at UW-Madison Archives. Typical information available about students and faculty will be highlighted. Also featured will be material about UW alumna Eudora Welty and former faculty
member Aldo Leopold.

The sources featured in the exhibit are Badger yearbooks, student scrapbooks, student directories, alumni directories, commencement registers, UW memorabilia, faculty employment cards, UW budgets, and biographical clippings.

Admission to the exhibit is free and open during the normal operating hours of the Archives:M-F 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. The Archives is located in Room B134, Memorial Library, 728 State St., Madison.

Mary Alys Speer scrapbook, Series 20/0/2 #27. A native of Waterloo, IN, she was a student majoring in physical education in 1924-25.

Robert Gard Collection

The UW Archives has completed processing the Robert Gard Papers. This project took three summers and was funded by the Robert Gard Foundation in conjunction with the Wisconsin Arts Council and the Northern Lakes Center for the Arts.

Robert Gard was an Agricultural Extension Professor of Education and Art Education, as well as Director of the Wisconsin Idea Theatre, and the Wisconsin Rural Writers Association. Dating from 1948-1977, the collection of over seventy cubic feet includes plays, novels, and manuscripts by Gard and other Wisconsin and regional writers, as well as a a wide variety of material on local, regional and state theatres, and arts organizations, and Wisconsin and University history and lore. The extensive correspondence file includes letters to and from Jerry Apps, John Charles Cooper, August Derleth, Warren Knowles, Glenn Pound, David Stevens, and others. The collection also features audio materials and photographs, as well as documents.

The Robert Gard Collection is an important resource for historians of literature, theatre, the arts, the state of Wisconsin and the University. Held in the Archives' Steenbock Library facility, the collection is open to the public by appointment.

Contact Bernard Schermetzler: bschermetzler@library.wisc.edu or phone (608)262-0428.

Cataloging Update

Cathy Jacob, Program Assistant, is in the process of cataloging the holdings and entering these records into MadCat, the online library catalog for the University. It is hoped that this project will allow greater patron access to the Archives' holdings. Currently, the best way to conduct research in the Archives is to utilize one of the many finding aids available, and/or to consult with the Archives staff. Due to the staffing constraints of the Archives, the cataloging project is not expected to be completed for quite some time. However, new records are available to researchers as soon as they are entered, so doing a search in MadCat now will bring up all of the things that have so far been entered. To find the records in MadCat, search by:

Basic Search

Author browse
- University of Wisconsin Madison Archives (for all records)
- Author name, last name first
- University of Wisconsin Dept. name (records prior to 1971)
- University of Wisconsin--Madison Dept. name (post-1971)
Journal Title (omit initial articles)
Keyword: name of your topic or department or person

The following records groups have been cataloged:

Record Group 1: Board of Regents
Record Group 4: Chancellors and Presidents
Record Group 5: Faculty Governance
Record Group 6: Graduate School
Record Group 8: College of Engineering
Record Group 24: Business Service
Record Group 26: Wisconsin Union
Record Group 29: News Service
Record Group 31: Industrial Relations Research Association
Record Group 33: State Geologist
Record Group 34: Forest Products Laboratory
Record Group 42: UW Colleges (formerly called UW Centers)
Record Group 53: Recreational Sports
Record Group 54: Outreach Development

The following record groups are partially cataloged:

Record Group 7: College of Letters & Science, Dean's Office through 7/9 Dept. of Economics
Record Group 20: Student Life
Record Group 40: UW System

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Records Management

Web sites and Records

The State Web Administrators Group, SWAG, recently met to discuss records retention issues and the management of Web sites. SWAG members are becoming concerned about the types of documentation being placed on Web sites and how long they are responsible for keeping that material available. While no concrete recommendations came from the meeting, several important questions were raised. Who is responsible for the content of a Web site? Does the site contain records? If so, do they represent official records for the agency? Is anyone capturing the web site? If so, how is this being done? If the records on the site have long term retention needs, what is the most suitable way to store and maintain those records? These questions are relevant for University web sites as well. ARMS anticipates launching a campus survey on web sites and records in the near future.

New ARMS Bulletin Coming Soon

Many campus departments are asking whether CDs are appropriate for the storage of records. This Best Practices documents will discuss the issues surrounding the use of this storage medium and provide recommendations to campus departments.

ARMA Chapter to feature Disaster Preparedness

The Madison Chapter of ARMA will discuss Disaster Preparedness at their meeting on October 9. For more information, see the chapter site.

Deadlines and Campus Records Review Group

The next deadline for submitting RDAs for approval is December 3, 2001. Please note that in order to ensure consideration at the next Campus Records Review Group meeting, the final signed copies of RDAs need to be received by this date. Since the final cover pages originate with ARMS and must be signed and returned to our office, please send drafts to us as soon as possible.

Records Schedules

Campus offices are reminded of the importance of having an up-to-date records retention schedule. The schedule provides a way to document a department's informational resources and permit their orderly management and disposition (including preservation of those items having long term or research value to the University). If you have questions about records scheduling, please contact our office at 262-3284 or via email recmgmt@library.wisc.edu.

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