Collection Processing: Birds of a Feather, Ducks in a Row
Here’s where things get complicated.
Once you’ve identified what your collection contains, you begin the exciting and terrifying process of collection arrangement. This means that you – whether you feel prepared to do so or not – will be deciding how you’re going to organize your materials. There may have been chaos, but now you’ll bring order to it in the manner you so choose. You will take collections that look like this:
And you will make them look like this:
The best way to do this is to think about birds.
Archival arrangement corresponds nicely with the phrase “Birds of a feather flock together”; or more simply, “Like finds like.” I apologize for trotting out a tired, obvious metaphor because it’s not very creative. But it’s a useful way to conceptualize how to arrange your collections based on inherent similarities between its contents.
In the majority of cases, archivists will arrange their materials in one of two ways. Arrangement by format groups items together by the physical (or digital) form(s) they take. Arrangement by function groups items together based on their purpose, topic, or use (regardless of their physical characteristics). I think functional arrangement is preferable, personally. It prioritizes the subject of the collection and its materials, and that’s often a huge benefit to a researcher later on.
Either way, these kind of arrangements are useful for both physical and intellectual reasons. Physically, it often maximizes storage capacity, minimizes wasted space, and offers additional protection to your materials. Intellectually, it creates logical classifications out of your materials. The collection in question may have a diverse range of size, shape, and function. However, if individual items are related to each other in some way, they should be grouped together conceptually (even if you don’t store them together).
Archivists call these kinds of conceptual groupings Series.
An archival series, basically, is a union of items that are related formally, functionally, or by subject. They exist inside a collection, and each collection will usually have more than one series. This is born out of the archivist’s desire to make arrangement and research more logical and efficient. Grouping like things together allows us to explore the various facets of the collection in an orderly, logical way. It’s far better than having individual items meticulously preserved but in no particular order.
Take my current collection-in-process, for example. Every item pertains to Packard Motor Car Company history, but there’s a huge amount of diversity in what aspects of said history are presented through them. There are close to one hundred individual items contained within the collection as a whole – enough to fill three flatboxes and three storage cartons. But in reviewing each item while making my inventory list, I began to see similarities between them. I kept finding physically-different items that pertained to the same subject, or multiple copies of a certain publication, or materials that represented a particular concept. Eventually I was able to identify the subjects and concepts that these items had in common.
From there, I created the following series.
CORRESPONDENCE: This series is full of letters, bills of sale, and photographs taken by Packard enthusiasts sharing their excitement (and sometimes automobiles) with other like-minded people. These items are more personal in nature, and embody the human element of Packard. It’s probably my favorite for that reason.
EXECUTIVE: This series is the smallest. It features a collection of mail-away workbooks that taught Packard’s salesmen a variety of sales techniques for them to use in the showroom. Packard’s commitment to cutting-edge performance evidently didn’t stop with their automobiles. Their sales representatives were put through their paces as well, and encouraged to represent their company and their product in the most efficient, effective ways possible. It’s hard not to admire that.
PROMOTIONAL: The largest and most colorful series in the collection, the Promotional series shows off the best marketing Packard had to offer. It’s full of full-size booklets, mailers, pamphlets, and newsletters that were either published by Packard directly, or were featured in publications like The Saturday Evening Post. Some of the material is simply informational and geared towards sharing Packard’s accomplishments on and off the road. Others are doing their best to sell both a product and an image. Whatever the priority, they’re breathtaking.
TECHNICAL: Mechanically-minded researchers rejoice! This series is nothing but blueprints, diagrams, and shop manuals. If it helped the mechanic or the driver keep the car in tip-top shape, it’s enjoying its new home here.
From series – to what?
Arranging your materials is probably the most important aspect of collection management. Once you have an intellectual or conceptual arrangement in mind, you’ll be able to plan for the rehousing process. This will enable you to keep them physically safe and allow researchers to explore them in a clear, rational manner. Both of these things prolong the life of your materials, making their contents available to both the present and the future. You can’t ask for more than that.
Do you have original Packard documents, photographs, publications, or memorabilia that might be of value to the Packard Proving Grounds Library and Archives? Contact the site for information about our collection focus and donation policies.
