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- Access
- Accession
- Accession number
- Acid-free
- Active records
- Albumen print
- Ambrotype
- Appraisal
- Archives
- Archives box
- Arrangement
- Audit copy
Access
The availability of or permission to use records.
Accession
- The formal acceptance into physical and legal custody of an addition to the holdings of the University Archives.
- The formal acceptance into physical custody of records to the University Records Center. Records accessioned into the University Records Center still remain in the legal custody (ownership) of the creating and depositing office or organization.
- An addition to the holdings of the Archives or University Records Center.
Accession number
A unique number assigned sequentially to an accession for purposes of identification and control within the University Archives or University Records Center, e.g., 90:015.
Acid-free
The chemical characteristic of having a Ph of 7.0 or greater. The Archives uses acid-free paper, file folders, and boxes for preservation of permanent records.
See also archives box.
Active records
Records that continue to be used by the creating administrative unit for the conduct of regular business and are maintained in active office files.
Albumen Print
A photographic print made on paper coated with eggwhite and salt solution and sensitized with silver nitrate solution. The print is made by exposure to sunlight through a negative.
Ambrotype
The name for a glass collodion (gun cotton dissolved in alcohol and ether) positive photographic process patented in 1854 in the United States by James A. Cutting.
Appraisal
The process of determining the value and thus the disposition of records based upon their current administrative, legal, and fiscal use; their evidential and informational (historical) value; their arrangement and condition; their intrinsic value; and their relationship to other records. (SAA)
Archives
- The records created or received and accumulated by an institution or organization in the course of routine business and permanently retained due to their continuing or enduring value.
- A building or area of a building used to house permanent records.
- A government agency, organization, or program responsible for appraising, scheduling, accessioning, preserving, and providing reference service to archival materials.
See also permanent.
Archives box
A cardboard storage container made from acid-free materials intended to house archival materials.
See also records storage box.
Arrangement
The intellectual and physical processes and results of organizing documents in accordance with accepted archival principles, at as many as necessary of the following levels: collection, record group, subgroup, series, subseries, file unit, and item. The processes usually include packing, labeling, and shelving and are primarily intended to achieve physical control over archival holdings. (SAA)
Audit copy
A copy made specifically for use by auditors. This is not usually the record copy.
