Vassar College Archives Authority Statement

Recognizing the need for a formal statement of policy, Vassar College hereby adopts the following measures to ensure the preservation and availability of official college records and related materials.

1. The College Archives, a division of the Department of Archives and Special Collections in the Vassar College Libraries, has responsibility for ensuring the preservation of historically significant materials that reflect the college's origins and development and the activities and achievements of its officers, staff, faculty, students, and alumnae/i. It is authorized to appraise, collect, preserve, organize, describe, and make accessible college records and related materials of enduring value.
2. Any records generated or received by the administrative and academic offices of the College in the conduct of business - regardless of the form in which they are created and maintained - are the property of Vassar College.
3. The officer in charge of each administrative or academic office shall determine when records become inactive, that is, when they are no longer accessed on a regular basis for the transaction of current business. The Head of Archives and Special Collections shall be responsible for identifying which records may have permanent value to the College, and shall arrange for their systematic transfer to the Archives, or an appropriate records storage facility. Other materials relating to the College, but not produced by it, may also be considered for inclusion in the Archives.
4. The President of the College, after consulting with the officer in charge of the office of origin and the Head of Archives and Special Collections, has final authority for determining the ultimate disposition of records created or received by the College.
5. The Head of Archives and Special Collections shall consult with the officer in charge of the office of origin to determine whether any restrictions on use should be applied to particular collections of archival records. Unrestricted records will be made available equally to staff, students, faculty, alumni, and outside researchers.
6. Additional statements may be written to explain archival policies in more detail.