Written by Erin Kinchen-Addicks 

As the Collection Management library associate for Tulane University Archives, one of my tasks is to tackle the University Archives backlog. Our inaugural project, the UA triage project, was developed to identify, stabilize, and create description and administrative data about University Archives’ most precarious materials. After two years and approximately 1000 hours of hands-on work, the project is finishing up. At the time of writing, we’ve newly identified and stabilized 51 record groups. Those 51 record groups are comprised of 223 containers totaling 208 linear feet that had not previously been assessed, housed, or described in an archival capacity. 

Forty record groups are now ready to be made discoverable by the public. Their finding aids will be published in the coming months so researchers can request them for use. This is a huge achievement in advancing our goals of preservation and access for these materials. The remaining eleven record groups still need further arrangement, description, or other processing work before they can be requested for use. However, because these records groups have been stabilized through our triage project, they are good candidates for access via our unprocessed access policy.  

This policy enables our staff to provide access to unprocessed materials on a case-by-case basis. When patrons request access to unprocessed collections, Tulane University Special Collections (TUSC) staff review the materials carefully. We consider factors such as housing and arrangement status, available description, and cleanliness or conservation needs before determining if the materials can be safely used. Ultimately, not all unprocessed collections can be made accessible upon request, but the policy opens the potential to use many collections that are still in the queue for future processing work.  

After two years of dedication and hard work, we are excited to move into a new era of accessibility for University Archives!