GENERAL INTRODUCTION
to University Records (UAA and ACC)
The University of Alaska Anchorage and Anchorage Community College have played a central role in the cultural, intellectual, and social development of Anchorage and south central Alaska. Their records are a significant aspect of the documentation of the role and impact of higher education in this part of the state. From the inception of the archives and manuscripts program at UAA (1979), the staff of the Archives and Special Collections Department has been concerned with the preservation of the records of the two institutions.
The basic task of any institutional archives is to document the history, development, and operation of that institution. The UAA archives staff seeks to identify and collect key records and preserve them for historical research use. These key files include those relating to policy making; records of the highest administrative authorities and offices, major outreach units, and chief academic and research units; documentation of basic institutional operations and budgets; legal records; and copies of all publications. Generally speaking, the most important and greatest volume of archival records emanates from the highest administrative offices of the institution.
The UAA archives institutional records program was more closely defined and limited in 1989. Acquisition efforts were prioritized and restricted to five high level offices (see BACKGROUND section below). While these basic offices were the focus of acquisition efforts, the staff also on occasion accepted other office records that were significant or were in danger of loss. Often, however, space considerations limited the archives staff's ability to accept acquisitions or transfers of UAA records.
The bulk of the university and college records in the UAA Archives and Manuscripts Department are from the offices of the University of Alaska Anchorage. They were acquired from the offices of origin generally either by solicitation or contacts from the office. Many of these records are only partially processed. However, many are nonetheless accessible because they have been placed in a usable order and an inventory has been created. In most cases, the basic conservation work (acid free folders, removal of staples, etc.) remains to be accomplished. This "use processing" was designed to make the most records available for use as quickly as possible. As additional records are processed and described, they will be added to one of the groups of records listed below.
Institutional offices wishing to offer records to, or place records in, the archives should contact the archivist before transmitting them. The archives can take only non curerent, permanent records. The archives does not exist to house temporary, non archival records for administrative offices nor does it exist to provide temporary housing for records for administrative offices.
In general, archival records do not leave the UAA Archives and Special Collections Department. However, on rare occasions, university offices from which the records originated may require use of their files. Whenever possible, copies will be provided rather the original record. Files which leave the custody of the department may be mishandled, damaged, or lost. The archives discourages transfers of files of original records back to the offices of origin.