Appraisal of Current Private Papers and Collection Development

TL;DRAbstract

Appraisal of private papers is the process by which materials are selected for inclusion in the holdings of a manuscripts repository. This process normally is conducted at two levels. The appraiser must first decide whether the collection as a whole belongs in the repository, and must then determine whether specific sub-groups, series, sub-series, or individual items within a collection should be retained. The process of appraisal at the second level is an important and controversial one, and it deserves more study and thought by archivists. This paper will, however, deal chiefly with appraisal decisions at the first level, and especially as those decismons relate to collection development in manuscripts repositories.

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