The following guide (courtesy of Tiffany Nixon, Archivist, Roundabout Theatre Company) may be used to interview theatre staff and conduct the materials survey that will constitute a preliminary archives assessment. Detailed notes will support a Preliminary Assessment report.
- What materials are present?
- Programs/playbills
- Posters
- Artwork
- Scripts
- Bibles/stage manager compilations
- Press/publicity
- Clippings
- Media (photographs, video, audio)
- Institutional (financial, board-related, departmental, fundraisers)
- Correspondence
- Building leases, plans, moves, etc.
- Who stewards these materials, and why?
- Permanent staff
- Seasonal/temporary staff
- Board members
- Interns
- Volunteers
- What materials are not present, and why?
- Located off-site
- Located in a staff member or board member’s house or office
- Located in artistic collaborator’s house or office
- Are there regularly scheduled purges? Who determines timing and materials?
- How are materials created?
- Request a flowchart of document creation by department—who does what?
- Born digital—in-house (development, marketing, management, artistic)
- Born digital—farmed out (press, advertising, marketing)
- Legacy paper documents (articles of incorporation, annual reports, etc.)
- What databases are in use? (Word, Excel, Access, Filemaker)
- How are materials maintained?
- Are specific filing and labeling systems uniform or unique by department?
- Are there specific servers and/or electronic backup? Who maintains them?
- Are materials purged from computers or servers? Who does this?
- What general records management practices exist?
- Is there a records management process in place? Who regulates and maintains it?
- Is there a retention schedule? Can it be amended to include archives?
- How are the legal concerns of the materials managed?
- Does the theatre own or control all the materials it keeps? If not, who does?
- Are licensing processes and rights for the holdings clearly outlined?
- Is documentation of deeds, gifts, or other donation materials accessibly organized?
- How are materials stored?
- In filing cabinets, offices, basement storage, loft areas—Are they accessible?
- On shelving units—What type of shelving?
- In computers—What filing, naming conventions are in place? Who determines?
- Off-site storage—How often consulted, supervised, or added to?
- What environmental factors affect the materials?
- Air quality, susceptibility to water damage, fire, rodent/bug, other lasting damages
- Are best practices in place, or is the integrity of the holdings at risk?
- Is the preservation of any materials immediately threatened?
- What materials are in immediate need of preservation?
- What resources are in place to arrange preservation/conservation?
- What supplies are used or needed to store materials?
- What materials are currently used to house media, paper, and other documents?
- Is there a funding allotment for additional/supplemental/archival supplies?
- Who would be in charge of ordering and supervising use of dedicated supplies?
- What are the space limitations?
- Is there space in the current location to create an archive? Who maintains it?
- Determine square footage, access, environmental controls, etc.
- What short-term goals have been articulated for the archives?
- Better organization, access to materials
- Database construction (Filemaker Pro, Archivist Toolkit, Excel, or other)
- Recovery of missing/rare/unique materials
- Initial preservation of aging materials (scripts, photographs, manuscripts)
- Online or small-scale exhibits
- Compilation for historic/legacy work (time-lines, articles, company bio, etc.)
- What long-term goals have been articulated for the archives?
- Public access of legacy documents or curated collections from legacy documents
- Permanent in-house archives or arrangement for off-site archives with regular deposits
- Initiation of part-time or full-time archivist or project archivist position
- Oral history recording and access
- Videotaping productions and access
- Retention schedule creation and implementation with staff monitoring
- Publication of history (milestone celebrations, fundraisers, general press or scholarship)
- Complex preservation of aging materials (working with conservators/specialists)
- Initiation of retention of born-digital documents (archiving email, computer files, etc.)