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History
of The Ohio State University Archives Part II: Turning Points 1.
The OSU Operating Manual, 1969
No institutional archives can succeed without a well-developed mission statement and a statement of authority. Fortunately, Bruce Harding had enough influence and good judgment to have the OSU Archives in the Operating Manual of the University as early as 1969. This document meant that the Archives would not only be the repository for documents of continuing value but that it had authority over the disposition of all records, whether continuing or temporary. Thus, the Archives would play a major role in administering public records laws of the State of Ohio and develop the records retention and disposition schedules required. The Photo Archives, now a collection and service of the University Archives, began before the Archives as a unit of OSU’s Department of Photography and Cinema. In the 1930’s, the Trustees sanctioned the Department to develop a pictorial history of OSU. To that end, the Department photographed buildings, faculty, and grounds of the university. Each year, photographers added to the collection. Finally, in 1972 the photographic archives became part of the University Archives. With more than a million images and a curator, OSU Archives has one of the largest photographic programs of any academic archives. In 1978, the OSU Archives became a department of The Ohio State University Libraries, with the University Archivist reporting to the Director of Libraries. Previously, the Archivist reported first to the Secretary of the Board of Trustees and then to the Vice President for Educational Services. This new reporting line proved to have several advantages. First, it placed the Archives within an administrative unit whose mission was to acquire, preserve, and make available documents pertaining to OSU that have continuing value. To say this another way, there was a greater affinity of mission between the OSU Libraries and the University Archives than with other units of the University. Thus, Archives joined the special collections of the OSU Libraries but kept its separate identity. Particularly important was that Archives held its own budget within the University Libraries. A key reason for this was that the Archives served an administrative role for the University in records management and in support for University offices that the Libraries did not. Because it had its own budget, the Archives avoided the competition within the OSU Libraries for resources. Periodically, the Libraries provided budgetary protection for the Archives in times of fiscal despair and more support in prosperous times. A major budgetary advance happened in 1980 when OSU nearly doubled the operating budget of the Archives and added an assistant archivist. This enabled the department to work more extensively in records management and in outreach and teaching. A turning point in the history of the OSU Archives was the physical move to the Libraries’ Book Depository on Kenny Road. Previous locations for the Archives had been makeshift and inadequate. The first was in an unfinished floor in the stack tower of the Main Library. A brief sojourn in the basement of the law library led to a move to Hitchcock Hall. By 1978, the Archives was in three different places simultaneously: Hitchcock Hall, Brown Hall which housed the Photo Archives, and the basement of St. John Arena, where the Archives had a records center for materials of temporary value. In 1980 all the Archives collections found a home in Converse Hall. However, Converse Hall had drawbacks. Air-conditioning proved inconsistent and inadequate. Archives occupied three floors but the building had no elevator. Finally, there was no opportunity for expansion within the building. In the early 1990’s, opportunity appeared. The Ohio Board of Regents had granted money for OSU to build a storage building for little used library materials. This air-conditioned and roomy facility was to be on the northwest perimeter of the OSU campus. Originally the Archives was not included, but the Archives pointed out that its reading room could serve for patrons who did not wish to wait for deliveries to view materials at the Book Depository. In 1995 the OSU Archives moved into the new building that offered more space and the best preservation conditions. As a department of the OSU Libraries, the Archives had to teach. The Libraries expect and encourage faculty to exhibit, present and teach classes, typically about library materials. Thus, the Archives exhibited, gave slide presentations to classes and groups of alumni, faculty and staff, and encouraged faculty and students to use its collections. A major break-through happened in 2001 when the Archives became part of a for-credit class. A team of faculty, including the University Archivist, developed a course for juniors and seniors, entitled “OSU History and Its World.” This course presented the history of the University and its teaching, research, service, and outreach. At first, the class was experimental but has since become a permanent and annual part of the University curriculum. As early as 1983 the University Archives, with financial support from the Director of OSU Libraries, had undertaken an oral history program. The pilot program involved a professor and a graduate student, who focused on the administration of President Novice Fawcett (1956-1972). The interviews included Fawcett, members of his cabinet, and his critics. In 2001 a broader program redeveloped. The renewed effort uses volunteers, especially from the OSU Retirees Association, to interview faculty and staff with long-term connections to OSU. Interviewees have included former presidents, former directors of athletics, as well as faculty and staff. Each of the interviews has been transcribed, with funding provided by the Director of Libraries initially and then the budget of the Archives. An unusual feature involved a group of volunteers who created DVD’s of several interviews. This format added video as well as audio in an unusual product. All in all, these interviews of ten to twenty per year have enriched the Archives and made possible an understanding of the history of OSU that includes both recollection and reflection. |