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WKU Archives - Student Organization Records


Students and Student organizations

Students and Student organizations are the essence of WKU.  WKU Archives is here to help you save and archive that history and make it available to students in the future.  

Archiving

Archiving is the process of collecting, preserving and storing inactive records permanently in a safe place.  Inactive records are those that are used infrequently, maybe once a year or less.  

By archiving these inactive records at WKU Archives you'll be ensuring that future members have a place to see and use the records to answer questions regarding your group's members, alumni, events, traditions and history.   These records and photographs can be useful in promoting your group and in fundraising efforts.  

Records to Save in WKU Archives

  • Meeting minutes 
  • Constitutions or by-laws
  • Member handbooks
  • Organizational histories, self-studies and reports
  • Annual budgets
  • Publications produced by your organization
  • Correspondence and e-mail
  • Event flyers, posters
  • Research or subject files
  • Photographs, scrapbooks, audio recordings and video
  • Websites and blogs

Records to Use in Your Office

  • Routine financial documents such as receipts for purchases
  • Artifacts like trophies or award plaques
  • Duplicate copies of publications (WKU Archives keeps 2 copies of each)
  • Registrar's reports re: membership eligibility
  • Working papers such as mailing lists, banquet RSVPs

These types of records can be destroyed when no longer useful.  Check with WKU Archives if you have other kinds of documentation that doesn't match these types.  We can help you decide what to do with them.

Ready to Archive?

No. 1 Talk to us!  We're here to help you and will meet with your group to answer any questions you have.  We'll provide:

  • guidelines for packing and inventorying records.
  • archival boxes to keep your materials safe during transfer to WKU Archives.
  • We'll work with you to determine the best way to transfer electronic records - by CD, flash drive or digital dropbox.

No. 2  Keep your membership and faculty advisor(s) in the loop by sharing your archiving plan.  Arrange a visit to WKU Archives to see where and how records are stored and cared for.  Make sure you have the group's approval before transferring records to us.

No. 3  Pack and transfer records to WKU Archives

  • Pick up archival boxes from us and pack your non-electronic records 
    • no hanging files please, keep and reuse in your office
    • create an inventory for each box
    • label each box with your organization name, date and the contact person
    • schedule a time to bring your records to the Kentucky Building
  • Arrange for transfer of electronic records to us.

No. 4 Don't forget where the records are!

  • Make sure incoming officers and members are aware of the archiving plan.  
  • Make transferring records to WKU Archives a routine, do it annually - e.g. at the end of each academic year.
  • Designate an organizational historian to serve as liaison to WKU Archives.

Archiving - What happens in WKU Archives?

  • We arrange your records in acid free folders and boxes to ensure they last as long as possible.  
  • We create a full-text searchable inventory and post it in TopScholar.
  • We enter information in KenCat our online catalog.
  • We digitize selected photographs and documents to be posted in KenCat and TopScholar.
  • We make records available to your members and researchers interested in your organization.
  • We make connections between your organization's records and official WKU records created by the various departments on campus.  WKU Hilltopper Heritage - Student Organizations 

 

A college is not its campus, its walks, its buildings. A college is an ideal, a spirit, a long tradition, a zeal for more life and more knowledge. It is more than its president, more than its board of control, more than its faculty and students of a single year. A college represents the friendships and the achievements of all the known and unknown people who have made it possible, who have given it a distinct stamp, who have extended it material and moral support, who have interpreted its spirit into useful lives.

~Henry Cherry

Records Center BoxPhone: 745-4793

Email: archives@wku.edu

Faculty/Staff:
Suellyn Lathrop, WKU Archivist
3rd floor Kentucky Building

Hours: Monday - Friday 9 am - 4 pm

Closings

Student Organization Collections

Student Organization Collection Inventories

Student Organization Digital Collections  

Student Government Association Digital Collection  

Schedule a Consultation  / Training Session

Records Center Box

 

 


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 Last Modified 1/22/20