Letters or Materials to be Kept for Legal Purposes
These include letters or materials relating to contracts, copyrights, patents, grants, or official documents. Those statutes of limitations are contained in the College's Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual, but before making any retention decision relating to this category of materials, the department representative should consult with the College Counsel. Also included are letters or materials which might be needed in court to disprove liability or to affirm the rights of the College. They should be retained for the applicable statute of limitations. At the time that these materials become of historical interest only, they may be sent to the College Archives after consultation with the College Counsel and the College Archivist. Include an explanation of the materials' importance.
Letters or Reports Establishing or Explaining Departmental Policy
Departmental discretion determines the length of time these are retained. At the time that they become of historical interest only, they may be sent to the College Archives with an explanation of their importance. In the case of reports or publications, only final copies (not draft versions) need to be sent to the College Archives.
Miscellaneous Correspondence
Letters of general inquiry and replies that complete a cycle and require no further action or letters requesting specific action which have no value after that action has been taken or a reply given should be discarded after a year. Unimportant letters or notes requiring no follow-up as well as duplicate copies of general correspondence or internal memoranda can be discarded within thirty days. Unsolicited inquiries about jobs can be discarded immediately unless the department has an ongoing need for certain types of temporary employees.
Appointment Books, Office Logs
These may be retained at departmental discretion for a recommended period of two years and then discarded.
Reports or Publications that Originate with the Department
If the department determines that these may have some historical value in the future, one copy at the time of publication should be sent to the College Archives. The College Archives should be included on the mailing list for one copy of newsletters, etc. published by the department.
Grant-related Papers
The Federal govenrment requires that "financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other records pertinent to an award shall be retained for a period of three years from the date of submission of the final
expenditure report or, for awards that are renewed quarterly or annually, from the date of the
submission of the quarterly or annual financial report, as authorized by the Federal awarding agency.
The only exceptions are the following:
Search Materials
These should be retained by the department for two years and then discarded (unless they need to be retained for legal purposes). Any questions regarding the need for retention should be directed to the College Counsel.
Student Papers, Including Senior Theses, and Papers and Tests Not Retrieved
These may be discarded at the end of the semester following the course.
M.A. Theses
There is no legal requirement that M.A. theses be retained at the College or in the department, although many departments do retain copies. Pending a decision by Graduate Council on the disposition of M.A. theses, each department should handle them as seems appropriate.
Departmental Graduate Student Files
Seminar evaluations and correspondence with or about a graduate student should be retained by the department until the student graduates, then materials that should be included in that student's permanent record should be sent to the GSAS office. The GSAS office retains this official student folder for ten years following graduation after which the folders are sent to the College Archives.
Student Recommendation Files
These should be retained by the individual faculty member at his or her discretion. They should be discarded at the time of the faculty member's decease.
Personnel Files
Departments currently have different practices regarding personnel records for members of the department. Some, indeed, have a file for everyone who has taught in the department for the past fifty years; others prune their records regularly. Because the Provost's Office has the official and permanent personnel files for faculty, departments need not keep retain any papers on faculty members, current or past, at all. Departments are urged to keep their files on personnel to a minimum and in secure files (both paper files and electronic ones). Material that should be retained in the permanent file of current members of the faculty may be sent to the Provost's Office. Records of former faculty members should also be sent to the Provost's Office if they appear to have permanent value. The Provost's Office regularly sends inactive faculty files to the College Archives.
Chairman's Files
Departments currently have different practices regarding files which are kept by the chair and passed along from chair to chair. Chairs are urged to keep personnel-related materials to a minimum and consult, when needed, records in the Office of the Provost. Confidential documents in the chair's keeping--whether paper-based or electronic--should be secure.
Departments should consider the College Archives an appropriate repository for materials that originate with their offices, are unique to their offices, and are of historical interest to Bryn Mawr College. Examples of materials appropriate for the College Archives include:
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Maintained by the Office of the Provost.
Posted Summer 2001.