Accessioning Special Media Records
- Cartographic (Maps, Architectural & Engineering Drawings, Aerial Photography)
- Motion Pictures (Movies)
- Still Pictures (Photographs)
Cartographics
When submitting permanent maps and charts, architectural and engineering drawings, or aerial photography to the National Archives for accessioning, please include the following information:
- Volume and date span of the records
- Format, especially if the accession includes aerial photography
- Details on the type of photography. Are they negatives or prints?
- Background and context of the series, with as detailed of a description as possible
- Lists of any finding aids/indexes associated with the records
Please email Peter Brauer at peter.brauer@nara.gov with any cartographic accessioning questions.
Motion Pictures
When submitting permanent motion picture records to the National Archives for accessioning, please include the following information:
- What is the volume and date span of the records
- Please separate series descriptions for video collections
- Differentiate between a collection of videos or a few videos within a series of other special media
- Are they analog or digital?
- What is the exact format of the material
- Lists of any finding aids/indexes associated with the records
- Are there finding aids/indexes/associated databases?
- Break them out as a separate item
Still Pictures
When submitting permanent still picture records to the National Archives for accessioning, please include the following information:
- Indicate if photography is ANALOG or DIGITAL
- If analog, are they color or black and white?
- What are the dominant analog formats present (e.g., photographic prints, contact sheets, negatives, slides)?
- What is the date span and volume?
- What is the level of captioning (e.g., item captions, folder annotations, formal index or shelf list?
- Are they in hard copy or electronic format)?
- If digital, are they scanned or born digital?
- What are the dominant digital image file formats (e.g., JPEG, TIFF)?
- Are there existing finding aids for the images?
- Is the finding aid a database?
- Does it contain item-level entries (e.g., image-by-image data) or group-level entries (photo assignment-by-photo assignment data)?
- What is the present format of the database (e.g., Excel, Access)?
- Provide a description. Are the item level descriptions/captions embedded in the image headers of the digital photographs?
- Are there are posters listed in the schedule?
- If so, break them out separately with a good description
Updated February 12, 2013
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