How to Document, Organize and Preserve Your Archival Assets

Create your organization system before visiting the archive.

• Write the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of your system in your research log
• Consistency is key!
• Use the same organization system for both your physical and digital archival assets

Use a File Naming Convention (FNC)

• FNC standardized naming system to give each file a unique name; name reflects the contents of the file; works for all types f files (text, image, audio, etc.)
• Tips for creating a FNC:
  • Abbreviate the archive name, collection name, box #, folder #, etc.
  • Separate words with an underscore (_) and avoid special characters (!, @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, etc.)  
  • Optional: include series and date visited (using a standard notation, e.g. YYYYMMDD)
  • For periodicals: include the title of periodical, year, month, and day
• Example of a FNC: OU_BSFarnum_SeriesLegis_Box2_FolderVotingRecord_Item01
  • Archive name: Oakland University Archives (OU
  • Collection: Billie Sunday Farnum papers (BSFarnum)
  • Series: Legislative Files (Legis)
  • Box 2
  • Folder: Voting Records

Software for batch renaming files

• Bulk Rename Utility (free, Windows)