A Manual for Documentation Planning in New York State
Welcome to this brief summary of "A Manual for Documentation Planning in New York State." The manual presents the methodology for people and organizations that wish to undertake statewide or regional documentation planning to help ensure the creation of a more comprehensive, balanced, and equitable record of all New York’s peoples and their history.
This manual is designed for large planning projects that involve multiple repositories on a statewide or regional basis. For a comprehensive guide to the documentation process intended for projects that usually involve a single repository and the community or groups it serves in its area, see "Documentation Basics: A Guide to Planning and Managing Documentation Projects."
This brief synopsis will give you an overview of the main points. The full version describes each step is in more detail, provides examples of various kinds of documentation projects, and links to related documents.
This manual is one of the products resulting from an effort of the New York State Archives and the New York State Historical Records Advisory Board to develop statewide plans for the documentation of under-documented groups and topics throughout the state.
As part of this project, the State Archives:
- developed the documentation planning methodology outlined in this manual
- tested it in three areas: mental health, environmental affairs, and Latino/Hispanic history and culture.
- raised awareness of the importance of the records created or held by the test groups
- supported projects that are creating a more complete and balanced archival record.
This project was funded in part by a major grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Table of Contents
- Who is the manual for?
- Why undertake documentation planning?
- What Is Documentation Planning?
- Three premises of documentation planning
- Three products of documentation planning
- Scope of documentation planning
- Active involvement of stakeholder communities
- Documentation Planning Method — A Step by Step Guide
- Conclusion and Where to Get Help
Who is the manual for?
Records holders
- archivists, librarians, administrators, and others who work with repositories
- archives, libraries, historical societies, community organizations, museums, government agencies, corporations, colleges, and universities that collect historically valuable records and make them accessible to the public for research.
Records creators (people and organizations)
- who are engaged with the topic to be documented
- who generate records in the course of their activities
Records users
- individuals who need documentation for their research
- individuals who want to ensure the survival of critical information related to the topic.
