Archival Appraisal Policy Report: The Maryland State Archives

Kayla Wilson

LIS 640
 Before the Maryland State Archives existed in its current iteration, it existed as

the Hall of Records. The Hall of Records and the Hall of Records Commission were

formed in 1935, and “charged with the collection, custody, and preservation of the

official records, documents, and publications of the state” (“History of the archives'

building”, 2020, para. 1). In 1984, there was a reorganization that moved the Hall of

Records Commission into a more advisory role, as well as creating what is now known

as the Maryland State Archives (“History of the archives' building”, 2020, para. 1).

However, the Hall of Records Commission is not the only Commission associated with

the Archives. The reorganization of 1984 also added the Commission on Artistic

Property and the Land Office under the umbrella of the Maryland State Archives

(Maryland State Archives, Feb 10, 2023, para. 1). The Maryland State Archives is

currently located in Annapolis, Maryland with an additional Baltimore City location

specifically for the records dealing with the state’s capitol. This paper will look at the

appraisal, retention, and disposal policies used by the Maryland State Archives, and

then provide suggestions for further strengthening their processes and how successful

changes would be monitored. While there is a lot of information about retention and

disposal that is freely available online via the Archives’ records management, it seems

that there is no official appraisal policy as per Kathryn Baringer (personal

communication, March 15, 2023) who is currently the Director of Appraisal and

Description at the Maryland State Archives.

Appraisal, Retention, and Disposal

The Maryland State Archives is the main central repository for all Maryland

government records of permanent value in various formats including manuscript, print,

and electronic formats. The types of records the Archives collects include “colonial and

State executive, legislative and judicial records; county court, land and probate records;

reports and publications of State, county and municipal governments; business records;

records of religious bodies; and special collections of maps, newspapers, photographs,

and private papers” (Maryland State Archives, Feb 10, 2023, para. 2). The age range of

these records goes back to the founding of the Maryland Colony in 1634, which explains

why they continue to have colonial executive records. The quality and quantity of these

records is jointly determined by the Division and State Archivist, as well as the retention

and disposal schedules (State Government Articles, §10-609, 2017).

However, there are very few details describing how the appraisal process

actually works within the Maryland State Archives other than the decision being based

on government records of permanent value. The Society of American Archivists (2023)

explains that the basis of appraisal decisions may include a number of factors, including

the records’ provenance and content, their authenticity and reliability, their order and

completeness, their condition and costs to preserve them, and their intrinsic value.

These factors seem to be absent from the Maryland State Archives appraisal

documentation, even though they may or may not be present in the actual process. This

is especially interesting considering the special collections section of what the Archive

collects, which includes maps, newspapers, photographs and private papers that

someone would not necessarily expect to hold permanent value to the government. It

would be enlightening to see how those decisions are narrowed down, what is actually

kept versus what ends up getting tossed, and why.

 Retention and disposal schedules are the backbone of the Maryland State

Archives. Once a record is appraised, accessioned, and stored, eventually it might need

to be disposed of. For government records, this often happens after a certain period of

time due to laws and regulations that affect the records, which is denoted by retention

and disposal schedules. Sometimes, this includes a digitization plan for older records

where the record is digitized and then the physical copy is disposed of (Hunter, 2020).

According to the State Government Articles (2010) that cover Retention and Disposal

Schedules, these schedules exist to: protect records considered essential to the

continuing operation of government; guarantee the integrity and preservation of

permanent records; ensure the legal admissibility of the permanent record; secure the

rights and privileges of citizens; assure public access to the records of government;

promote agency legal and fiscal accountability; and provide a means to document

agency administrative history. These schedules are required by Maryland law to be

maintained and updated, even though that can sometimes fall by the wayside or until

the last possible moment within the required timeline.

Policy Evaluation

Considering that there is no official Appraisal Policy for the Maryland State

Archives, this evaluation can only cover perceived processes from reading their website

and retention and disposal schedules. The lack of an official policy is certainly one

weakness of the Maryland State Archives. Having official policies in place that can be

easily referenced and accessed can help keep institutions, agencies, and people safe

from disruption and malintent. This is especially true considering the social and societal

roles that archives play (Nesmith, 2011). Having no official policy while having so many
regulations for the retention and disposal schedules seems like an oversight. It is

possible that the higher ups at the Archives believe that the current laws and regulations

are enough protection from unwanted attention when it comes to the scrutiny of their

policies (or lack of policies). While it may not have any repercussions currently, that

does not mean that it won’t cause issues in the future. A written policy would also help

future proof the Maryland State Archives by ensuring consistency when a State

Archivist retires or moves on from the position.

Policy Improvement

There are a few ways to improve upon the appraisal process for the Maryland

State Archives. The most obvious improvement would be a greater visibility and

accessibility of the appraisal process. Going along with this train of thought, the first

step in that process would be defining or giving more specific guidance as to what

determines permanent value to the government, especially when it comes to the less

obvious types of records that the Archives deals with. This would preferably happen via

some kind of written policy or statement which would allow for the Archives staff to

better focus their collecting energy (Hunter, 2020).

A good example of a similar type of government agency that has specific

appraisal policies is the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). While

NARA is an archive on a much larger scale than the Maryland State Archives, they both

do the same core job, keeping government records of value. NARA policy 1571 is all

about archival standards, including storage, air quality, building and stack design, and

finally the appraisal of NARA holdings. Supplement 3 (2023) of this policy goes into

detail about how they determine the significance of their holdings, and even provides an
easy to follow worksheet to help with the appraisal process. The Maryland State

Archives could use some of NARA’s policies to help shape their own written policies,

even if it was just a starting point.

The Archives should develop their own Appraisal Policy (regardless of who or

what they decide to base it on) which should then be made available to Archives staff

and the public. It would make the most sense to have it available in the same place as

their other record management policies, such as the retention and disposal schedules.

Having an available policy helps ensure continuity within the record lifecycle and shows

transparency with their processes and decision-making if any issues were to arise such

as lawsuits or investigations (Hunter, 2020). It is also important to: include a variety of

viewpoints on the team that creates this policy, accept feedback, and potentially rewrite

the policy until it can be fully approved.

Ensuring that all Agency retention and disposal schedules are completely up to

date would also benefit the Archives, even though it is the job of each Agency to

maintain their schedules. Current guidance is that Agencies should update their

schedules at least once every two years (State Government Article, §§91007—91012,

and 10632, 2010). Yearly updates or affirmations of current schedules would be even

more beneficial for record management, both within the Maryland State Government

Agencies and the Archives. Cooperation between government agencies is a key

component of proper record management, and things can get complicated and messy if

not everyone is on the same page. Proper management of retention schedules also

prevents wasting resources on records that are no longer needed or deemed valuable

(Maryland State Archives, Feb 27, 2023).

 Evaluating Policy Success

As with any new project, initiative, or policy, it is important to be able to measure

the successes and failures. In the case of implementing an official appraisal policy and

making it available to the public, there are a few ways that success can be measured.

The first way would be to track access to the policy. Digital access to the policy can be

determined using mundane website tracking data. Physical copies of this policy should

also be available in the research rooms for transparency. Another way to determine the

success of the written policy would be to keep track of the resources expended for the

appraisal process. In order for this type of evaluation to work, there would have to be

resource data from before the policy was implemented as well. Data concerning the use

of resources can be compared to see what kind of effect the policy has had. Emails and

inquiries about or related to the appraisal policy can also be tracked for further data

points.

Tracking success for the second recommendation of yearly retention and

disposal schedule updates would require significant amounts of communication

between state agencies and the Maryland State Archives. However, due to the nature of

the collaboration, both the Archives and existing state agencies would be able to track

the progress, success, and drawbacks of moving to a yearly updated or confirmed

retention and disposal schedule. Success for this initiative could be tracked via

resources like the appraisal policy, but with a greater focus on streamlining the agency’s

record management including which records are sent to the Maryland State Archives

and how they get there. Success might look different to the various people involved with
these projects. It is important to ask for feedback from the people and agencies involved

in order to come to a fully successful conclusion.

Conclusion

Overall, it was disappointing to discover that the Maryland State Archives does

not currently have an official appraisal policy in place. This leaves the Archives open to

future (and possibly current) problems with staff turnover, legal issues, and more. An

appraisal policy should be written in line with the Archives mission, resources, and

retention and disposal schedules. This can be accomplished using another state or

federal agency as a guide, such as NARA, or built from the ground up. Regardless of

how it is done, the Maryland State Archives needs an appraisal policy to protect the

records, staff, and the very foundation of their institution.

 References

History of the archives' building. (2020, June 24th). Maryland State Archives. Retrieved

March 15th, 2023 from https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/intromsa/html/msahist.html

Hunter, Gregory. (2020). Developing and Maintaining Practical Archives : A How-To-Do-

It Manual: Vol. Third edition. ALA Neal-Schuman.

Maryland State Archives. (2023, February 10). State archives. Maryland Manual On-

line. Retrieved March 15th, 2023 from

https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/25ind/html/05arcf.html

Maryland State Archives. (2023, February 27th). Retention Schedules. Records

Management Guidance. Retrieved March 15th, 2023 from

https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/intromsa/html/record_mgmt1/toc.html

National Archives and Records Administration. (2023, January 17). NARA Policy 1571,

Supplement 3. https://www.archives.gov/files/foia/1571-archival-storage-

standards-full-version.pdf

Nesmith, Tom. (2011). Documenting appraisal as a societal-archival process: Theory,

practice and ethics in the wake of Helen Willa Samuels. Controlling the past:

Documenting society and institutions. Essays in honor of Helen Willa Samuels.

31-50.

Society of American Archivists. (2023). Appraisal. Dictionary of Archives Terminology.

https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/appraisal.html

State Government Article, §10-609, Annotated Code of Maryland (2017).

https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/intromsa/html/record_mgmt1/pdf/sg_title10_608-

611_1.pdf
State Government Article, §§91007—91012, and 10632, Annotated Code of Maryland

(2010). https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/intromsa/html/reg02.pdf