Describing Archival Material

For the purposes of tax certification, archival material refers to fonds, archives, or collections that contain any of the following: textual records, graphic materials, cartographic materials, architectural and technical drawings, moving images, sound recordings, records in electronic format, records on microform, philatelic records, related discrete objects.

Archival material should be described in accordance with prevailing archival practice using standards appropriate to the type of material. The Canadian standards, entitled Rules for Archival Description(RAD) are produced by the Canadian Council of Archives (CCA) and may be downloaded from the CCA website at: http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/public.html. The CCA may also be contacted directly by telephone at 613-565-1222, toll free at 1-866-254-1403, by fax at 613-565-5445, or by email at cca@archivescanada.ca.

As a minimum, for a tax certification application, the following descriptive information should be provided for archival material. This information should be provided to each monetary appraiser to ensure that the valuations submitted with an application are consistent as to the material appraised and presented for tax certification. Where full descriptive information has not been provided, delays could result in the processing of the application for tax certification. In specific cases, the applicant may be asked for further information beyond these minimum criteria, as deemed necessary.

Maker
Provide the full name of the person or corporation that created the archival material. Where the maker is known by more than one name, indicate each name and identify by which name the maker is recognized in current literature. In some cases, the maker may be a corporation, e.g. Hudson’s Bay Company.

Nationality of Maker
Indicate the nationality in brackets after the maker’s name, e.g. Farley Mowat (Canadian). If the maker has more than one nationality, indicate the nationality at birth and the most recent nationality, e.g. Nam June Paik (Korean/American).

Maker’s Birth and Death Dates
Provide the year of birth of the maker and, where applicable, the year of death, after the nationality, e.g. Nam June Paik (Korean/American, 1932-2006).

Title and Extent
Provide a summary title of the contents of the archival material, and a summary description in terms of the type of material and the extent of each type, e.g. Canadiana Collection, consisting of 12 meters of approximately 128 groups of material on general Canadiana, Eastern Townships, fur trade, Seigniory of Hertel de Rouville, New France and Viger family.

Date(s) of Creation
Provide the span of time covered by the archival material directly after the title, e.g. Canadiana Collection, 1867 – 1921. In cases where the dates of creation may be unknown, provide an approximate creation date that can be justified, e.g. 1870 – ca. 1921.

Accrual
Indicate whether the archival material is an accrual to an existing fonds, archive or collection or represents a complete fonds, archive or collection. If an accrual, specify if it is the first accrual or a new accrual and whether or not future accruals to the same fonds, archive or collection are anticipated. Explain the extent to which the material represents the whole or a portion of the activities of the maker.

Provenance (history of ownership, including the dates of transfer)
Ownership history (provenance) may be relevant to establishing the authenticity, "outstanding significance and national importance" and/or fair market value of the archival material.

The applicant should therefore provide the most complete provenance information possible, from the date of creation to the present, which includes the names of the previous owners and the respective dates of ownership. If ownership is held by a corporate body, provide the name(s) of the principals.

Incomplete provenance: In cases where it is impossible to establish complete ownership history, provide the following:

• a written, signed and dated statement from the donor/vendor certifying that the property was acquired legally;
• a detailed description of the efforts that have been made to exercise diligence in bridging the gaps in the history of ownership.

Condition Report
Condition may affect whether a fonds, archive or collection meets the criteria of “outstanding significance and national importance” as well as the fair market value. Where material within the fonds, archive or collection has not undergone conservation, and only minor conservation is required, such as surface cleaning, include a general condition statement as part of the description. If “excellent”, “very good”, “good” or “poor”, for example, is used to describe the general condition, provide an explanation in support of that description.

In cases where archival material has undergone or requires conservation treatment, a full condition report prepared, dated and signed by a conservator should be provided.

Archival Assessment
To ensure that the Review Board deliberates only on the archival material that the organization has made a commitment to preserve over the long term, the recipient organization should include a comprehensive archival assessment (sometimes referred to as an archival appraisal report) with the application for certification. This document should outline when, how, and by whom the archival assessment was conducted and include a summary of the author’s qualifications—maximum 100 words—as they relate to the archival material being acquired. The archival assessment should be completed prior to obtaining a monetary appraisal and prior to presenting an application for certification to the Review Board, so that the appraisers and the Review Board are fully aware of all material being presented for certification.

The following should be addressed in the archival assessment:

• Is there any duplicate archival material either within the current accrual or with previous accruals or other material already in the organization’s collection? If so, explain why the duplicates should be certified.
• What criteria were used for selecting the archival material to be presented for tax certification and what proportion of the complete fonds, archives or collection (or accrual) is being presented for certification? Provide a summary of the archival material not retained or not submitted for certification.
• Outline the scope and content of the fonds, archive or collection, identify the archival material the organization will retain permanently, and provide a rationale for retention.
• How reliable is the selected material for researchers, either in a single subject area or across a broad research field?
• Identify any access restrictions.

Finding Aids
For archival material, the organization should provide a finding aid with the application for certification to each monetary appraiser that clearly reflects the material being retained as the result of its archival assessment exercise. Given the significant extent of some fonds, archives or collections, sufficient detail should be provided to assist the appraisers and the Review Board in fulfilling their respective roles. In some cases, a finding aid provided by the donor/vendor may be comprehensive and accurate enough for the organization to endorse and use as its own. If such is the case, the organization should demonstrate that the contents of the donation are precisely reflected in the finding aid. Where all the archival material retained by the organization is being appraised but not all is being submitted for certification, the appraisals will need to clearly identify the estimated value of only the portion of material being presented for certification.

Animation Art
Where a select number of animation cels are being acquired as works of art, refer to Describing Works of Art and Other Objects in Section 4 of this Guide, or consult the Secretariat.

Annex I

Annex II

Annex III

Annex IV

Annex V

The following resources are external websites provided for educational purposes:

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/7746/10448729330glossary.pdf/glossary.pdf

International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA)
http://www.iasa-web.org/

Library and Archives Canada
http://collectionscanada.ca/government/products-services/007002-2049-e.html

National Film Board, Canada
http://www3.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/

The Library of Congress
http://www.itsmarc.com/crs/arch0342.htm                                                

The Society of American Archivists
http://www.archivists.org/glossary/

National Film and Sound Archives, Australia
http://www.nfsa.gov.au/preservation/audiovisual_terms/

Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA)
http://www.amianet.org

Oral History Association (OHA)
www.oralhistory.org

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