Documenting Voices of the Past - Preservation Needs Assessment

FAIN: PG-280642-21

Hagerstown Junior College (Hagerstown, MD 21742-6514)
Sarah L. Conrad (Project Director: January 2021 to October 2022)

The completion of a general preservation assessment of the archives at Hagerstown Community College, which is Maryland’s first community college. The archive was established in 2019 and hired an archivist to organize the collections and establish policies and procedures for archival management. The archive consists of the historical records and materials documenting the history of Maryland’s first community college, from its establishment as a junior college in the late 1940s through to the present. These records and materials include a variety of collections from college faculty, staff, and student organizations, as well as offices and departments on campus. Faculty and staff are the primary patrons of this institutional archive. A preservation assessment would provide the archivist with support and resources to facilitate better care of the collections currently in the repository as well as future acquisitions.

An assessment of preservation needs, including equipment purchase in support of the 75-year archival history at Hagerstown Community College (HCC), Maryland’s first community college founded in 1946. With approximately 100 linear feet of materials including a collection of over 500 photos, slides and negatives, videos and audio recordings, as well as HCC publications and significant humanities contributions, Hagerstown Community College seeks a specialist to provide a Preservation Needs Assessment in order to provide a blueprint for archival establishment, and comply with current best practices, and lay the groundwork for future facilities planning.