Ah, Mary. This is one of my most pressing back burner concerns about CRM and
has been for some years. We have the same issue. We have materials which
have accumulated since 1981 and, fortunately, we moved to a building where I can
still store them and accumulate a few years more, but there is a limit and,
the most important question arises, what do you do with them when you reach the
point that you have or when you decide to sell the business or just close the
doors?
I have heard a lot of people talk about this in the past with quick, fairly
blase suggestions of just scan them, toss them (because the SHPO has the
information anyway), etc. I find these totally unsatisfactory and quite annoying,
because they don't answer the essential problem. There is a lot of history in
those records about the essential roots of CRM in this country, not to mention
there is a lot of material that people may THINK is at SHPO, but over the
years SHPO has actually contacted us a number of times to send them materials
that they have lost, or cannot find for one reason or another. The materials
that we have in our "archives" also includes far more than is sent to SHPO or
other agencies. Field notes, photographs that were not included in site forms or
reports, memos, some of which have far more interest than just internal to
our company, brochures and other materials picked up and related to projects,
some of which are no longer available, and a 100 other things I can't even
remember.
Some years ago I was envious of an architectural company which was able to
donate the first 15 years of their materials to the library at the University of
Utah. In the public's eye, architectural stuff is, perhaps, more sexy than
our stuff, but our materials have value that it would be a shame to see just go
down the toilet.
This question is something that really needs to be aired and some solutions
offered. There are 100s of companies which are on the verge of facing this
soon, as boomers begin to reach retirement age and wonder what to do with
everything. It is one of the issues that I plan to have debated in ACRA during my
tenure as president over the next several years. Hopefully, there will be
viable solutions presented to each of us to see as possible ways to protect and
preserve these valuable assets.
And this is not even addressing the curation problem of all of the artifacts
still held "temporarily" by CRM companies across the US.
Sorry I do not have solutions to offer at this point, but I wanted to, at
least, provide my support of the need for long term debate of this issue.
Mike
Michael R. Polk, M.A., RPA
Principal Archaeologist/Owner
Sagebrush Consultants, L.L.C.
3670 Quincy Avenue, Suite 203
Ogden, Utah 84403
(801) 394-0013 (voice)
(801) 394-0032 (fax)
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www.sagebrushconsultants.com
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