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- Archival Film Flashes Back to 70s Student Life
- Manuscript Traces SFU's Architectural History
- Early University News Publications Now Digitally Available
- Digitized Programs Commemorate SFU’s Opening & Installation Ceremonies
- Archives Celebrates Fall Convocation with Release of Digitized Programs
- Films Capture Visual History and Sentiment of Time Gone By
- Lost and Found: Simon Fraser Letters
- Oral History Provides Glimpse into Mind of SFU’s First Chancellor Gordon Shrum
- Early SFU Photos Tell a Story That Frames Our World
- Aerial Photos Capture Campus Landscape & Photographer’s Legacy
- You have what...?!! and other interesting things you didn't know about the SFU Archives
- Charting the course of history: documenting SFU's early days from the student perspective (Part 1)
- Charting the course of history: documenting SFU's early days from the student perspective (Part 2)
- Helping others find their history in the future: Preserving the records of the Students of Caribbean and African Ancestry at SFU
- Preserving the sparks of global revolution in the Adbusters Media Foundation fonds
- Reflections of a co-op student
- Debunking popular myths and conspiracies with the Barry Beyerstein fonds
- In "The Beginning...": First student film returns to SFU
- "Got any pictures of Terry Fox?"
- My summer in the archives: a co-op placement retrospective
- Seeing the world through Arthur Erickson's eyes
- Beer (records) in the Archives!
- Quartet in the Quadrangle: PSQ Records Come to SFU
- Navigating silences and filling gaps: finding Black stories in the Archives
- Boxes, boxes, and more boxes: my summer co-op at SFU Archives
- Glossary
Boxes, boxes, and more boxes: my summer co-op at SFU Archives
In the minds of many, spring signals the ideal time for decluttering and returning to their ongoing to-do list. Yet this year at SFU’s Archives and Records Management Department, summer especially took on that role.
I'm Kira, a graduate student from UBC, and I had the exciting opportunity to join SFU for a co-op term in summer 2023 as an Appraisal and Processing Project Archivist. My responsibility was to tackle a backlog of records that had been patiently awaiting attention on our archival to-do list.
The first item was a staggering 607 banker's boxes. These boxes held institutional records that were trapped in a sort of "archival limbo." Ordinarily, when University departments send us these boxes, they attach Records Retention Schedules and Disposal Authorities (RRSDAs). This allows us to integrate the important records into the archives for future reference, while bidding farewell to records that have outlived their purpose. However, these 607 boxes arrived over time without any RRSDAs, leaving us in a bind—unable to process or purge them.
Over the next month and a half, I had the experience of unearthing the contents of these boxes, engaging with departments, as well as writing and assigning RRSDAs. While it might not sound riveting from the outside, rest assured, helping make essential information accessible is very satisfying. There is also a certain satisfaction in orchestrating the demise of countless boxes of redundant records, clearing the way for the records that visitors truly seek.
In my second project, I took on an accrual of 49 boxes of records for SFU's Board of Governors fonds. Arranging and describing these records provided me with a wealth of insight into the campus's governing structures and procedures. The significance of these records for holding executive leaders accountable and shaping future university-wide decisions became abundantly clear. After processing, there were 95 archival boxes of material!
Despite the sheer volume of boxes involved in both projects, I found it rewarding to contribute to the organization and accessibility of the archives. I'm immensely grateful for the incredible mentorship provided by Shamin Malmas, Richard Dancy, and Paul Hebbard. I extend my thanks to all the other friendly faces on the staff who offered their support during my term.
Want to learn more about Kira's work in the Archives? Check out her video documenting her co-op work term experience.