Chemical Heritage Foundation Guidelines

For the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (formerly AACC) Officers & Members (March 5, 2002)

Organizational archives are created from the documents and other materials generated during business operations of the organization. The aim of maintaining such an archival collection is to preserve and make available a cumulative record of the organization's professional activities and contributions together with physical memorabilia as appropriate. Through their affiliation with the Chemical Heritage Foundation, the American Association of Clinical Chemists hopes to maintain an archive that will not only benefit present members and alumni, but also aid scholars as they begin to piece together the rich history of chemistry and the role that countless men and women played in its development.

This document should help those of you who have served with the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM) in an official capacity to consider what kinds of documents you already have in your possession, the kinds of documents you should consider saving that you have not already been in the habit of saving.

Organizational archives should also include publications and publicity pieces created to distribute the organization's message to their clientele. Such published materials may occur in any of the following formats:

Most organizational archives include a wide variety of unpublished materials, both for the headquarters as well as the branches or subsections of the organization. The following types of materials form the core of most organizational archives:

Depending upon the nature of the organization and its business, the archival collection may also include some of the following:

NOTE: To insure that materials are not duplicated and that the volume of the archive is kept under control, all inquiries for archive submissions must be made to Ms. Susan Hamson. Archivist (or someone else at the CHF).