Hi Laurie -
We do this all the time in our business, as we have to calculate what to charge our clients for our services. For processing, it really depends on what you're doing wth the material. Sure, you can always spend 20 hours per linear foot on any archival collection, but is it worth it - does the value, age, or condition of the material merit spending that much time on it? There's a cost-benefit analysis to make. We all have to make these decisions and consider several factors, for example:
 
Are you removing every staple and paperclip, sleeving every photograph, photocopying every clipping and Post-It note? Are you putting everything into strict chronological order day by day, or just year by year? Are you processing at the item level or folder level? Are you entering the records into an electronic database? It may be more important to do some of these things than others. In an ideal world, yes, we'd love to do all of them, but we would not be spending our employers' money, or our own valuable time, very efficiently if we do. Maybe you decide only to remove those staples that are already rusty. Maybe you decide only to sleeve those photographs that are in bad condition. All of these things will drastically effect your time not to mention your supply budget.
 
How detailed are your descriptions - are they several paragraphs long for each folder, or a simple sentence? Are the materials cogently arranged already, or do you have to come up with your own descriptions and arrangement? Who will be using the collection in the future, and how much detail will they need to help them find materials?
 
As a very general rule of thumb, we say to our clients that ON AVERAGE it takes us 6 hours per linear foot to both process and catalog (data entry into database) archival materials. But this really, really varies - some boxes DO take 20 hours to process and there's just no getting around it. If that happens, then you just have to make sure that some other boxes only take an hour to process to balance it out. Or you work overtime. :)  
 
It sounds to me like your collection is fairly well organized already - a lot of what you're doing is refining and refiling - so the 4 hours per linear foot to process might be quite workable.
 
Best,
 
Amy Filiatreau, CA
Senior Archivist - Team Leader
The History Factory
703.227.9566 tel
-----Original Message-----
From: Laurie Langland [mailto
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 10:20 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: cost to process a collection

I've been asked to calculate some estimates to finish processing one of our collections (the non-political papers, photos, memorabilia, etc. of a former politician) and to re-process another collection (political papers and other material of a former politician). I'm to use my salary and benefits to calculate the labor. But we're unsure of the amount of time to use. One formula we've been told is 4 hours per linear foot. Does that seem reasonable for processing additional boxes of papers and other material, as well as updating the current finding aid?

 

As for supplies for both collections, I can estimate the number of record storage boxes we'd need - we use the legal by letter size archival boxes. But I'm unsure of how many folders to estimate as an average per box, as it can vary from 10 or 12 per box to 30 or 40. I also need to guesstimate supplies for other formats, such as photos, audio and visual material, and artwork.  

 

Re-processing may not be quite the right word for the one collection - it's approximately 250-300 linear feet of political papers plus family memorabilia, artwork, and other miscellaneous items. It was indexed quite extensively 40 years ago, but the collection has undergone many changes over the years. It needs to be re-housed in archival folders and boxes and other storage containers. Also, the massive index needs to be corrected and updated as the collection is worked through. Would the 4 hours per linear foot be a workable estimate for this type of project? (In the handling of this collection, files have gotten out of order - some may have been misfiled, but we're afraid that others have disappeared forever.)

 

Is there anything else we haven't thought of? Any suggestions and advice will be greatly appreciated!

 

Laurie Langland

University Archivist/Director of Service Learning

Layne Library, Dakota Wesleyan University

1200 W. University Ave.

Mitchell, SD 57301

 

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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.

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