We have the records of a number of continuing historical and genealogical organizations as well as social and fraternal societies. I have not developed retention lists or formula for these, but generally I recommend to the Society officers that they retain three years of their operating records before forwarding to our archives. I usually encourage them to retain seven years of their financial records (bank records, checks, deposits, CDs, stock transactions, etc.) as these are generally not items we retain, but they may face litigation, audits, and the like. The organization may also be subject to record retention rules of a parent organization (e.g. local Elks lodge, national Elks organization). Most of the organizations are cognizant of our goals of preserving the history of their organization which may mean that some of the operating paperwork is not pertinent to permanent preservation. Dean Dean DeBolt University Librarian, Special Collections John C. Pace Library, University of West Florida 11000 University Parkway Pensacola, FL 32514-5750 850-474-2213 [log in to unmask] 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. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>