The Riveroaks Historical Society and Museum Scorecard Now that you've learned about the town of Riveroaks and the organization's history and collections policy, we're going to look over Cliff Rahmad's shoulder as he examines three sets of papers that have been offered to the Riveroaks Historical Society and Museum. As you can see, his scorecard follows the "5 Question" format we described earlier in this lesson. Given his answers, do you agree with his decisions?

We have created a blank version of this "scorecard" for you to use with your own program. It can be adapted as necessary to meet your own needs. Get the scorecard!

	James Tayson Papers	Charlotte Tomlinson Papers	Artist Lisa Smith Papers
When were the records created?
1a. Are the records old?	1910 - 2000	1940 - 2000	1920 - 1970
1b. Are the records scarce?	No -- routine business records	Some	Yes
1c. Are the records from an important time period?	Yes	Yes	No
1d. Do the records cover a long or short period of time?	Long	Long	Relatively Long
Why Were the Records Created?
2.  Do they document the principal activities or functions of the creator?	Yes	No	Yes
What Is In the Records?
3a. Do they document important activities?	No	Yes	Yes
3b. Are they the only source of information?	No	Yes	No
3c. Are they the best source of information?	No	No	Yes
3d. Do they dispute other records?	No	Yes	No
3e. Do they provide unusual? information?	Yes	Yes	Yes
Who Created the Records?
4a.  Do the records reflect a routine or unusual point of view?	Routine	Unusual	Unusual
4b. What was the position of the creator?	Founder of local manufacturing company	Local collector and historian	Local artist
4c. Was the creator personally involved in the activities recorded?	Some	No	Yes
4d. Did the creator possess the necessary expertise to understand the events recorded?	Yes	Yes	Yes
4e. Does the creator display a bias?	No	Yes	No
How do the records fit with our program?
5a.  Do the records meet the requirements of our collection policy?	No -- not historically valuable, just routine records	Yes	Yes
5b. Where is the geographical focus?	Riveroaks	Riveroaks	Hiltonia Valley
5c.  Do they duplicate or support current holdings?	Some duplication	Some duplication	Support
5d. What is their research potential?	Low	Extraordinarily high	High
5e. Do they meet researchers needs?	No	Yes	Yes
5f. What is the condition and size of the group of records?	25 cubic feet; fair condition; stored in file cabinets	40 cubic feet; fair condition; stored throughout house in various boxes	20 cubic feet; good condition; stored in steamer trunks
5g. Can we support the storage and staff costs, necessary preservation and conservation of the records?	Yes	Yes	Yes
5h. Are there political considerations in accepting or rejecting these records? Any positive or negative repercussions from donor? Any precedent set if accepted?	Possibly negative repercussions if we reject, but we should be able to avoid	Yes	No
Accept or Reject Records?
6.  Are there records valuable and appropriate for our program?	No	Yes	Yes