Practice Activity: Should These Records Be Acquired? FACILITATOR GUIDE

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1 FACILITATOR GUIDE 1. Introduce the activity: One of the most challenging parts of record collecting is evaluating a record and deciding if it should be collected. The cost and effort of acquiring, processing, administering access to, and preserving a record can be significant. The criteria for evaluating a record include significance and relevance, condition, and provenance. Also, explain that the feedback given in many of these items is based on United States law and international treaties surrounding copyright. 2. Explain the objective: In this activity, Alana, a Church history volunteer, is meeting with several potential donors to evaluate their records. Help Alana decide if she should acquire the records or not. Base your decisions on significance and relevance, condition, and provenance. 3. Carry out the activity: a. Significance and Relevance Does the record provide a unique perspective that is not represented in the Church s existing collection of records? Does the record contain information about a person, place, or event that had a major impact on the development of the Church? Was the record created by a Church member, and does it include references to the development of the person s faith and Church activity or the development of the Church in the area? Condition Is the record free from significant physical damage, mold contamination, or insect infestation? Provenance Who created the record? Who owned the record before the current owner? Can the history of ownership be documented? Does the donor have the legal right to transfer the record to the Church? b. Pass out the questions face up (ask the participants not to turn the pages over because the answers are on the back). c. Ask the participants to read the description of the record and then answer the questions on the bottom of the page. d. After they have answered, have them look at the answer on the back. Then discuss each question and its answer. 4. After the activity is complete, summarize the activity by reviewing the terms listed in step 3 above. Note: Never acquire art or artifacts without first taking a photo of the object. Share the photo with your contact in the Global Support and Acquisitions Division. This person will help you determine whether or not to acquire the object.

2 QUESTION 1 OF 11 This is a photo album that contains pictures of Scotland from the 1920s. There are photos of lakes, mountains, and other landscapes. There are also pictures of men dressed in kilts. The pictures were taken by the donor s great-grandfather and the album has been passed down from generation to generation. The paper is crumbling in spots, and there is water damage on some of the photos. Evaluate the record by answering these questions. Based on your evaluation, should this record be acquired? a. Yes b. No

3 ANSWER This photo album should not be acquired. It is not relevant to Church history. It is in poor physical condition.

4 QUESTION 2 OF 11 This is a photograph taken in Nigeria, Africa. It shows people lined up to be baptized. It was taken in the late 1970s. The donor is Edwin Q. Cannon, who is in the photo. His wife, Janeth, took the photo. The Cannons were the first missionary couple in West Africa. He is willing to donate the negative. It is in good condition. Evaluate the record by answering these questions. Based on your evaluation, should this record be acquired? a. Yes b. No

5 ANSWER This photo should be acquired. The donors are the ones who took the photo; therefore, they are the creators and can legally donate it to the Church. This is from a significant time in the history of the Church in Africa.

6 QUESTION 3 OF 11 This is a collection of family group sheets and other family history documents from some early members of the Church in Japan. They are being donated by the great-granddaughter of the creator. Despite their age, they are in good condition. Evaluate the record by answering these questions. Based on your evaluation, should this record be acquired? a. Yes b. No

7 ANSWER This collection should not be acquired. Genealogical records that do NOT contain narrative text relating to the history of the Church are not relevant to the Church History Department s collection. They would be of more significance to family history and should be donated to that department of the Church. As a general rule, the Church History Department does not collect records related to family history.

8 QUESTION 4 OF 11 This is a mission journal from Germany in the late 1930s. It contains significant information about how the missionaries were removed from Germany during the early years of World War II. The journal is in good condition. When the author died, it was given to a family friend. The grandson of the family friend is the person who is donating the journal. Evaluate the record by answering these questions. Based on your evaluation, should this record be acquired? a. Yes b. No

9 ANSWER This record should be acquired. The record is significant to Church history and will be valuable to future researchers. The donor can legally donate the journal but cannot transfer intellectual property to the Church.

10 QUESTION 5 OF 11 This is a letter supposedly written by Spencer W. Kimball in 1966 in which he recounts meeting a woman who later became the first member of the Church in the tiny island nation of Santa Lucia. The donor is not a member of the Kimball family; however, he claims that he was a friend of President Kimball s grandson, who found the letter while playing in his grandfather s basement. The donor realizes that there may be a market for such a letter and wants to sell it to you for $5,000. He says that there are other dealers who are interested, but his first desire is to be sure this is safeguarded by the Church. Evaluate the record by answering these questions. Based on your evaluation, should this record be acquired? a. Yes b. No

11 ANSWER This record should not be acquired. Always be careful when dealing with people who want to sell records to the Church. The record would be significant to Church history and would be valuable to future researchers if it is authentic. The first thing to do would be to get the name of the grandson and see if the story is true.

12 QUESTION 6 OF 11 This is a collection of papers from a member of the Church who lived in Washington, D.C., when the temple there was dedicated. He was a ward clerk in his ward and was involved in many meetings related to the temple dedication. He collected meeting minutes, agendas, programs, posters, and many other documents. He is willing to donate the collection to the Church. Evaluate the record by answering these questions. Based on your evaluation, should this record be acquired? a. Yes b. No

13 ANSWER This collection should be acquired. The collection is significant to Church history and will be valuable to future researchers. The collection is authentic and the history of ownership can be documented. The collection is in good condition.

14 QUESTION 7 OF 11 This journal is from a lifelong Church member who lived his entire life in Hawaii. The journal contains very sporadic references to his going to Church meetings on Sunday but nothing very significant. The author is now in his 70s and is wondering if the Church would be interested in adding it to its collection. The journal is in good condition. Evaluate the record by answering these questions. Based on your evaluation, should this record be acquired? a. Yes b. No

15 ANSWER This collection should not be acquired. The journal is only somewhat relevant to Church history, and it is not related to any significant event or person.

16 QUESTION 8 OF 11 This is a collection of papers from the man who was the stake president during the dedication of the Madrid Spain Temple in He recently passed away, and his children are willing to donate the collection. The collection is well organized and in good condition. The documents related to his presidency and the temple dedication are mixed in with documents related to his personal genealogy. Evaluate the record by answering these questions. Based on your evaluation, should this record be acquired? a. Yes b. No

17 ANSWER This collection should be acquired. Half of this collection is desirable because it has to do with the Madrid Temple dedication. The other half, the family history documents, are less desirable because they deal with family history, not Church history. However, the temple dedication documents are significant and we wouldn t want to lose them. If you come across a collection like this, where some of the documents are significant and some are not, if it is possible, leave the insignificant part with the donor. If dividing it is not easy, or you fear offending the donor, accept the whole collection.

18 QUESTION 9 OF 11 This is a collection of magazines published by the Church in South America in the 1950s. They are very rare and the Church History Library needs to collect copies of them so that the Church has a complete set. The donor is willing to donate them; however, they are water damaged. The pages are stuck together and washed out. Also, there appears to be mold growing on many of the volumes. Evaluate the record by answering these questions. Based on your evaluation, should this record be acquired? a. Yes b. No

19 ANSWER This collection should not be acquired. While this is a collection of magazines that the Church History Department is eager to collect, the magazines are in poor condition and are not readable.

20 QUESTION 10 OF 11 This is a photograph of Heber C. Kimball, an early leader of the Church. It was allegedly taken in Nauvoo, Illinois, in It is in good condition and the donor is willing to give it to the Church. The donor has documentation that shows the ownership of the photograph going back to the original photographer. However, the donor is worried about the photographer s copyright and insists that the Church contact the family of the photographer. Evaluate the record by answering these questions. Based on your evaluation, should this record be acquired? a. Yes b. No

21 ANSWER This item should be acquired. Photographs from the Nauvoo period in Church history are rare, so this would be a significant item to collect. It would be important to make sure that the photograph is authentic. The documentation proves ownership and authenticity. According to United States law, copyright has expired, so you should explain to the donor that there is no need to contact the photographer s family.

22 QUESTION 11 OF 11 This is a photo of a member of the Church from Russia standing in front of a monastery. The member is quite small in the photo. The photo is in good condition and the member is willing to donate it to the Church. Evaluate the record by answering these questions. Based on your evaluation, should this record be acquired? a. Yes b. No

23 ANSWER This collection should not be acquired. The photo contains an image of a significant place; however, it is not relevant to Church history.