What are we looking for?
The Hinton Coal Branch Archives is a repository of materials available for researchers to write histories and interpret our past. It is a collection reflecting the social memory of Hinton and surrounding areas.
We want to include documents created by people or organizations as they go about their usual activities. Examples of these types of documents are:
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Correspondence - This donation could include letters, postcards, formal correspondence, greeting cards and telegrams.
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Minutes of meetings - These would have additional interest with handwritten notes in the margins.
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Contracts - Any legal documents as briefs, dispositions, inventories of estates or wills have archival value.
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Financial records - These reflect the economic climate when they were created. Other examples include ledgers, journals, bank statements, cheques, bills and receipts.
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Diaries - These are excellent records of social activities, perspectives and viewpoints. Memoirs and awards are also valuable. Scrapbooks are an excellent documentation of activities or events important to an individual.
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Photographs - Photographs of events and private lives are full of information, both of the subject and the background. These donations can include slides, negatives, movie and video tapes.
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Maps - Maps, charts and graphs define geography of a certain time.
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Recordings - These can be in several formats including wax discs, cassette tapes and compact discs.
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Printed material - Newspapers, flyers, brochures, proofs, programs and clippings all contain information to aid the researcher.
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Digital age - Technology leaps ahead so we also must include digital records, pictures and video.
Thank you for considering adding your documents and collections to the Hinton Coal Branch Archives. What we are able to preserve will affect how people view and understand our past.
FAQs: What do you mean by records?
We look for materials which document the activities of the organization: minutes, letters, reports, photographs and publications, for example.
My organization opposes many government actions and policies. Why would I give my files to a Town department? Our professional staff adhere to a code of ethics, and value objectivity above our personal biases or those of Town officials.
We need to use our records. We don't want to give them away. We do not wish to take your current records. We can work out an appropriate time delay so that you will retain the records you need, and only older records be donated to the Archives. You will still be able to view the older records at the Archives.
We discuss some very sensitive issues at our meetings. It's too early for anyone else to read our minutes and internal reports. We can work with you to determine a suitable time frame for restricting the records, so that only those to whom you have given written permission may view certain materials. We only ask that records not be restricted forever.
What do we get out of this? Your records will be organized and stored securely in a preservation environment. The work of your organization will be known and valued by future generations.
