Point No Point Treaty Council Archives Policy Statement

Mission Statement

The purpose of the Point No Point Treaty Council Archives Program is to support and further the mission of preserving the history and records of the Treaty Council by collecting, processing, and making available the permanent records of the Point No Point Treaty Council for research purposes of program staff, Treaty Council Board purposes, and for member Tribes’ needs.

Collecting Policy

The Point No Point Treaty Council Archives Program will collect and maintain records of legal, fiscal, evidential value and records that document the functions, mission, and history of the Point No Point Treaty Council. The archives primarily collects institutional records such as: policy statements, constitution, bylaws, records of the director, administrative memoranda and correspondence, board meeting minutes, final reports, original research and data, and legal records. The archives may secondarily collect anthropological and historical records as they relate to the Treaty Tribes’ research needs or other current work. The Point No Point Treaty Council Archives Program adheres to the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials (http://www2.nau.edu/libnap-p/protocols.html).

Access Policy

Archival records may be accessed by Treaty Council staff, or member Tribes’ staff within appropriate restrictions and with prior approval as defined herein. Materials may not be removed from the archives without permission of the archivist and PNPTC Administration. Records may not be physically removed from the PNPTC building. Upon approval, the archivist will pull records from the archives or create copies or scans of records for access purposes upon request. Archival records are closed to outside parties’ research unless allowed at the discretion of the archivist and PNPTC Director.

Sensitive information may be redacted from records at the discretion of the archivist and administration before access to records is provided to researchers.

Use Policy

The archives may be used for research and reference purposes by the PNPTC Staff and member Tribes’ programs. For the safety and security of the records, please do not remove records from the archives. Please ask the archivist for access to records.

Rules for Use:

  1. No food or drinks allowed near records or in record storage areas.
  2. Only use pencils when working with records.
  3. Only pull one folder out of a box at a time.
  4. Please keep documents in the order in which you found them
  5. Use a place marker when pulling folders from boxes and documents from folders to ensure records are maintained in their original order.           

Employee Records

Administrative, operational records, legal records, and professional papers created during the course of employment at the Point No Point Treaty Council are considered confidential and the property of PNPTC. If, after approval has been granted, copies are made for use by employees or member Tribes, the copies and related materials shall be turned over to the Administration of the Point No Point Treaty Council upon departure.

Records Retention and Destruction

All PNPTC records will fall under the classifications of Active, Inactive, or Archival and will be managed based on classification status. Active records are records that are referred to on a daily, weekly, monthly, or annual basis and are housed in the office of creation. Inactive records are those which are no longer referred to in the daily conduct of business but need to be preserved for legal, historical, or operational purposes.  These records will be inventoried and labeled with a retention status. Inactive records will be either destroyed or moved to archival storage based on their retention status.

 Archival records are documents that chronicle the functions and history of the Point No Point Treaty Council and have been determined to have evidential value, historical value, legal importance, and informational/research potential. These records will be permanently housed in archival storage.

Inactive records that do not meet the criteria to be preserved in the archives will be deaccessioned. The archivist, in consultation with the Administration, will determine whether records will be destroyed based on the records management plan and the records retention schedule. All deaccessioned records will be confidentially shredded.

Responsibilities of the Archivist

  1. The archivist is responsible for collecting, describing, preserving, and making available the records of the Point No Point Treaty Council to Treaty Council staff and member Tribes.
  2. The archivist is responsible for the management of PNPTC records, both analog and digital, in partnership with the PNPTC Information/Data Analyst and Administration.
  3. The archivist is responsible for creating and maintaining a records retention schedule and accessioning records into the archives from all departments and destroying records as necessary.
  4. The archivist is responsible for responding to records requests from all PNPTC Staff and associated Tribal staff, and to ensure appropriate approval has been granted by the Administration in following this process.
  5. The archivist is responsible for creating and providing access to finding aids for each collection housed in the archives.

Definitions

  1. Access-1. The ability to locate relevant information through the use of catalogs, indexes, finding aids, or other tools. 2. The permission to locate and retrieve information for use (consultation or reference) within legally established restrictions of privacy, confidentiality, and security clearance. 3. The physical processes of retrieving information from storage media
  2. Accession– 1. Materials physically and legally transferred to a repository as a unity at a single time; an acquisition 2. To take legal and physical custody of a group of records or other materials and to formally document their receipt. 3. To document the transfer of records or materials in a register, database, or other log of the repository’s holdings
  3. Active Records– 1. Records that continue to be used with sufficient frequency to justify keeping them in the office of creation; current records.
  4. Appraisal– 1. The process of identifying materials offered to an archives that have sufficient value to be accessioned. 2. The process of determining the length of time records should be retained, based on legal requirements and on their current and potential usefulness.
  5. Archival Records– 1. Materials created or received by a person, family, or organization, public or private, in the conduct of their affairs that are preserved because of the enduring value contained in the information they contain or as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator.
  6. Archives- 1. Materials created or received by a person, family, or organization, public or private, in the conduct of their affairs and preserved because of the enduring value contained in the information they contain or as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator, especially those materials maintained using the principles of provenance, original order, and collective control; permanent records. 2. The division within an organization responsible for maintaining the organization’s records of enduring value. 3. An organization that collects the records of individuals, families, or other organizations; a collecting archives. 4. The professional discipline of administering such collections and organizations. 5. The building (or portion thereof) housing archival collections. 6. A published collection of scholarly papers, especially as a periodical.
  7. Collection– 1. A group of materials with some unifying characteristic. 2. Materials assembled by a person, organization, or repository from a variety of sources; an artificial collection. 3. The holdings of a repository.
  8. Description– 1. The process of creating a finding aid or other access tools that allow individuals to browse a surrogate of the collection to facilitate access and that improve security by creating a record of the collection and by minimizing the amount of handling of original materials. 2.           RECORDS MANAGEMENT – A written account of the physical characteristics, informational content, and functional purpose of a records series or system
  9. Finding Aid– 1. A tool that facilitates discovery of information within a collection of records. 2. A description of records that gives the repository physical and intellectual control over the materials and that assists users to gain access to and understand the materials
  10. Inactive Records– Records that are no longer used in the day-to-day course of business, but which may be preserved and occasionally used for legal, historical, or operational purposes.
  11. Preservation– 1. The professional discipline of protecting materials by minimizing chemical and physical deterioration and damage to minimize the loss of information and to extend the life of cultural property. 2. The act of keeping from harm, injury, decay, or destruction, especially through noninvasive treatment.
  12. Record– 1. A written or printed work of a legal or official nature that may be used as evidence or proof; a document. 2. Data or information that has been fixed on some medium; that has content, context, and structure; and that is used as an extension of human memory or to demonstrate accountability. 3. Data or information in a fixed form that is created or received in the course of individual or institutional activity and set aside (preserved) as evidence of that activity for future reference.
  13. Records Management– The systematic and administrative control of records throughout their life cycle to ensure efficiency and economy in their creation, use, handling, control, maintenance, and disposition.
  14. Retention Schedule– A document that identifies and describes an organization’s records, usually at the series level, provides instructions for disposition of records throughout their life cycle.