Engaging Underrepresented Groups Through Appraisal and Accessioning

 Appraisal of student records is an essential part of building a complete narrative of a university's history. Within this process, it is important to capture the experiences of underrepresented student groups. A rich source of documentation of both student life and campus diversity comes from the records produced by university ethnic student clubs, cultural houses, and sororities and fraternities with historically minority membership. The formation activities, and dissolution of ethnic student organizations can help to shape an understanding of a university's demographic, social, and political history. Working with and building relationships with organization advisors and student members is important to forming good appraisal decisions of the records they produce. This paper will examine examples from appraisal projects with the Ethnic Student Center at Western Washington University and the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It will also include an analysis of the appraisal of records from ethnic student organizations, discuss the importance of working with stakeholders, and understanding ownership of records.