CASE STUDY
Archival Staffing Services: St. Louis University High School Case Study
Many organizations have records and artifacts dating back to their earliest days, but they’re not always easily accessible or well-organized. Maybe items have been stowed away in boxes for decades, waiting for someone to unearth them. Or perhaps documents have been piling up in folders on a desk, organized in a way that only one or two people can decipher. Or maybe your institutional archives are already in good shape, and now you want to see what kinds of stories you can tell by looking more closely at your organization’s rich history.
Whatever your unique situation may be, Backlog’s archival staffing services can help you reach your goals. From volunteer training to designing records retention schedules to art collection management, we coordinate with institutions to create and maintain accessible archival collections according to professional standards.
Emma Prince of Backlog has been providing archival staffing services to St. Louis University High School (SLUH) since 2021. For Emma, this means being on-site every Wednesday morning and having regular communication with key personnel. Over the past two years, she has collaborated closely with a dedicated group of archive volunteers, along with SLUH administrators, to help the school assess its archival needs and achieve both short- and long-term goals.
Here are some of the services Emma has provided to SLUH. Backlog can assist in myriad ways by offering these and other archival services tailored to your institution’s unique needs.
Volunteer Coordination
A group of alumni from the class of 1963 started the SLUH Archive in 2015, shortly after their fifty-year reunion and just before the school’s bicentennial in 2018, as a way to contribute to the school and preserve its legacy. Their journey began with humble origins in a closet on campus, but now, as the ‘63 crew approaches their sixty-year reunion, they have helped build the SLUH Archive into an official repository, located on the first floor of a building right off campus.
Emma works with these volunteers to ensure that, in its ongoing effort to collect and make available SLUH-related materials, the Archive adheres to archival standards and best practices. In addition to providing continuing guidance on archival policies and procedures, she makes sure to record and document projects the volunteers are working on. She also worked with SLUH to have a presence at its annual Legacy Luncheon, where the Archive had a table to display items of interest to reunion classes and to solicit donations, both financial and material.
Emma Prince, Backlog’s founder, with the volunteer archives crew at St. Louis University High
Coordinating with School Administrators
In addition to her work in the Archive itself, Emma coordinates closely with SLUH administrators. She acts as a liaison between the seven Archive volunteers and school staff, which helps to streamline communication, identify areas of need, and delegate responsibilities. For instance, when she first began working at SLUH, Emma interviewed staff members to understand why certain types of records exist and where they currently live. She created a records retention schedule to standardize the flow of materials from the school to the Archive. She also serves as the point person for budgets, scheduling large projects, and ordering supplies, and she organizes an annual Archive appreciation luncheon for the volunteers.
Art Collection Management
Art collection management was a particular area of need identified in conversations with SLUH staff and administrators. In addition to ensuring existing art pieces are accounted for and properly housed, Emma works with advancement staff to document incoming art donations from alumni and the broader community. Creating a Deed of Gift form and a process to physically receive artwork has been key to managing SLUH’s extensive and ever-growing collection. Emma also works to maintain consistent and up-to-date art signage across campus.
