School Records

Scope

This guide applies to school-related records that do not fit into any of the more specific record types listed in the controlled vocabulary (e.g., School Registers, Report Cards, School Board Minutes). If a record clearly matches one of those defined types, use the corresponding record type instead.

Related Record Types (Use these when applicable):

• Alumni Registers
• Commitment of Children to Industrial Schools Records
• Graduation Records
• Report Cards
• School Attendance Records
• School Board Minutes
• School Census
• School Enrollment Records
• School Examination Authorization Lists
• School Personnel Records
• School Registers
• Student Files
• Superintendent's Records
• Teacher Lists
• Teacher's Applications
• Yearbooks

What Are School Records and How Do You Recognize Them?

School records document the administration, operations, and activities of educational institutions. They may include general reports, correspondence, miscellaneous notes, or undifferentiated administrative documents. These records are often created for purposes such as policy communication, resource management, and general oversight.

Elements Sometimes Found in School Records

• School name and location
• Date or academic year
• Subject or topic of the record
• Responsible person or office
• Summary of actions or decisions
• Remarks or notes
• Pupils’ names, birth dates, and other information

Natural Group

Each separate volume (notebook, folder, bound volume, etc.) should be captured as a separate digital folder.

Descriptive Metadata

1. Date: Enter the academic year or date range when the records were created.
2. Locality: Enter the city or town where the school operated. If this information is unavailable, enter the city or town of the school district.
3. Creator: Enter the name of the school or governing body that created the records.
4. Volume: Enter the volume designation used by the archive or custodian.
5. Title: In the language of the records, enter the title as designated by the archive. Otherwise, enter the record title as it appears on the cover, spine, or title page of the natural group.
6. Custodian Reference ID: If the archive has applied a reference ID to each volume, then enter the ID in the format relevant to the archive. Enter a single hyphen (-) to indicate if no such ID exists.

Keywords (Selected Languages)

Important Note

If the record clearly belongs to a defined child type, do not use ‘School Records’ as the record type. This category is for records that cannot be classified under any more specific type.