At 11:49 AM 4/15/2005 -0500, you wrote:
>I heard on the radio this morning that McDonald's is celebrating their
>50th birthday. But other than the news article this morning, I haven't
>heard anything!

http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/50th.html

>Maybe they don't need the publicity.  Maybe someone dropped the ball in
>promoting this.  Or maybe they didn't preserve enough records to document
>their history.  This is just speculation, but I wonder how good their RM
>program is...

http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/museum_info.html

http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/mcd_history_pg1.html

Doesn't speak directly to their RM Program (if they have one) but obviously
they have an "organizational historian" or someone that serves in that
capacity.  I didn't see a CIO on their website, but I did see a Bio for a
Legal Counsel listed and a COO, neither of which spoke to an RM function
(big [mac] surprise!)

>So, let me ask you, fellow RM's.  When YOUR company (or government agency)
>hits a milestone such as this, will you have preserved the records that
>can document its history?

We had a 50th a couple of years back, and I happened to be involved in some
aspects of it.  Representatives were sought from each major
department/organization to develop an organizational history, with the goal
of seeing how much the organization had changed.  Old newsletters,
newspapers, articles from the public press, awards, papers, photographs,
phone books, letterhead, logos and all were gathered and
cataloged.  Displays and publications were generated, along with 50th
anniversary "trinkets", presentations and speeches were made, retirees were
honored,  and then when it was all over (and while it was going on!), we
went on with our business.

>Yet, how do you recognize in a fledgling company that your first purchase
>of Item X will be a historical record someday?

For the most part, you don't but as we've heard many times here, when
developing your retention schedule, one of the considerations to be made is
the "possible historic, enduring or intrinsic value" of an item... but this
should not be an overriding factor.  The required retention to meet
regulatory, statutory or legal needs should be first, then the business
needs that exceed those requirements and prior to final disposition, the
desire to retain something of possible continuing value should be
evaluated.  And prior to determining the actual retention of these items
beyond the needed periods, your risk management or legal organization
should be consulted, to ensure continued retention beyond needed periods
doesn't pose a possible exposure.

Some things are obviously going to be a judgement call, but things like the
"first dollar made", or the "original logo", or the "first uniform worn"
are pretty much no brainers.  Things like the first contract issued or
first employee hired application may be a bit sensitive, but they might
still be retained in an organizational archive.  And when you DO start
retaining such stuff, cataloging it and recording some information about
it's history makes sense, like why you decided to keep it and what it was
related to... y'know the archivist's favorite term besides "off-gassing"...
PROVENANCE!

>Has Larry M been rubbing off on me?

I have it on good authority that Larry M may have been "influencing your
thought processes", but he has NOT been rubbing off on you, or anyone else
on the Listserv, at the Listserv Party or in any other venues related to
the Listserv.  =)

Larry

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