A Guide to Donating Ditch

Company Records

at Colorado State University LibrariesContact Information

Please contact the Water Resources Archive if you would like to discuss making a donation.

Phone: (970) 491-1844Fax: (970) 491-1195

E-mail: specialcollections@

library.colostate.eduMail:

Water Resources ArchiveArchives & Special Collections

Morgan LibraryColorado State University

Fort Collins, CO 80523-1019

For details about holdings and activities, see the Water Resources Archive website:

http://lib.colostate.edu/archives/water

This brochure was modeled on guides published by the Society of American Archivists.

LIBRARIES

Preserving the History of Colorado’s Water Resource Development

As a manager of ditch company records, you rec-ognize the challenges and importance of retain-ing materials that document a significant piece of Colorado’s water resource development. Yet, when records are not in current use or storage space is at a minimum, it becomes difficult for you to maintain your records. The Water Re-sources Archive at Colorado State University Libraries can provide solutions for you—pre-serving your materials so that scholars, histori-ans, and other industry professionals will benefit from them long into the future.

The Water Resources Archive and What it Can Do For You

The Water Resources Archive began in 2001 at Colorado State University, which is world re-nowned in water and agriculture research. Building on these strengths and in cooperation with the Colorado Water Resources Research In-stitute (CWRRI) and the Colorado Agricultural Archives, the Water Resources Archive set out to document the study and development of water resources in Colorado. Since 2001, the Archive has preserved numerous collections of written, visual, and audio material created by individu-als and organizations. Prominent collections include those of Delph Carpenter, Ival V. Gos-lin and the Groundwater Appropriators of the South Platte(GASP). The Archive ensures that these materials will be available for generations to come and will do the same with your ditch company records.

The Water Resources Archive will provide your donated materials with secure, environmentally monitored storage. The Archive also will orga-nize the materials and create a finding aid—a standard archival tool describing a collection of materials, which includes information on the collection creator as well as a folder-level inven-tory of each box. The finding aid will be available to interested researchers over the Internet, along with digitized items as deemed appropriate.

“We urge ditch companies to take immediate steps to preserve their history before their documents deteriorate further. The Water Resources Archive offers a no-cost, practical and permanent solution to the problem of records preservation. DARCA has designated the Water Resources Archive as the repository for its own important documents.”

—Karen Rademacher, Former Executive Director of Ditch and Reservoir Company Alliance (DARCA)

Horses scraping a ditch. From the Ralph L. Parshall Collection.

Diagram of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project. From the Ogilvie Papers.

What Should I Preserve?

An organization’s history lies in its letters, min-utes, reports, photographs, publications and oth-er documents created over the years by officers, members, directors, employees or volunteers. These documents provide unique testimony to the achievements of your organization and are important for administrative, legal and fiscal purposes.

The Water Resources Archive is interested in re-cords that best illustrate the purpose, activities and policies of your ditch company. The Archive prefers acquiring related groups of materials rather than individual items.

Materials need not be organized, and they need not be “old.” Because the research value of re-cords may be diminished if items are removed or rearranged, donors are encouraged to contact Archive staff before discarding or reorganizing any records. Records should be inactive—that is, no longer regularly used for routine business.

As an active organization, your company should consider donating records periodically. An archi-vist will discuss with you appropriate intervals for making donations. To assure regular contact, your company might add the periodic transfer of inactive records to the duties of a staff person.

Examples of historically valuable material:• Articles of incorporation, charters• Budgets• Bylaws and revisions• Constitution and revisions• Correspondence/letters• Data (labeled)• Decrees• Directories• Films/videotapes/audiotapes (labeled)• Financial statements• Handbooks• Legal documents• Maps/survey drawings• Maintenance/repair records• Memoranda• Minutes of meetings• Membership lists• Newsletters and other publications (generated by your ditch company)• Organizational charts• Pamphlets, brochures, flyers, etc.• Photographs/albums/slides (labeled)• Planning documents• Press releases• Reports (annual, committee, etc.)• Rosters• Scrapbooks• Stock certificates and ledgers• Subject files• Tax returns

Ditch company documents. From the Records of the Iliff and Platte Valley Ditch Company.

What Else Do I Need to Know Before Donating Materials?

The Water Resources Archive accepts only per-manent donations of materials. Donors are asked to sign a donation agreement, called a Deed of Gift, which formally signifies that the materials become the property of the Archive.

Copyright

Assignment of copyright is often complex, and donors should work with Archive staff to clarify issues of copyright ownership prior to complet-ing a donation agreement. Generally, copyright belongs to the creator of writings and other orig-inal materials (such as photos and music) but can be legally transferred to heirs or others. More-over, ownership of copyright is separable from ownership of the physical item (the letter or pho-to). The Water Resources Archive asks donors to donate not only the physical materials but also any copyright in them that the donor might own. This facilitates researcher use of quotations from the materials and digitization of the materials.

Monetary Appraisals for Tax Deductions

In certain circumstances, it may be possible for a donor to take a tax deduction for the donation of a collection. Donors are encouraged to speak with their tax accountants or attorneys about this. Archivists cannot give tax advice, nor are they permitted to appraise the monetary value of a collection. The Archive can provide donors with a list of local appraisers who can (for a fee) make monetary appraisals. It is a donor’s responsibil-ity to arrange for and bear the cost of appraisal.

Monetary Donations

Preparing materials for use by researchers is the most expensive operation in any archive. Al-though monetary grants are not a prerequisite for the acceptance of a collection, donors who are able to assist the Water Resources Archive by making grants toward the arrangement, catalog-ing and preservation of their donations are en-couraged to do so.

Access to Collections

Once materials are donated, researchers and oth-er users will be able to access them by visiting the Archive. Materials are used on location and under supervision, in order to ensure security and long-term preservation. Prospective donors should become familiar with Archive policies on access and use and discuss any special needs or concerns with the archivist before completing the donation agreement.

Sensitive items that may exist in the collection should not be removed by the donor. Instead, you should discuss with the archivist the possi-bility of restricting part of the collection to ad-dress privacy concerns, trade secrets or similar matters. While the Water Resources Archive de-sires to make all papers accessible to users, it can agree to reasonable restrictions for limited peri-ods of time.