[Archivesspace_Users_Group] Top Containers and Item Level Descriptions

[Luers, Christina]

Hello all,
   I am hoping to find out if some of you would be willing to share how you manage your top containers for collections that have description at the item level.
  We have quite a few legacy collections that were processed dozens of years ago and were done at the item level for most, if not all, of the collection.  While we would not dream of processing collections to this level now, we also do not want to lose all of the metadata of some of those item level descriptions.
  In creating box and folder containers, we decided on a repository level that, since we pull at the box level, even for collections that share boxes, top containers would be box level only.  The only exception to this are the folders that reside in map cabinets.
  Our problem is this, when describing at the item level, we are having trouble getting more than one item into a folder without the folder being the top container.  This is something we certainly do not want to do.  We can try to list the items in the folder scope and contents, but some of our legacy collections are in need of re-housing (ie One box has a total of four burrito type folders that each contain at least 40  or more items)  but re-housing those collections is a far off task.  We are looking for a much more easily accomplished task of fixing these legacy collections until we can devote the much needed time to them.

Any suggestions on how to capture item level description for these legacy collections without making the folder the top container?

Many thanks for your time and offers of assistance.

Christina R. Luers

Archives Collections Specialist
College of William and Mary

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