Wyoming Chapter
Association of Records Managers and Administrators
Chapter Meeting
April 12, 2005
Wyoming State Archives Records Center, 1712 Pacific Avenue Cheyenne, WY

Members Present: Kristy Anderson, Kerry Beutler, Ramona Christensen, Cate Cundall, Wendy Kinkade, Vicki Nemecek, Dan Siglin, and Rich Wilson

Guests: Ken Johnson, Tory Munoz, Pat Newbern, Karen Owens, Mary Ann Sisneros and Tansey Sussex

Speakers: Tony Adams, CRM, Wyoming State Archives and ARMA Member Sandy Dion, Archivist, Wyoming State Archives

Topic: Tour of the Wyoming State Archives Records Center

Kristy Anderson opened the meeting by welcoming everyone in attendance. Kristy introduced two new Chapter members, Cate Cundall and Vicki Nemecek. Kristy announced the upcoming Chapter meeting on May 10, 2005 -The Preservation of Records and Photographs at the Barrett Bldg. Multipurpose Room, the Awards Banquet on June 2, 2005 and the Central City/Black Hawk Trip on June 4, 2005.

Tony Adams, the first guest speaker, has been with Wyoming State Archives for 38 years. Tony emphasized the fact that Records Management is continually changing. Tony distributed copies of the Services of the Wyoming State Archives and Government Records Unit with an organizational chart of the Division of Cultural Resources. There are three programs currently under the Wyoming State Archives, Museum and Records Program and are managed by Roger Joyce, State Archivist. Two branches are supervised by Manny Vigil, Museum and Historical Collections, and Tony Adams, CRM, Government Records. The program is under the Division of Cultural Resources, which is directed by Art Reese. Cultural Resources is a division of State Parks and Cultural Resources, which is directed by Phil Noble.

We began the tour of the Records Center. The Records Center houses all non permanent records of the State. In the handouts, Tony provided instructions on emergency research requests, daily research requests, transfer of records requests and orders for empty boxes, a chart with Services to the Agencies by cubic feet in FY2004, a timetable for retaining records, Archival Appraisal Criteria and other records information. In addition, specialized instructions must be followed for transferring records to the Records Center including correct labeling of the boxes to be transferred. Each box transferred to the Records Center is input into an Access database to allow for easy retrieval of a specific box when needed by an Agency. All records transferred to the Records Center must have a retention schedule. When the record reaches the end of the retention period, the Records Center notifies the Agency before the record is destroyed. These records are the property of the particular Agency and cannot be looked at by outside parties without permission from the Agency. Tony noted that the facility has florescent UV filters on all lights to protect the records, fire alarms and a security system.

Sandy Dion, the second guest speaker, has been with Wyoming State Archives for 5 years. Sandy oversees the Archives Section of the storage facility. The Archives Section collect, preserve and make accessible a variety of original documentary materials containing information of permanent historical value. According to Sandy, there is approximately 75,000 to 85,000 cubic feet of records on site. Archive records are public records. When the records are public, anyone may look at these records. Many of the records stored in the Archives Section date back to the 1860's. Some of the types of documents stored in the Archives include blueprints, maps, photographs, Architectural drawings, County Assessor records, Court records and School transcript records. All Archive records are catalogued with a specific box number and a Finding Aid list is kept to locate and identify specific Archive records. Sandy explained that in June, July and August of each year, she travels to various parts of the State and brings back records to the storage facility, sorts the records to determine if they are permanent or non permanent, identifies the records and shelves them accordingly. Sometimes the Archives receives documents on a regular basis. In that case, the records are added easily to an existing series of records. Otherwise, the record has to be evaluated for legal and historical value.

Submitted by,

Ramona Christensen
Chapter Secretary