Preserving the Blast from the Past

The Longhorn Band Archive is a large collection of documents, photographs, recordings, artifacts, and ephemera amassed over the years by former members of the University of Texas Longhorn Band. The material is spread between the Briscoe Center for American History, the home of the Alumni Band Archives Chair, the Longhorn Band administrative offices, and an air-conditioned storage unit. I visited all these repository sites and created a rough inventory of the types of items stored at each location. I then used this information to develop a comprehensive assessment of the needs of the current collection to ensure its continued preservation. Additionally, I created a deed of gift template and a loan agreement template for future administrative use. I also included instructions for the usage of these forms as well as preservation guidelines for future caretakers of the archive.