LEGISLATIVE RECORDS AT THE CALIFORNIA STATE ARCHIVES: PROCESSING THE PAPERS OF STATE LEGISLATOR MICHAEL MACHADO A Project Presented to the faculty of the Department of History California State University, Sacramento Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in History (Public History) by Ignacio Sanchez-Alonso SUMMER 2016 © 2016 Ignacio Sanchez-Alonso ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii LEGISLATIVE RECORDS AT THE CALIFORNIA STATE ARCHIVES: PROCESSING THE PAPERS OF STATE LEGISLATOR MICHAEL MACHADO A Project by Ignacio Sanchez-Alonso Approved by: __________________________________, Committee Chair Patrick Ettinger, Ph.D. __________________________________, Second Reader Jeff Crawford, M.A. ____________________________ Date iii Student: Ignacio Sanchez-Alonso I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format manual, and that this project is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for the project. __________________________, Graduate Coordinator ___________________ Patrick Ettinger, Ph.D Date Department of Public History iv Abstract of LEGISLATIVE RECORDS AT THE CALIFORNIA STATE ARCHIVES: PROCESSING THE PAPERS OF STATE LEGISLATOR MICHAEL MACHADO by Ignacio Sanchez-Alonso Statement of Problem The California State Archives received the records of State Legislator Michael Machado through several different accessions and had not been previously arranged or described. The Michael Machado collection contained material on a variety of paper mediums. The ultimate goal of the California State Archives is to make collections accessible to patrons. The intern arranged, described, and preserved the records in accordance with proper archival methods and principles, providing greater accessibility of the records. Sources of Data Several sources were employed to complete this project. Sources include the Michael Machado Papers at the California State Archives, legislative publications, articles, professional manuals, institutional manuals created by the California State Archives, the California State Archives website, and archival related publications. v Conclusions Reached The arrangement and description of the Michael Machado Papers provided the public with greater access to the records and ensured their long-term preservation by using the proper preservation methods for the different types of material found within the collection. Once uploaded to the Online Archive of California potential researchers across the country will have access to the collection’s finding aid. _______________________, Committee Chair Patrick Ettinger, Ph.D _______________________ Date vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project took an immense amount of time and dedication. The entire staff at the California State Archives was extremely patient and helpful with me, I could not have completed this project without their guidance. I would especially like to extend my gratitude to Jeff Crawford, the processing coordinator who helped me select my collection. His willingness to help me find a collection that suited my interests made processing the collection very exciting. Writing the finding aid for this collection was the most difficult task. I want to thank Andrew Hyslop and Lisa Prince for their help in writing the finding aid. Their incredible attention to detail made the writing process a success. I also owe a great deal of gratitude to Dr. Ettinger, he encouraged me to stay in the program when I felt I would not be successful. I would also like to thanks all the friends I have made in the program, you have made my experience that much more memorable, especially baby Paul. I want to thank my family for their continued support and understanding. Lastly I want to say thank you to Amanda Weyer for her continued support throughout this entire project, your words of encouragement helped a lot during many stressful occasions. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... VII Chapter 1. PREFACE ............................................................................................................... 1 2. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 4 3. LEGISLATIVE BIOGRAPHY ............................................................................. 12 4. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 14 Appraisal for Acquisition ................................................................................ 15 Accessioning Archival Records ...................................................................... 19 Before Processing ............................................................................................ 23 Appraisal for Selection .................................................................................... 27 Arrangement .................................................................................................... 31 Processing the Collection ................................................................................ 34 Description ...................................................................................................... 37 5. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION ........................................................................ 42 Appendix A. Guide to the Michael Machado Papers, 1995-2008 ............................ 44 Appendix B. Sample Processing Checklist ............................................................... 55 Appendix C. Sample Processing Plan Worksheet ..................................................... 57 Appendix D. Sample Separation Sheet ..................................................................... 59 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 61 viii 1 Chapter 1 PREFACE This thesis was motivated by my desire to further understand and apply the core concepts of the archival profession. I spent the majority of the Fall 2015 semester processing and writing a finding aid for the papers of former state legislator Michael Machado at the California State Archives (CSA). The following chapters will detail the process and application of archival standards and concepts while processing the collection. I worked at the California State Archives as a Graduate Student Intern for two years. My duties as the intern included providing reference assistance to researchers, accessioning material, processing collections, and re-filing material. I also participated in a week-long preservation course and was given the opportunity to participate in designing an exhibit. I also participated in public outreach events such as the annual Archives Crawl and Family History Day. During the inception of this project I was still the graduate student intern at the California State Archives as part of the Public History Program at CSUS. Thus the decision to write about processing and arranging an archival collection seemed logical. The California State Archives holds a variety of collections, including: governor’s records, legislative records, state agencies’ and departments’ records, and Supreme Court and Appellate Court papers. The rules for processing of records from each branch of government differs at the State Archives. Also, the method for processing legislators’ collections differs from processing the records of a legislative committee. Most 2 importantly, the State Archives is required to keep nearly everything a legislative committee sends to them, while working on a legislators’ collection archivists have more freedom when it comes to deciding what should be kept and why. For that reason, Jeff Crawford suggested that arranging a legislator’s collection would give me a better experience for my thesis. Working with a legislator’s collection would allow me to apply all the archival knowledge I had acquired during my time at the State Archives. Finding a collection that would be ideal for my thesis project, however, was not a straightforward process. The first collection I processed at the California State Archives was the Senate Health Committee Records, which consisted of sixty-eight cubic feet of Bill Files and Hearing Files. Once I completed that collection, I met with the Processing Coordinator and we discussed what collection would be best for me to process next. There were several things that we considered when selecting a new processing project. We looked for a collection that was a manageable size. We did not want to start a collection that would be too large and take up too much time, and we did not want a collection that was too small. We also had to ensure that the collection had a Deed of Gift that had transferred ownership to the State Archives without restrictions. The State Archives only processes collections that have no restrictions. The first collection I considered for this project was the Nell Soto Papers, for which the State Archives did have a Deed of Gift. However after consulting with the Legislative Records Archivist, it was discovered that due to her unexpected death Legislator Soto had not signed the deed of gift herself. In order to avoid any legal issues, the decision was made not process the Soto Papers until the 3 appropriate party signed the deed of gift. The next collection I focused on was the Michael Machado Papers. This particular collection met all of the criteria: it was a