Series 169: Registrar's Department Correspondence Digitisation Project

Series 169 is an artificial series of correspondence and other documents dating from 1872-1923 and arranged primarily by subject. It includes records of the University Association, which was the body responsible for the establishment of the University of Adelaide.

Topics cover most aspects of the University's operation until the early 1900s. Some of the correspondence for 1874-1885 had previously been removed from its original organisation and confused with the papers of Sir Henry Ayers (Treasurer 1874-1886). Other documents were taken from a variety of subject-based envelopes and arranged into 'historical notes' without regard to provenance.

In September 2004, a team from the University Archives Volunteer Group began a project with the aim of providing an online finding aid for this series of records.

The Series 169 Digital Archive is constantly being updated. It includes images of the original documents as well as transcriptions of the text where it was considered necessary. While the guide is being updated, some items are incomplete.

The digitisation project has been undertaken by members of the Volunteer Group working for three hours per week. It consists of a multi stage process that includes:

• photocopying of original documents
• transcription of handwritten text
• creation of document metadata for use in the database
• checking of transcriptions and metadata to ensure accuracy and consistency
• scanning of original documents
• entry of metadata, transcription and scanned images into the Digital Archive

For more information on the Series 169 Digitisation Project, contact the Collection Archivist.