April 28, 2025: New look for Harvard’s General Records schedules. Read more.
Records Management Services
Records Management Services, part of Harvard University Archives, provides guidance to University staff, faculty, and administrators on how to understand their responsibilities for stewarding and managing their records.
The Harvard Corporation defines a University record as “recorded information regardless of physical characteristics, created, received, recorded, or legally filed in the course of University business.” Harvard's records—one of the University's most valuable assets—serve as evidence of the University’s organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, and other activities.
The Harvard University Archives is charged with the responsibility of ensuring “the prudent maintenance and efficient disposition of University records, consistent with sound archival standards, budgetary considerations, and legal obligations.”
University Records Guidance
The University's records policies are designed to ensure that University records are retained for as long as is necessary and managed appropriately.
Managing Your Records
- Email Management Guide (PDF)
- E-Records Guidance (PDF)
- Faculty Files Guidance (PDF)
- Managing the Records of Departing Employees (PDF)
- PDF/A Instructions (PDF)
- Remote Work Records Guidance (PDF)
- Scanning Project Decision Tree (PDF)
- Tips for Office Clean Ups and Moves (PDF)
- Using E-sign to Complete RMS Forms (PDF)
- Using the General Records Schedule (grs.harvard.edu)
Storing Records Offsite
Get Started/Set Up an Account
- New Records Center Account Request Form
- New Records Center Signature Sheet (PDF)
- Records Center Checklist (PDF)
- Storing Records at the Harvard Depository
- Tips for Managing a Records Center Account (PDF)
- Using E-Sign to Complete RMS Forms (PDF)
Request/Update Account Information
Deposit Records in an Offsite Storage Account
- Deposit Box Folder List (excel)
- Empty box and Barcode Request Form
- New Deposit to Offsite Storage Account Request Form
Request Records To/From Your Account
Trainings
Records Management Services at the Harvard University Archives offers training and workshops on records management topics.
Sessions are open to employees from Central Administration, Harvard College, graduate schools, research centers and institutes, and affiliated Harvard entities. Staff at the Longwood Medical Area and Harvard Business School are served by local archives and records management programs. Please contact your local records management team for program-specific offerings.
Registration will become available as sessions are scheduled. Sign up to receive updates on upcoming trainings.
Introduction to Harvard's Records Schedules (Self-paced)
This training, available via the Harvard Training Portal, introduces staff, faculty and administrators across the University to Harvard’s records schedules. These important policy tools provide guidance for all Harvard staff and faculty on how long records must be retained. You will learn how to navigate Harvard’s online records schedules interface and how to apply the records schedules in your work at the University.
This course will:
- Define a University record
- Introduce employee stewardship responsibilities
- Explain what records schedules are
- Explain how to use the records schedule interface, including how to search and browse
- And, explain how to read a records schedule
Introduction to Harvard’s Records Schedules (Zoom)
This instructor-led training complements the self-paced training available via the Harvard Training Portal. It offers a brief introduction for staff, faculty and administrators across the University to Harvard’s records schedules, and provides attendees with the opportunity for a live Q+A with Records Management Services staff.
Who should attend: All employees who want to effectively manage their office's administrative or program records.
What you will learn:
- What a University record is and all employee’s stewardship responsibilities
- What records schedules are and how to use the records schedule interface, including how to search and browse
- How to read a records schedule and apply its guidance to records in your office
Trash or Treasure: Guidance on Retaining Your Office Records (Zoom)
Have you ever wondered, "How long do I need to keep my office records? Can I throw them away when I am done with them?" This workshop provides tools and advice to help you determine how long to keep your records and what to do when you no longer need to hold onto them. Whether you feel like you’re drowning in information or you're concerned that you're keeping records too long or not long enough, this workshop is for you.
Length: 90 minutes
Who should attend: All employees who want to effectively manage their office's administrative or program records.
What you will learn:
- What the resources are to help determine how long to keep your office records
- What to do with records when they are no longer needed by your office
- How to use Harvard's guide for records commonly found across the University
Out of Sight: Off-site Records Storage (Zoom)
This workshop will present the step-by-step process of sending records to off-site storage at the Harvard Depository. We cover everything from how to pack a box to how to complete the deposit paperwork.
Length: 90 minutes
Who should attend: Employees who have not yet sent records to storage as well as anyone in charge of packing and depositing boxes who would like a refresher course.
What you will learn
- How to identify records eligible for storage
- How to pack and label boxes correctly
- How to complete the paperwork
- How to retrieve records back to your office
Prerequisite: You should be familiar with the General Records Schedule (GRS) and how to apply it to your records before taking this class. To gain this prerequisite knowledge, complete the Introduction to Harvard’s Records Schedule training, via the Harvard Training Portal, prior to attending.
Email Management & Retention (Zoom)
This workshop will introduce methods for gaining control of email and managing it according to Harvard records policies as well as provide tips on how to organize your email.
Length: 90 minutes
Who should attend: All employees who want to effectively manage their email.
What you will learn
- Methods of controlling email
- The application of the General Records Schedule to email
- Examples of types of email with their appropriate retentions
Prerequisite: You should be familiar with the General Records Schedule (GRS) and how to apply it to your records before taking this class. To gain this prerequisite knowledge, complete the Introduction to Harvard’s Records Schedule training, via the Harvard Training Portal, prior to attending.
Contact
The Harvard University Archives is the primary repository for Harvard's institutional records. Records Management Services at the University Archives serves Central Administration, Harvard College, the graduate and professional schools (with the exception of HBS and the Longwood campus), research centers and institutes, and affiliated Harvard entities.
The University Archives' Records Management Services staff work in partnership with other archives and records management programs:
- HBS Archives and Records Management Program at Baker Library Historical Collections serves the Harvard Business School.
- The Archives and Records Management Program in the Center for the History of Medicine, Countway Library, serves the Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Harvard University Archives
Pusey Library, Harvard Yard
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States