Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date

The beginning date on which the record group, collection, or series was created, maintained, or accumulated by the creator.

Enter the beginning date on which the record group, collection, or series was created, maintained, or accumulated by the creator.

Dates of Recordkeeping and Series Creator(s)

The Dates of Recordkeeping should fall within or equal the dates of the Creating Organizations(s) or Creating Individual(s) in the Series to ensure the creator(s) existed during the time period when the records were created, maintained, or accumulated. For Creating Organizations, the Dates of RecordKeeping should fall within or equal the Establish Date and Abolish Date of the Organization Name(s). For Creating Individuals, the Dates of Recordkeeping should fall within or be equal to the Person(s)'s Birth Date and Death Date.

For preliminary descriptions, Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date may fall outside the dates of the creating organization.

Dates of Recordkeeping Versus Dates of Records
Dates of Recordkeeping comprise the time period during which the record group, collection, or series was created, maintained, or accumulated as a unified filing system by the creator because of some relationship arising out of the records creation, receipt, or use. Dates of Records comprises the time period the records themselves were created. In many, but not all cases, this time period is the same as the time period covered by the subject(s) of the archival materials.

Active Accretions
If accretions to the record group, collection, or archival materials are still being sent to NARA, Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date and Dates of Recordkeeping End Date should define the time span for which the repository has holdings. For record groups, collections, or series that have yearly accretions, update Dates of Recordkeeping End Date when the record group, collection, or archival materials is accessioned.

Unknown Date
If you do not know the dates of a record group, collection, or series, estimate the century in which the record group, collection, or archival materials were created. Enter the first year of the century (1700) in Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date, enter the last year of the century (1799) in Dates of Recordkeeping End Date, and use the "?" in Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date Qualifier and Dates of Recordkeeping End Date Qualifier.

For donated materials, estimate the dates based on the person or organization that created the materials. If you know the birth and death dates of the Creating Individual or the establish and abolish dates of the Creating Organization, use those as Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date and Dates of Recordkeeping End Date. If the birth date or establish date is unknown, enter the first year of the century in which the collection or series was known to exist in the Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date. If the death date or abolish date is unknown, use the donation date as Dates of Recordkeeping End Date. In all cases, use the ca. qualifier to indicate uncertainty.

When the Date Span is Only One Date
If the date is a specific day (02/11/1969), month (02/1969), or year (1969), enter the date in Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date and then repeat the same specific date in Dates of Recordkeeping End Date.

When the Date Span is One of Two Years
If the date is one of two years (1953 or 1954), then enter the first year (1953) in Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date, enter the second year (1954) in Dates of Recordkeeping End Date, and use the "ca." in Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date Qualifier and Dates of Recordkeeping End Date Qualifier.

When the Date Span is Several Years
If the dates fall between several years (1826-1835), then enter the earliest possible date (1826) in Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date, enter the latest possible date (1835) in Dates of Recordkeeping End Date, and use the "ca." in Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date Qualifier and Dates of Recordkeeping End Date Qualifier.

When the Date Span is a Decade
When describing a decade as a date span, enter the first year of the decade (1920) in Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date, enter the last year of the decade (1929) in Dates of Recordkeeping End Date, and use the "ca." in Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date Qualifier and Dates of Recordkeeping End Date Qualifier.

When the Date Span is a Century
When describing a century as a date span, enter the first year of the century (1700) in Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date, enter the last year of the century (1799) in Dates of Recordkeeping End Date, and use the "ca." in Dates of Recordkeeping Start Date Qualifier and Dates of Recordkeeping End Date Qualifier.

Date Form
Enter the date in MM/DD/YYYY form.
If the day is unknown, enter the month and year in the MM/YYYY form.
If the month is unknown, enter the year in the YYYY form.
Do not use 00 as a month or day.

Multiple Dates
If multiple date elements are used in a description at the Record Group, Collection, or Series Level, it is no longer required to explain the distinctions in Date Note as differences in the values are expected. At the File Unit and Item Level, it is not necessary to explain the distinctions between multiple date elements.