Vermont State Archives & Records Administration

Welcome to the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration (VSARA)

Meet Your State Archivist: Gregory Sanford

When Gregory Sanford became Editor of State Papers in 1982, Vermont had no formal State Archives. The State Papers Division followed an older model of annotating and publishing 18th Century government records. The State's archival records were stored haphazardly in a basement vault in the Pavilion in Montpelier's flood plain. There was almost no intellectual control over the records. Records management was handled in a similarly ad hoc fashion, through the Public Records Division of Buildings and General Services. The two units, despite their similar goals, did not work together.   [...more]

VSARA Recommends...

Thinking About Scanning?

Increasingly, state government makes records available in electronic format. Therefore it is not surprising that interest in imaging, often referred to as scanning, has grown. There are, however, a few things that agencies and departments should know before jumping into an imaging project. [...more]

In the News

E-mails and Record-Keeping

The struggle to manage records in an electronic environment is an ongoing battle for records managers, and questions about what should or shouldn't be done with e-mail are a particularly hot topic. [...more]

VSARA in Action

New Developments in Records Management at ACCD

VSARA has been working closely with staff at the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) since 2009 to create and implement a complete records and information management program. This work includes the development of new records retention schedules (which are found on our website at http://vermont-archives.org/records/schedules/agency/); replacing outdated and incomplete disposition orders, and thoroughly reviewing the laws and regulations that apply to ACCD's records. [...more]

Spotlight on Legal Issues

Litigation Costs and "Discovery" of Electronically Stored Information

Information is exploding in quantity and detail, and more and more of it is being created or stored in electronic form. Often this Electronically Stored Information ("ESI") is found in and across multiple locations and systems. These trends give rise to considerations that were unknown only a few years ago. [...more]