Standing document 05
Custody and Succession
What "kept for a hundred years" means, and what happens to the archive beyond any one steward.
01
Nothing accessioned is ever deleted
Once a recording is accessioned, it stays part of the archive—including at the request of the witness who contributed it. What can change is metadata: a coordinate correction, reviewed and either accepted or declined by a steward, with both the original and the suggested value kept on the record.
02
An independent project, provided as it stands
The archive is an independent project. It aims to stay available and accurate, and is provided as it stands, without warranties, while it does.
03
Beyond any one steward
The stewardship of the archive is not tied to any single person continuing to run it. Should stewardship pass to someone else, the standards in this document and in Accession Standards continue to govern what the archive holds and how it is reviewed.
Rules
01
An accessioned recording is never deleted, including by the witness who made it.
02
A coordinate can be corrected but not silently overwritten — both values are kept.
03
The accession standards persist independent of who currently stewards the archive.