Texas A&M Libraries Preserves SEC History

The Texas A&M University Libraries Preservation Unit recently teamed up with the Southeastern Conference (SEC) to save decades worth of historical documents related to the athletic conference.

The SEC began working with the University Libraries in 2018 on how to best preserve the conference’s historical records and documents spanning more than nine decades. A team of experts from the University Libraries Preservation Unit traveled to the SEC headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama, to meet with conference officials and assess the collection and determine the best course of action for the preservation efforts. A year later, the preservation unit began processing the SEC’s historic records and objects.

“It has been a pleasure working with the experts at the Texas A&M University Libraries on this special project,” said Torie A. Johnson, associate commissioner for the SEC. “When we first met three years ago, we had no idea a pandemic would halt our progress, but through it all, the team there has been persistent. It is amazing to now see their attention to detail and care displayed in each restored and properly rehoused SEC document. We really cannot thank Texas A&M enough for helping us with our private collection.”

All digitization, digital file processing, rehousing, conservation treatments and logistics were handled exclusively by preservation unit faculty, staff and student employees, and were completed at the end of summer 2021. The work included scanning more than 21,000 pages of historical records. Once the work was completed, the preservation unit presented the SEC with a full written report of work completed, including guidance for continued excellence in collections stewardship for storage, exhibition, as well as the digital preservation of their new digital collection produced from this project.

“Our unit was honored to have the SEC’s trust on such a meaningful project,” said Sean Buckner, director of preservation. “I appreciated the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Johnson and her team, allowing us to provide our expertise ensuring important historical documents and collections would be saved for future generations.”