Conference
Future of Monetary Archival Appraisal
in Canada
was held in Ottawa on October 22-23, 2007

The proceedings of the Conference on the Future of Monetary Archival Appraisal in Canada are now available in PDF form on our site in separate English and French versions. The conference was attended by more than 157 NAAB and independent appraisers, representatives from archival institutions, professional archivists from across Canada, recent and future graduates from information science, history and archives programs, as well as stakeholders and leaders within the Canadian archival system.

Click here to download a copy of the proceedings.

WHO ARE WE?

The National Archival Appraisal Board (NAAB) is an independent not-for-profit corporation created to provide appraisal services for donations of archival records to Canadian cultural institutions.  Its services are provided to institutions at arm’s length by qualified professionals at the lowest cost possible.

Background

Monetary appraisals of archival donations were first undertaken in 1971 under the aegis of a committee of the Canadian Historical Association composed of three historians and two archivists.  The National Archival Appraisal Board was established in 1976 to continue the work under more formal arrangements.  NAAB became an independent not-for-profit organization when it incorporated in 1983.  Its objectives have remained the same throughout that period:

1.      To serve the need for reasonably priced expert appraisal services among Canadian archival repositories;

2.      To promote greater understanding of the appraisal process among archivists and others working with archival material by encouraging research and organizing seminars and conferences;

3.      To provide a balanced approach to the appraisal process by the inclusion of archivists, dealers and researchers familiar with the value of archival documents.
 

NAAB’s services

NAAB conducts its work by appointing appraisal committees that examine donations of archival materials, determine their monetary value and prepare a report on the monetary value of each donation.  In accordance with provincial and federal tax regulations concerning donations in kind, the institution can then issue its donor a receipt for the value stated on the appraisal report. 

Appraisal committees are generally appointed by a regional director or assistant. A NAAB appraisal committee is usually composed of at least one archivist, one researcher and one dealer.  In special cases, additional members may be appointed when the nature of the material requires particular expertise.

NAAB appraisal committees are responsible for the determination of the fair market value of the archival donations submitted by the institution. The definition of the fair market value is that used by the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board; it is understood to be “the highest price, expressed in terms of money, that the property would bring in an open and unrestricted market between a willing buyer and a willing seller who are both knowledgeable, informed, and prudent, and who are acting independently of each other”.

Governance

NAAB’s affairs are directed by a Chairman (Ken Larose), a Vice-Chairman (Marcel Caya) and a board of seven members, six of whom represent a region of the country: Atlantic (Burton Glendenning), Quebec (Marcel Caya), Ontario (Elwood Jones), West (Doug Cass), B.C. and Yukon (George Brandak), National Capital (Ottawa and vicinity) ( David Russell)

Secretariat

NAAB’s Secretariat is provided by the office of the Canadian Council of Archives. All correspondence should be addressed to: