Why is Reviewing Paperwork So Overwhelming?

Everyone has a different goal when they are organizing their belongings, and everyone has a different need for accessibility. Certain items may be accessed more regularly, while others are being kept and catalogued for posterity. One Artist may focus on cataloguing historical documentation, while others may place more of an emphasis on costumes and awards. The approach one has to organizing either category can be very different. So today we are going to talk about organizing paperwork and documentation.

When we approach paperwork it’s a little more complicated than any other category. Why? There are several reasons. 1) It’s never just one sheet of paper. Some documents can be hundreds of pages long! No wonder it’s always the last item to be reviewed. 2). All paperwork must be read in order to identify if the document needs to be kept. This information is imperative for properly cataloging each document for retrieval purposes. 3). Older paperwork is not usually the paper we see today. Much of what is found is on carbon copies, damaged, or illegible, which can make reviewing it even more challenging.

We know first hand that it can be very time consuming for someone to go through one box of documentation, but what if there are hundreds? Yes - we said hundreds! Many Artist’s have decades worth of paperwork that isn’t physically or virtually organized because they started their careers BC (before computers) and it’s all gone into storage. To give some context on how much documentation some Artist’s have, we’ve included some example numbers for you below.

Paperwork is typically stored in file boxes. These boxes hold anywhere from 2,000-5,000 sheets of paper, depending on the box style and paper stored. Now imagine you have 100 Boxes… that’s anywhere from 200,000-500,000 sheets of paper! And let’s add another layer here, imagine that nothing is organized. Imagine that files are mixed between boxes, and that photos are found with contracts, and articles are found with old tour itineraries. That is a LOT for anyone to handle, let alone a family member who is also experiencing an emotional connection to these documents.

Before you catalogue and digitize anything, the first step we suggest is to establish a framework for what you are working with and to establish categories for the documentation you are finding. Once you have that generally in place, it’s time to start READING and sorting. Yes, that’s a lot of reading, but it’s necessary because paperwork can be very important for your legacy and an incredibly valuable reference for backup and legal purposes. Artist’s teams often don’t even know that this information is available to them because they don’t know that it exists. That is why hiring someone to physically review and catalogue everything in storage can be a game changer for an Artist’s Team, family, and legacy.

Until next month!

Your Friends,

@ My ARTIST ARCHIVE

P.S... Have questions? Wanna hear more about our services or speak to someone regarding scheduling an appointment.  Send us an email @ info@myartistarchive.com or fill out the form on our CONTACT page!

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