Archival Records Include "Machine-Readable Materials"

1950 to 11/2014
Current legal definition of records as of 2020 includes records in physical, digital or electronic form.

Current legal definition of records as of 2020 includes records in physical, digital or electronic form.

The Federal Records Act of 1950 provided the legal framework of federal records management including record creation, maintenance, and disposition or destruction. It also expanded the definition of "record" to include "machine-readable materials." At this time machine-readable records included primarily punched-cards.

"In November 2014, the Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments of 2014 was signed into law by President Barack Obama.[2][3] This bipartisan act, which followed the 2011 President's Memorandum on Managing Government Records, modernizes the Federal Records Act.[2][3] The act expressly expands the definition of federal records to include electronic records (the first change to the definition of "Federal record" since the enactment of the act in 1950).[2][3] The act also grants the Archivist of the United States the final determination as to what constitutes a Federal record; "authorizes the early transfer of permanent electronic federal and presidential records to the National Archives, while legal custody remains with the agency or the president"; "clarifies the responsibilities of federal government officials when using non-government email systems"; and "empowers the National Archives to safeguard original and classified records from unauthorized removal."[2][3] (Wikipedia article on Federal Records Act, accessed 9-2020)

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