Appendix A - Society of American Archivists

2.7.5. Where the administrative/biographical history is provided within the description,provide administrative/biographical history at the highest levels of description asinstructed in rules 2.7.6 to 2.733.2.7.6. At the highest level of description, give information about the history of thecorporate body(ies), person(s), or family(ies) that created, assembled, accumulated,and/or maintained and used the material as a whole.2.7.7. Optionally, at subsequent levels of description, if the creator of the subordinateunit is different from the creator of the material as a whole, give information about thehistory of the corporate body(ies), person(s), or family(ies) that created, assembled,accumulated, and/or maintained and used that subordinate unit.2.7.8. When primary responsibility for the creation, assembly, accumulation, and/ormaintenance and use of the materials is shared between two or more corporate bodies, ortwo or more persons, or two or more families, create separate administrative/biographicalhistories for each corporate body, person, or family.2.7.9. When primary responsibility for the creation, assembly, accumulation, and/ormaintenance and use of the materials is shared between two or more members of afamily, create separate biographical histories for the family and for each person.Selection of the Sub-Elements2.7.10. Include in the Administrative/Biographical History all of the following subelements30 that are relevant to the corporate body, family, or person being described andthat provide the information necessary to explain the context in which the materials werecreated, assembled, accumulated, and/or maintained and used.Biographical History of Individuals or Families2.7.11. Record information relevant to the understanding of the life, activities, andrelationships of the person or family, applying rules 2.7.12 to 2.7.21 as necessary.Bessye J. Bearden was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1891,the youngest child of George and Carrie Banks. She attended localschools in North Carolina, Hartshorn Memorial College inRichmond, and Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute from whichshe graduated. In later years Mrs. Bearden did graduate work atthe University of Western Pennsylvania and Columbia University.At the age 20, Bessye Banks married R. Howard Bearden. They hadone son, Romare, who became an internationally renowned artist.Mrs. Bearden managed the New York office of the E. C. Brown RealEstate Company of Philadelphia for many years. She was also the30The way in which the sub-elements are presented to users is a matter of institutional policy. Repositoriesmay choose the order in which to present the sub-elements, or whether to present them in a narrative formator in a structured format with each element introduced by an introductory word or phrase.38DESCR IB IN G ARCH IVE S: A CON TENT STAND ARD