Slogans are a good way to convey ideas in a condensed form. Here are the ones on archives and records management I have collected from various sources, mostly from mailing lists.

Slogans on archives

• The preservers of history are as heroic as its makers. (Pat Neff, Governor of Texas and President of Baylor University)
• Archives are forever.
• History alive.
• Preserving history.
• Making heroes.
• What's past is prologue. (William Shakespeare in "The Tempest". Also, chiseled onto the edifice of the National Archives of the United States.) [Reference information contributed by Peter Gunther]
• The great use of a life is to spend it for something that outlasts it. (William James) [Contributed by Mark Lambert]
• Preserving our past and flourishing in the future. (Debbie Edmondson)
• The written word endures - be sure to create it and preserve it. (a NARA poster)
• History is Everything. [Contributed by Valerie A. Metzler]
• It depends on those who pass
  Whether I am a tomb or treasure
  Whether I speak or am silent
  The choice is yours alone.
  Friend, do not enter without desire.
  (Verse by Paul Valery on the wall of a library & archives in Paris.) [Contributed by Joe Anderson]
• An archive is a dump without the seagulls. (Shoe, 1990) [Contributed by Bart Ryckbosch]
• Glory is acquired by virtue but preserved by letters. (Petrarch) [Contributed by Ellen Chapman]
• Archivists are like Mechanics, no one wants to give them money or the time of day until something breaks when they become God's amongst men. (Alex Rankin) [Contributed by Bob Coghill]
• People say I'm a packrat. They may be right. But I prefer the term archivist. (McNeely 16 Dec. 1995) [Contributed by Bob Coghill]
• Of all our national assets, Archives are the most precious; they are the gift of one generation to another and the extent of our care of them marks the extent of our civilization. (Arthur G. Doughty, Dominion Archivist, 1904-1935) [Contributed by Bob Coghill]
• Those who do not remember the past are condemned to relive it. (Santayana) [Contributed by Lynn Smith]

Slogans on Records Management

• Information is power.
• Time is money.
• Records should earn their keep.
• The future is in the making, not the waiting.
• Control your records before they control you.
• ...not all information is created equal !! (Larry Medina)
• For the Record...
• Information becomes far more a commercial commodity, ephemeral, instant, disposable, yet powerful, indispensable, and sought after. It'll be an interesting ride, but can we cope? (Bruce Montgomery, Univ. of Colorado)
• Behind every successful manager is a Records Manager.
• Records are food for thought, not for mice. (A student of the Department.)
• Appraisal is the acid test of where a person stands in the archival world. (Marc Wolfe)
• Information is the currency of democracy. (Thomas Jefferson)
• To Keep or Not to Keep... Is that Your Question?
• To shred or not to shred; that is the question. (Peter Kurilecz)
• Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. (S. Johnson)
• Records management is like an elevator. You do not notice it until it is not there.
• RIM is like oxygen - noone ever notices it unless it is missing. [Contributed by Sheila Taylor & Gregg Astoorian]
• Helping in ways you never imagined. (Arthur Andersen Co.)
• Records Management: Preserving our past, providing access to our future. (Lee Michael)
• Records Management: Preserving the past, preparing the future, protecting the present. (George D. Darnell)
• Preserving yesterday, managing today, preparing for tomorrow. (ARMA + Thomas L. Meyers)
• Insure the future by preserving the past. (Andrew Lund)
• Records Management: When you absolutely need to know where it is. (Peter Kurilecz)
• Records Management: Just say "No!" to chaos. (Peter Kurilecz)
• Records Management: Collate, fold, spindle, mutilate, shred. (Darrel Parker)
• Increasing efficiency, reducing costs. (Wayne Duncan)
• Records - a renewable source. (Andrea Taylor-Reeves)
• Records management is the only profession that knows in advance what it is going to forget. (Dick King)
• Know when to hold'em, stow'em and throw'em. [Contributed by Nancy B. Grepper]
• Records Management: Knowing what to throw away. (Fresko Marc)
• Do you know where your records are at 10:00 p.m.?
• Records Management is like a life preserver; you never think you will need it but... (Hugh Smith)
• Records management means never having to say you are sorry. (Jan Schuffman).
• Help me records manager! You are my only hope. (Jan Schuffman)
• Records Management: Wanna see something REALLY scary? (Jan Schuffman)
• If you purge it, they will come. (Jan Schuffman)
• Let records management take you... from heap to harmony... from chaos to control. (Christopher Gaines)
• Protecting the corporate asset. (Christopher Gaines)
• Protecting our collective asset. (Christopher Gaines)
• Records Management: Ensuring access to essential information. (Tod Chernikoff)
• State-of-the-art automation will never beat the wastebasket when it comes to speeding up efficiency in the office. (Ann Landers Gem of the Day, July 27, 1994) [Contributed by Charles R. Schultz]
• Change Filing into Smiling. (Karen Heraldo)
• Information which is not communicated is valueless
  Information which cannot be found is worthless
  The value of Information is directly related to its accessibility. (Katie Geuin)
• If only we knew what we already know. (Glenn Sanders)
• Records are the corporate memory, everything else is anecdote. (Glenn Sanders)
• Success is when preperation meets opportunity. (Chris Flynn)
• "Without access to information there is no transparency;
  without transparency there is no accountability;
  and without transparency and accountability there is no democracy." (Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe, Senior Lecturer in Law from the University of Dar es Salaam) [Contributed by Ginny Jones]
• "Without records, there is no information;
  without information, there is no functionality;
  without functionality, we're as good as dead." (Ira Penn?) [Contributed by Ginny Jones]
• ABC of RM:
  A: Keep what must be kept
  B: Shred what may be shredded
  C: Understand the difference between A and B (Yves Légaré)
• Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders. (Ronald Reagan) [Contributed by Chris Flynn]
• Private information is practically the source of every large modern fortune. (Oscar Wilde) [Contributed by Chris Flynn]
• The idea that information can be stored in a changing world without an overwhelming depreciation of its value is false. It is scarcely less false than the more plausible claim that after a war we may take our existing weapons, fill their barrels with cylinder oil, and coat their outsides with sprayed rubber film, and let them statically await the next emergency. (Norbert Wiener (1894-1964), U.S. mathematician, educator, founder of Cybernetics) [Contributed by Chris Flynn]
• Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification. (Martin Fischer (1885-1959) Australian novelist.) [Contributed by Chris Flynn]

Archives and Records Management related humour

• Archivists make it last longer.
• Let a Records Manager in your drawers.
• Ancient Egyptians wrote their history on walls, because they were smart enough to know that, if they put it in the files, it would be lost forever. (from a cartoon)
• How many academic librarians does it take to change a light bulb? [Contributed by Blake Carver, from a thread in the LISNEWS listserv.]
  • One archivist to preserve and catalog the old, burnt-out light bulb
  • One acquisitions librarian to order the new light bulb;
  • One cataloger to catalog and classify the new light bulb when received according to AACR2 standards, noting wattage, color, fluorescent or incandescent, etc.;
  • One reference librarian to ascertain that the light bulb ordered is what the patron REALLY wants;
  • One media services librarian to make sure the bulb meets stated instructional objectives;
  • One government publications librarian to check that the bulb meets federal standards;
  • One circulation librarian to check out the bulb;
  • One dean of libraries to oversee the entire process;
  • One student worker to actually change the light bulb.
    The correct answer is: "CHANGE??!!!!??" (screamed loudly with fear in your voice.)
• Top 10 Reasons to not get Organized [Contributed by Donna P. Wilson]
  1. Hunting for important documents adds excitement to a boring schedule.
  2. Stacking papers on your desk protects it from ultraviolet radiation.
  3. Being as confused as everyone else helps you fit in.
  4. Moving piles of paper keeps you in shape.
  5. If you understood what you were doing, you would be terrified.
  6. Confusion brings out the best in you.
  7. Organization kills creativity.
  8. Shuffling papers prevents dust from piling up.
  9. Your competitors spies will never find what they're seeking.
  10. Clutter magnifies your importance.
• Some more [Contributed by Andrea Taylor-Reeves]
  • TILLIS' ORGANIZATIONAL PRINCIPLE: If you file it, you'll know where it is but never need it. If you don't file it, you'll need it but never know where it is.
  • Anyone can make a decision given enough facts. A good manager can make a decision without enough facts. A perfect manager can operate in perfect ignorance.
  • MURPHY'S UNAVOIDABLE LAW OF THE OFFICE: Copy machines mangle only important documents. COROLLARY: If a machine goes wild and runs off 180 copies, it will do so when you are copying a personal letter.
  • The best laid plans of mice and men are all filed away somewhere.
  • The crucial memorandum will be snared in the out-basket by the paper clip of the overlying correspondence and go to file.
  • The only important information in a hierarchy is who knows what.
  • Always make a copy of everything on your computer. If it's really important, make two.
  • New systems generate new problems
  • MOLLISON'S BUREAUCRACY HYPOTHESIS: If any idea can survive a bureaucracy review and be implemented, it wasn't worth doing.
  • GOLUB'S LAW OF COMPUTERDOM: A carelessly planned project takes three times longer to complete than expected; a carefully planned project takes only twice as long.
  • WEINER'S LAW OF LIBRARIES: There are no answers, only cross references.
  • LERMAN'S LAW OF TECHNOLOGY: Any technical problem can be overcome given enough time and money. LERMAN'S COROLLARY: You are never given enough time or money.
  • Always keep a record of data. It indicates you've been working.

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