Donating Aunt Matilda's papers

 So you want to give your family papers to an archive.  What do you need to do? Usually it’s best to contact an archive before you are ready to put everything in a dumpster so they can determine if it is an appropriate collection for them. I suspect that most people don’t know that archives and museums have mission statements that define the focus of the collecting activities of the institution.  Further, they have specific collecting policies that dictate what they will not only accept, but actively solicit.  Ideally archivists do what is called appraisals before accepting collections. The term means in part making a determination as to the importance and relevance of a collection for the mission of their particular archive. That determination is totally unrelated to monetary value.  Determination of possible monetary value, especially for income tax purposes, (As you know, donors can receive income tax deductions for some donations) is the job of a certified paper appraiser not an archivist.  I can make an educated guess as to research potential of a collection, gauge public interest, and the appropriateness of a collection for a specific institution, but monetary value – no idea and really very little interest.

If you want to donate Aunt Matilda’s papers, you need to find an archive that might be interested in her letters and things. One resource is the local institutions.  They can steer you to the most appropriate facility.  For example, if Aunt Matilda was an army nurse during Vietnam maybe the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech is the best repository for her papers. They actively solicit papers related to the Vietnam era as well as those related to ranching in West Texas.  Hardin-Simmons accepts papers related to the history and people of the region around Abilene.  Abilene Christian University is interested in papers related to the Restoration Movement and Churches of Christ.  You get the idea.

Next question is what do you save if you are charged with cleaning out Aunt Matilda’s attic? It’ s hard to throw things away. (Although some people do it way too easily and important information can be lost.) I’ve worked on quite a few collections salvaged from the dumpster.  Back to what to save and what to throw away.  Some decisions are hard.  Others are easy.  Consider all those National Geographic magazines.  The pictures are so wonderful and the information so interesting that you or Aunt Matilda saved them for years.  But so does everybody else including the National Geographic Society itself.  The Society has even published a CD called the “Complete National Geographic” which has all of the print editions of the magazines since it’s inception in 1888.  So it’s ok to re-cycle yours at the recycling center.  Don’t give it to a library or archives because archivists and librarians can’t be hoarders either.  There’s not enough space or money to preserve all of the paper we have produced even if you just count that from the United States. Examples of what archives generally don’t hoard – more than two or three duplicates; published material available elsewhere; moldy crumbling paper (they might make copies of it if the information is worth it); books that aren’t rare or first editions; perhaps some individual financial material or medical information that raises privacy issues might not belong in an archive.  What is important for an archive to preserve is primary documentation.  That means papers, like letters or notes that have not been published elsewhere.  Of course, every collection is different.  Ask your local archivist or librarian.  They can help.