Donating to the AHC

The American Heritage Center welcomes inquiries and expressions of interest from individuals, families, organizations, and businesses concerning donations of historical collections. This page will give you an overview of the types of material that may fit our collecting policy.

• Types of Material Collected  (248 k)

However, we encourage you to contact us to learn more or to ask specific questions.

PLEASE do not ship material to us without first consulting one of our archivists; we must evaluate all material offered and ask the donor to sign a gift agreement form.

Two of the questions most frequently asked of us are "do you take everything?" and "how do you decide what to take?" As to the first question, the AHC is not able to accept everything offered to it; when appropriate, staff members will try to refer material to another logical repository. Some material, however, that may have substantial sentimental value to a family or an organization simply does not have sufficient historical value for a wide audience to make preservation in a repository practical. As for the second question, these decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.

Many considerations enter into a decision about what material to acquire. A few of these considerations are: Is the information largely unique or does it roughly duplicate other holdings? Is the physical condition of the material such that it can be preserved within the resources of the repository? Is the collection coherent and mostly complete or merely fragments of what was originally a much more complete set of materials?

Material that is offered to--and accepted by--the AHC is arranged, cataloged into a national database, stored under the best archival conditions, and made available as research material to students, journalists, scholars, and members of the public.

Monetary Appraisals for Tax Deductions. In certain circumstances, it may be possible for a donor to take a tax deduction for the donation of a manuscript collection to a repository. Donors are encouraged to speak with their tax accountants or attorneys about this possibility. Repository staff cannot give tax advice, nor are they permitted to appraise the monetary value of a collection. AHC staff may be able to provide you with a list of local manuscript appraisers who can (for a fee) make monetary appraisals for the donor. It is up to the donor to arrange for and bear the cost of any such appraisal. One place to start is with the American Society of Appraisers, http:www.appraisers.org/findappraiser.

Other Excellent Sources

• A Guide to Deeds of Gift Society of American Archivists
• A Guide to Donating Your Personal or Family Papers to a Repository Society of American Archivists
• A Guide to Donating Your Organizational Records to a Repository Society of American Archivists