A typical archival donation process can run anywhere from a few days to a few weeks depending on the complexity and size of the donation. If you are interested in donating but not sure what is involved, here are the steps to a typical archival donation.
1. Reach out to Archivist or Library Director
- The donation process begins by contacting the Archivist and sharing information about the material you wish to donate. If known, please also alert the Archivist to any potential damage to the records or sensitive information contained within the records.
2. If needed: on-site visit
- While smaller or exclusively digital donations may not require an on-site visit, it can be helpful for the Archivist to do an on-site review of records as it can help determine what material can be kept or destroyed, materials have enduring value, and come up with a plan for managing/retaining records. On this visit the Archivist will inspect material with the donor to ensure condition, note whether or not the material duplicates existing records, and box/inventory items for shipping. This is also a good opportunity to discuss any questions that may be lingering from the initial correspondence.
3. Paperwork: Transfer Agreement if in house, or Deed of Gift if external donor
- During the donation process, the Archivist will document what material is gifted and how the Archives will utilize this material. You will get a receipt of donation in the form of a Internal Transfer Agreement if you are a current MSK employee sending administrative or research material that was created on MSK property, or a Deed of Gift if you are a former MSK employee, or outside party in custody of material of interest to the MSK Archives.
4. Arrange for box pickup
- Small donations can be delivered to the Archives and this can be coordinated with the Archivist to ensure safe delivery of all items. For larger items or a big group of items, the Archivist will coordinate with their off-site storage vendor for initial holding of content before it can be processed.
5. Processing and possibly Publication
- Following donation, the Archivist will put the items received into the processing workflow to allow items to be preserved and possibly published for researcher review if there is no privacy or proprietary reason to limit access. This stage involves putting materials into preservation storage containers, increasing description to better understand the items, and integrating them with any potential existing collections to better tell the full story of these items. Processing is a labor intensive practice that can take several weeks to complete, so assuming any content may be made public, it may take many months before this material can be published.
