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Donations and Collection Policy
The Carnegie Branch Library for Local History collects original and secondary materials pertaining to Boulder and Boulder County history.
Since 1983, donors of the Carnegie Branch Library for Local History have generously helped us expand our historical collections and increase exposure of irreplaceable, one-of-a-kind materials to the public. We welcome your historical materials and monetary gifts in order to continue to enhance these truly unique collections. This can be best accomplished by ensuring that materials offered to the Library meet the Library's collection policy.
Primary sources include:
- The Document Collection - personal papers, family papers, organizational records and architectural records. Types of material found in a manuscript collection may include:
- Diaries/Journals/Letters
- Photographs
- Assessor's Records
- Financial Records
- Legal Records
- Memoirs/Reminiscences
- Memoranda
- Newsletters/Organizational Publications
- Oral History Tapes & Transcripts
- Postcards
- Reports/Minutes
- Scrapbooks
- City and County records
- Newspaper clippings
- Speeches/Lectures
- Pamphlets/Brochures/Flyers
- Architectural Drawings and blueprints
- Videotapes/CDs/DVDs
- The Map Collection - primarily consists of Boulder and Boulder County including some mining maps.
- The Photograph Collection - prints of Boulder and Boulder County including some well know Boulder County photographers.
- Secondary Sources include books, pamphlets and government publications.
For more information about supporting these collections, contact Wendy Hall at hallw@boulderlibrary.org.
Why donate your materials to our archive?
The histories of individuals, families, communities, businesses and organizations are documented by the records they create. These records provide unique and vital information to the community. By placing your records of your family, business or organization in an appropriate repository ensures that:
- The records will be cared for by professional archivists, librarians and curators whose responsibility is to organize, protect, preserve and provide access to these important documents.
- The records will become part of the community's collective memory.
- The records will be available for research by future generations.
- The records are made widely available to researchers both in person and via the internet.
How to Donate Your Materials
We request that you meet with our staff prior to making your donation. The staff will review your materials to make sure they meet our collection policy. You may choose, if you wish, to be notified of materials the library may decide not to keep. We may also be able to suggest a more appropriate repository for the material.
We will also ask that you provide collection information for your donation. This includes historical information about the person or organization responsible for compiling the items in the collection. Any background information that might help a researcher better understand the people, places and events in this collection are greatly appreciated.
The condition of your donation
It is preferable that your collection be donated in its entirety at one time. Due to accession methods, we prefer entire collections be donated at one time, rather than on an ongoing basis. Any materials that do not pertain to Boulder County history should be removed. It is helpful to our archivists to receive material in original order in which it was used and/or stored. Appraisals. It is the responsibility of the donor to establish the value of the donated materials prior to the donation, if the donation is needed for income tax purposes. We can not provide this service for you.
The Deed of Gift
Once it has been determined that the material is appropriate to our archive, the donor will be asked to sign a Deed of Gift Form. The Deed of Gift Form is a written agreement between the donor and the Library. It describes the material being donated, transfers any rights to the Library and lists any restrictions on the material.
Deed of Gift Form [PDF] | Collection Information Form [PDF]
Restrictions
In rare cases, we accept a collection with restrictions. Most restrictions on collections pertain to the reproduction to the material versus the access to it. It is important to discuss any restrictions with staff prior to your donation taking place.
It is important to understand that any material donated to the Library legally and physically becomes the permanent property of the Library. No materials, once donated, may be borrowed back by the donor. For this reason, we encourage organizations to donate their materials only after the organization is no longer operating.
Transfer of ownership
Transfer of ownership may or may not include copyright. Copyright belongs to the creator of the material or his or her heirs. The transfer of copyright applies only to those materials actually created by the donor. If your donation contains materials created by other parties (such as correspondence received from others), the copyright interests are held by those creators, though you have the right to transfer the physical object to the Library.
Monetary Donations
To the Carnegie Branch Library
We are grateful to donors who are able to make a contribution toward the processing, cataloging, and preservation of the collection. Your donations are sometimes matched by the Boulder Public Library Foundation, which supports Boulder Public Library programming.
Make a tax-deductible financial donation to the archive by making your check payable to
Carnegie Branch Library for Local History
1125 Pine Street
Boulder, CO 80302
To the Maria Rogers Oral History Program
In 1997, the family of Maria Rogers established an endowment--a permanent fund from which only the interest, not the principal, would be spent. To-date the endowment has reached $350,000 and is still slowly growing. If you choose to make a donation to this fund, your contribution will support the program for years to come.
If you would like to contribute to the endowment, please make your check payable to the Boulder Public Library Foundation, put Oral History endowment in the memo section, and mail it to Maria Rogers Oral History Program at 1125 Pine Street, Boulder, CO 80302.
For further information contact the Carnegie Branch Library for Local History at, 1125 Pine Street, Boulder, CO 80302-1424. Telephone 303-441-3110. Hallw@boulderlibrary.org
Thanks for your support!
Collection Policy
Access our collection policy online.
