This Web page provides information that may be useful to individuals considering donating material to a repository and organizations collecting personal papers.  It outlines what individuals need to know when donating material to a repository and discusses how individuals can prepare material for donation.

When Donating Material to a Repository

Consult with an organization's staff before dropping off or mailing your material.

• The staff will need time to prepare to accept your donation and to determine whether your donation fits its collecting policies. 
• To identify an archives, library, or other organization collecting the kinds of material you have, consult our list of organizational documentation projects
  
  

Contemplate donating multiple items.

• For example, if you have photographs of memorials, consider writing a short statement describing where and when you took them and how seeing the memorials affected you.
  
• A brief autobiographical statement will also help staff and future researchers.
  
  

Sign the repository's donation agreement.

• This agreement will legally transfer ownership of the material to the institution so that it can preserve the material permanently.  You may also be asked to transfer your copyright to the institution or the public domain.  Staff will explain the provisions of the donation agreement to you and, in some instances, can modify it to meet your wishes.
  
  

You may request that access to your material be restricted. 

• Many repositories are willing to limit access to sensitive material for a predetermined period of time (e.g., ten years). 

How To Prepare Material For Donation

Letters and e-mail messages

• Make sure that all printouts of e-mail include the name and e-mail address of the sender and recipient(s), the date the message was sent, and the subject line.
  
  
• Create a list of all correspondents and other people mentioned in the correspondence.  Include each person's full name, if possible, and relationship to you (e.g., "mother," "college roommate and former co-worker")
  

Written or recorded first-person accounts

• Your account can be handwritten, typed or printed onto paper, or on a floppy disc or CD.  If you wish to submit material in electronic format, contact the repository before doing so: some institutions do not have the equipment needed to process such material.
  
  
• If your account does not contain the full names of relatives and friends or does not specify their relationship to you, create a separate listing of people's names and their relationship to you.
  

Photographs, digital images, videotapes, or CDs/DVDs documenting responses to the tragedy  

• For each photograph, image, cassette, or disc, write a short statement identifying the people, events, and places depicted and the date of its creation.  Do not write on the backs of photographs with any type of pen!  The ink will eventually bleed through and destroy the image.  Use pencil (do not press hard) or photocopy each photograph and write on the photocopy.
  
  
• Label all casettes and discs.  Include your full name (or the name of the person who shot the footage), a capsule description of the events depicted, e.g., "Girl Scout Troop #433 bake sale for Twin Towers Fund, Anytown, N.Y." and the date.
  
  
• If you are donating photographs, consider donating the negatives as well.
  
  
• Some institutions will accept digital images submitted via e-mail.   However, you should contact the repository before submitting images in this fashion.
  
  
• Remember:  at present, private citizens are legally barred from photographing or filming the World Trade Center site.  It is a crime scene, and access to it remains tightly restricted.  Please respect the law and the feelings of victims' families.
  
  
• If you have images that document the disaster as it occurred, the Federal Bureau of Investigation may want to examine them.  Contact the FBI via telephone at 1-866-483-5137 (TTY:  1-866-550-8833) or use the online form available at:  www.ifccfbi.gov
  

Audio- or videotaped oral histories

• Label all cassettes or discs.  Include the full names of the interviewer and interviewee, the place the interview was conducted, and the date.
  
  
• Write a brief (1-2 paragraph) statement describing the interviewer's and interviewee's background and relationship to one another.

Artwork

• For paper-based artwork, use a pencil to write the creator's name, the title of the piece (if any), and the date of its production on the back of the piece.  If the artwork was produced by a child, consider including the child's age.
  
  
• For three-dimensional artwork, write the creator's name, title of the work, and the date of its production on a paper label that will accompany the artwork.
  
  
• Consider writing a brief statement discussing why and how the work was produced.
  
  
• Some repositories may have additional requirements.

Web sites and other multimedia presentations

• Each institution has different requirements.  For example, some collect paper printouts of Web pages, and others want electronic files.  Contact the repository for more information.