Donating or depositing records
Wiltshire & Swindon Archives are always looking for new ways to expand and diversify our collections. The main way we add to our collections is by accepting donations and deposits from local organisations and people. This document will guide anyone who wishes to donate or deposit items to the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre for safekeeping.
Background (our mission statement)
Is there a charge for depositing or donating material?
What happens to the material I bring in?
What if I want my documents back?
Archive pests: Guidance for depositors
Background (our mission statement)
The Archives and Local Studies Service seeks to collect, preserve and make accessible the written and pictorial heritage of Wiltshire and Swindon that reflects its diverse communities, economy and landscape; to ensure that people and communities are able to engage with and enjoy activities inspired by archives.
Donating v depositing
Wiltshire & Swindon Archives accept new material by donation (giving us the material) or long-term deposit. Long-term deposits are still legally owned by the depositor but the storage at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre is regarded as indefinite. Occasionally a depositor may want the material to be owned by them until their death when ownership transfers to the Wiltshire & Swindon Archives. If this is the case, please ensure this is in writing as part of your will.
When you bring the material in an archivist will discuss the most appropriate type of deposit with you and will agree the best option with you. In general, we work to the following guidelines:
Donation: any material from a person or estate; material left in a will or found in a house clearance; any material from closed organisations or groups
Long-term deposit: material from public body organisations such as councils, hospitals, and schools; churches (Church of England and non-conformist); local groups such as Women’s Institutes, Rotary Clubs, and sports clubs; independent schools and hospitals. As a rule, if the organisation is still going, deposits are encouraged as it is likely you will be depositing more records in the future.
Wiltshire & Swindon Archives encourages donation of material where possible and where applicable, but we are happy to discuss any requirements.
Wiltshire & Swindon Archives is not a records management service and therefore please only deposit or donate documents that are no longer in current use.
Bequests and legacies
You may wish to ensure your collection is passed to us as a bequest after your death, but that you keep it until that time. If this is something you would like to consider, please get in touch with us so we can discuss the process and ensure we are the most suitable repository for those items. We can provide you with some wording to be included in your will if this would be helpful for you.
Is there a charge for depositing or donating material?
Generally no, however if you are depositing a particularly large collection, we may discuss you or your organisation contributing some funds towards the storage, packaging and cataloguing of the material.
The process
We encourage potential depositors to make an appointment prior to bringing in any material. Please email us at archives@wiltshire.gov.uk to arrange an appointment. Our opening days are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Please see our How to find us page for directions. Link: How to find us (wshc.org.uk) Our address is Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, Cocklebury Road, Chippenham, SN15 3QN.
When we arrange your appointment, we will ask you how much material there is to bring in. There is no need to be specific, but it is useful for us to have an idea of how much to expect. We will also try and get an idea of what is being deposited or donated. Again, there is no need for detail or a box list, but it is helpful for us to get a sense of the complexity of the material being brought in. If there is a lot, it may be that we allow more time to process your material before the next appointment we make.
If there is a sizeable amount of material, or if we think it might be a good idea to appraise it prior to it being brought in, we may offer to come to you to have a better look at the items. We can also come to you to collect material if you find it difficult to get to us.
If you would like more information regarding onsite appraisal and collection, please contact our Collections Manager at ian.hicks@wiltshire.gov.uk; he will be more than happy to discuss this with you.
Unwanted items
Wiltshire & Swindon Archives has a collecting policy and acquisition and disposal policy. Material that we take in must fit with these policies and must represent Wiltshire or Swindon.
When you bring in the material, the form you fill out will allow you to specify what you would like done with anything we decide not to keep. There are various options here:
- Dispose of unwanted items responsibly as confidential waste
- Return unwanted items to you
- We will contact you to let you know how much there is and what it is. Please ensure your contact details are up to date, because if we do not hear back from you within a set period defined on the correspondence, we will dispose of the items confidentially. We will then arrange an appointment for you to collect the items – it is helpful for us to know when you’re coming back so we can have them ready for you.
- Transfer unwanted items to another service
- This is relevant to items that may be more suitable held elsewhere. Usually this applies to out of county material but could sometimes apply to material that would be better suited in a specialist archive, library or museum.
What happens to the material I bring in?
Items that fit our collecting and acquisitions policies will be accessioned formally by one of our archivists. This process includes ensuring the material is not mould damaged or otherwise inaccessible, putting it into boxes and recording what is there. Depending on the size and nature of the material, this could take several weeks. Receipts will be sent in the post unless otherwise agreed. Receipts include deposit agreements so please sign and return your copy to us for our records.
Where possible, the material will then be catalogued. This means that items from your deposit will be given a unique number and made available in our online catalogue. In your appointment, we will discuss potential closures of documents, applicable particularly if there is confidential or sensitive information within them. If closures have been agreed, these will be made clear on the catalogue.
Who will see my documents?
Wiltshire & Swindon Archives is open for anyone to come and research using material we have onsite, unless there is a closure period specified. Please bear this in mind when considering whether to give them to us.
What if I want my documents back?
Once the documents have been catalogued, it is possible for the depositor to request them back temporarily. This is usually for an exhibition, or if someone within your group wants to do some dedicated research or digitisation. You can withdraw one item or several. Please note that only deposited items can be borrowed back, and we will only allow the depositing group, or someone with the permission of the depositing group, to withdraw them. Donated items are in the ownership of the Wiltshire & Swindon Archives and will not be loaned.
When you collect documents for a withdrawal, we will agree how long these will be kept for by you. Once that period has ended, an archivist will be in touch to remind you that they need to be returned, and if applicable, an extended period will be agreed. When returning documents, please arrange a suitable day so we can ensure an archivist is available to accept them.
We require one week’s notice of intent to withdraw any item held on deposit. This is so that we can ensure ownership of the item, retrieve the item, do a condition survey of the item and prepare any paperwork.
If a depositor wishes to permanently withdraw their collection for any reason, it may be that the Wiltshire & Swindon Archives charges the depositor retrospectively for costs such as for packaging materials and boxes, and staff time in cataloguing the items. We would also strongly advise against this as we are an approved and accredited place of deposit, and you can trust that our high standard of storage and cataloguing will be hard to match elsewhere.
Local studies deposits
We also welcome donations of books for our Local Studies Library. Please email archives@wiltshire.gov.uk for more information.
Digital material
We treat digital material the same as paper in terms of appraisal and cataloguing, and futureproof it for generations to come using Preservica for digital preservation. However, it may be necessary to discuss file formats and size of material so please contact us if you wish to deposit digital material and we can talk through options based on what you have. If only a small amount of your deposit is digital (for example, a CD of photographs) just let us know when you bring it in.
Want more information? Are you ready to make an appointment? Please contact archives@wiltshire.gov.uk
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Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre
Cocklebury Road
Chippenham
SN15 3QN
E: archives@wiltshire.gov.uk
T: 01249 705500
