Collecting Areas & Donating Materials

Collecting Areas

Archives staff are especially interested in collecting materials that document the lives of and were created by historically marginalized people, including but not exclusive to Black, Indigenous, and people of color; LGBTQ people; and disabled people.

We collect in the following subject areas:

• Personal and Professional Papers and Publications of Barnard Students and Alums. Example collections include:

  • Ntozake Shange Papers

  • Sherry Suttles Papers

  • Shirley A. Siegel Papers

  • Barnard Organization of Soul Sisters

• Personal and Professional Papers of Barnard College Faculty, Staff, and Administrators. Example collections include:

  • Mirra Komarovsky Papers

  • Rosalind Rosenberg Papers

  • Alice Duer Miller Papers

• Official Records and Publications of Barnard College. Example collections include:

  • Dean’s Office Records

  • CORRE, Committee on Race, Religion, and Ethnicity

  • Barnard College Summer School for Women Workers in Industry

  • Student Life Handbooks and Residence Guides

• Special Collections related to histories of feminism, gender, sexuality, and dance. Example collections include:

  • Sabra Moore NYC Women’s Art Movement Collection

  • Christine E. Bose Wages for Housework Research Collection

  • Lauren Jade Martin Zinester Ephemera Collection

To learn more about our collecting areas and emphases, read our full collection development policy.

Donating Your Materials

Donors are encouraged to contact the Archives regarding donations of collections. We are happy to work with the donor to determine what records or documents would fit within our collections. When you are ready to donate, you will be asked to sign a donation agreement which formally signifies that the documents will become the physical property of Barnard College. Please contact the Archives at archives@barnard.edu to discuss donations or for further information.

Gifts and donations must meet the following guidelines and criteria:

• The staff of the Barnard Archives and Special Collections encourages donations of materials within the areas of collection emphasis described in section C of our collection development policy.
• When materials created by third parties are known to be present in collections being donated, the staff of the Barnard Archives may ask donors for additional information about provenance and permissions.
• The staff of the Barnard Archives and Special Collections does not advise donors to digitize or otherwise change the format of materials to be donated to the collections. The Directors of Archives and Special Collections will work with donors to oversee the transfers of all materials to the Barnard Archives and Special Collections.
• The staff of the Barnard Archives and Special Collections makes acquisition decisions appropriate to present space and labor constraints.
• The staff of the Barnard Archives and Special Collections accepts donations of materials free of significant preservation issues. In the event that a donor presents to the Archives an opportunity to collect materials that necessitate conservation, the Directors will work with the donor to discuss the next best steps forward.
• The staff of the Barnard Archives and Special Collections reserves the right to de-accession any or all parts of a donation; however, for objects or collections not accepted by the Barnard Archives and Special Collections, the archivist will make an effort to assist the donor in finding a proper repository for the collection.
• The staff of the Barnard Archives and Special Collections reserves the right to refuse collections with stringent donor restrictions.

All donations must be accompanied by a Deed of Gift or a Donor Agreement in order to be accessioned. This documentation must contain the following:

• a description or inventory of the materials to be donated
• the name, address, and signature of the donor
• the date of the donation
• a description of any restrictions on the use or access to the collection
• the signature of one of the Directors of Archives and Special Collections, or Dean of the Library, representing the acceptance of the donation into the Barnard Archives and Special Collections