If you think you might want to donate records to Northern BC Archives & Special Collections, you can help us determine whether your records would be a good fit in our repository by preparing some background information about your potential donation.

Following the steps below will provide valuable context to your records and aid in our assessment. Don't worry if you cannot provide answers to all of these steps. Just do your best to supply the details that you know. Reach out with these details of your donation request to archives@unbc.ca 

Prepare a description of the records to be donated. For example:

• A listing of files and/or items (in Word or Excel)
• Descriptive narrative (e.g. records include reports, correspondence, minutes, diaries, family photo albums, manuscripts, etc.)
• A summary of subject areas to which your records relate
• Include research audiences that might be interested in your records (e.g. genealogists, scientists, historians, urban planners, etc.)

You know your records best. Your insights are invaluable to our decision-making process.

Describe the approximate size and content of the proposed donation:

If your material includes unusual formats, please include additional details.

Identify the dates of the records

• Provide an overall date range for the material to be donated. The earliest and latest dates of the records, for example: 1899-1945 or approximately 1970s to 1980s.
• If your donation includes a few items that have significantly outlying dates, provide more details. For example, you wish to donate your mother's records but the donation also includes a few records from her great-grandfather: "Most records range from 1960-2015, but also includes a 1889 diary and a photograph from 1910."

Describe whether the records are unique and original:

• Does the proposed donation consist entirely of originals or copies or some mixture of both?
• Are the records unique or might other individuals, organizations, libraries or archives hold the same records?
• Does the proposed donation include publications?

Are the records fairly complete and representative of the life and career of the individual they document? If there are significant gaps, describe them. For example:

• Diaries and personal correspondence were destroyed
• Records from early career donated to another institution
• Your organization does not want to donate its executive correspondence or meeting minutes
• Electronic records lost due to a computer crash
• Records from a particular time frame were lost or destroyed

Confirm ownership:

• Are the records your property or the property of your organization?
• Do the records belong to another individual (e.g. family member, work colleague) or another organization?
• Do the records belong to an organization on whose behalf you are acting (e.g. university, company, society)? If so, can you supply a motion by the organization's governing executive body that documents the approval of the proposed donation to Northern BC Archives?

Describe any prior transfers of ownership or custody and control of the records:

• Did someone else own the records previously (e.g. family members, friends, work colleagues, etc.)?
• Did another organization own the records previously (e.g. successor or merged organizations)?
• Were the records stored in multiple locations over time (e.g. offices, residences, storage facilities, etc.)?

An Archivist will decide whether the records fall within our acquisition mandate. If Northern BC Archives decides to acquire your records, you can help us by making arrangements for their delivery to our facility in Prince George, BC.

The donation process concludes with the signing of a Gift Agreement. The Agreement legally transfers ownership of your records to the University of Northern British Columbia. The particulars of the Agreement are negotiated between you and Northern BC Archives. Some things for you to consider:

• Are you empowered to act on behalf of your family or your organization to negotiate the terms and conditions of donation?
• Do you want to place time-limited, public access restrictions on some of the records because they contain sensitive personal information? If yes, please flag those records before sending them to Northern BC Archives.
• Do you or your organization want to retain copyright in the records you authored or would you like to assign copyright ownership to Northern BC Archives? Assigning copyright ownership or license allows Northern BC Archives the ability to potentially digitize your records and make them freely available online.
• Do you want any material we decide not to preserve permanently returned to you or confidentially destroyed? If the former, we ask that you make arrangements to pick up the materials we decide not to keep.
• Do you want to make additional donations over time? If yes, how frequently (e.g. once every 5 years)?