Advice and information about the donation of your archive
By donating your archive, you contribute to research, both today and in the future. The archive will be preserved and researchers will be able to make use of it. We work continuously to organise archives that have been donated to the Library. This work is made easier if you roughly sort your archive before handing it over.
It is also helpful if you can contribute relevant information (such as names of letter writers or year) to documents. This can be recorded in a separate list, or on envelopes or paper covers for the documents.
You can sort documents using the following model:
Letters
Letters to the archive creator
- From individuals, sorted alphabetically A – Ö
- From unknown/anonymous/unidentified/first name only
- From organisations sorted A – Ö
Letters from the archive creator
- To individuals, A – Ö
- To unknown/anonymous/unidentified/first name only
- To organisations sorted A – Ö
Letters between third parties
- From individuals, A – Ö
- From unknown/anonymous/unidentified/first name only
- From organisations sorted A – Ö
Letters are sorted by letter writer rather than chronologically.
The archive creator’s manuscripts
The archive creator’s own manuscripts can be categorised depending on the contents of the archive, such as poetry, prose, diaries, speeches and lectures, notes or work materials by subject. It is helpful to organise manuscripts chronologically.
Manuscripts created by others
The archive may contain documents that have been written by people other than the archive creator. For example, unprinted essays, poems, drafts and other manuscripts that the author has given to the archive creator. This type of document can be organised by author name.
Biography
Papers belonging to the archive creator that shed light on their endeavours and life history, but which were not created by them. For example, documents relating to publishers or associations, bank or tax papers, commemorative and jubilee documents, conference programmes, certificates, estate inventories, business cards, passports, travel tickets, etc.
Images and maps
An archive may include photographs, drawings or maps. They can be placed in a separate folder if they are not directly linked to a particular part of the archive (such as a photograph accompanying a letter, where the people in the photo are described and mentioned, or pictures from a special event for which the program or other papers have been saved). If in doubt, leave the images with the archive material. Please supply names and year on the back of photographs. Wearing cotton gloves is recommended while handling photographs.
Musical notation
Handwritten manuscripts
- Own compositions written out personally
- Own copies of others’ compositions
- Others’ copies of own compositions
- Others’ copies of others’ compositions
Paper printouts
- Own compositions, paper printout from computer
- Own compositions in print
- Others’ compositions in print
Press clippings
Collections of newspaper clippings are accepted in some cases, if they have a strong connection to an archive, supplement it and are considered to be of interest to current and future research. The clippings may be pasted in scrapbooks or kept loose. For loose clippings, it is preferable to indicate date and source. If loose clippings relate to a single topic they should be organised chronologically; if not, they should be sorted first by topic and then chronologically.
Printed matter
Books, offprints, periodicals and newspapers may be included in an archive under special circumstances. Please sort printed matter separately. In accordance with the donation agreement (pdf) Pdf, 273 kB., the Library reserves the right to discard printed copies that are not relevant to the archive.
Digital material
We also accept digital material, to a limited extent. For example, text files or digital photographs stored on hard drives or other storage media (such as CDs or floppy disks). In order to give the material the best possible conditions for preservation, we need to go through the material with the donor before it is handed over.
The following should not be included in the archive
The Library does not accept donations of objects, statues, statuettes, oil paintings, coins or medals.
For objects and works of art, especially those relating to Uppsala and the University, please contact the Uppsala University Museums (Gustavianum Uppsala University Museum, the Museum of Evolution, the Medical Museum, the Coin Cabinet and the Art Collections).
