Gifts are an important means of collection building. The Center is pleased to discuss offers of materials from individuals, organizations, and institutions. Because of the costs associated with caring for materials, the Center generally does not accept deposits or indefinite loans.
Descriptions of collecting areas are available on our "What We Collect" page.
Please send donation inquiries via email.
Donations may be:
- Archival, or inactive Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, and Harvard Dental School records determined to be of enduring historical value.
Example: Harvard School of Public Health. Office of the Dean. Records of the Office of the Dean, 1961-1985 (inclusive). P-DE01, Series 00139.
- Papers, or a body of documents accumulated naturally by a person or family over time.
Example: Avery, Mary Ellen, 1927-. Mary Ellen Avery Papers, 1929-2002 (inclusive) H MS c201.
- Records, or information or data created or received by a non-Harvard organization or institution in the course of its activities.
Example: Free Hospital for Women. Records, 1875-1975.BWH c6.
- Collections, or materials collected by a particular individual, family, or corporate entity.
Example: Fein, Rashi. Collected video recordings, 1970, 1999.
- Objects or artifacts related to the history of medicine, public health, or dentistry.
- Books.
All prospective donations must be evaluated by the Center's acquisitions staff prior to our accepting them into the collection. Please note that the research value of records may be diminished if items are removed or rearranged prior to our review. Donors are encouraged to contact Center staff before discarding or rearranging materials before appointments.
To expedite our review of a gift, donors may wish to send us lists of materials in the potential donation when they contact us via email. This is particularly helpful for donations of books.
As a condition of gift, donors are required to sign a deed of gift that includes a warranty that they own the materials, have the legal authority to give the materials to Harvard, and the right to assign the copyright to unpublished materials to Harvard (if applicable).
Please do not send things you are interested in giving us through the mail without checking with us first via email and receiving a confirmation from us that it is OK to mail the donation. We do not take everything that is offered to us, and we do not return unsolicited donations.
For more information, please contact our Acquisitions Archivist.