A large proportion of the records we hold have been deposited or donated to the Archives by other organisations or members of the public. We accept collections of documents that relate to Dundee places, businesses and people.
Read our Collecting Policy (PDF)
What we will accept
We collect documents. These are generally paper or digital items, and can include books, diaries, letters, accounts, minutes, maps, posters, leaflets, photographs.
Moving image formats such as film and video are accepted, but will normally be referred on to the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive.
We will accept small objects as part of a larger collection, e.g. medals, awards, coins etc. For larger items, or sole objects, we generally suggest that these are given to the McManus Art Gallery and Museum.
If you’re not sure whether something is suitable just get in touch. If we can’t take it then we might be able to suggest a more suitable alternative.
How to Deposit Records
If you think you have something worth archiving, please contact us. Give us a rough idea of what you have and how much there is. We will let you know if it is suitable for adding to the archives.
We will then arrange an appointment for you to deposit the records. If you are bringing in a lot of records we can arrange for a car parking space in the underground garage off Crichton Street. Alternatively in special circumstances we can arrange to visit you with a car or van to pick up materials.
We will then conduct a short deposit interview with you to find out more about the collection. During this discussion we will complete a deposit form (132KB MS Word doc)
Terms of Deposit
Read our terms of deposit (PDF). Below is an explanation of some of the key terms used. Please contact us if you have any further queries about our terms of deposit.
| Donation vs Deposit | A donation is a gift. The documents will become the property of the Archives upon donation. With a deposit the records will remain the property of the owner but the Archives will store and look after them on their behalf on the basis that they can be made available for research purposes. |
| Copyright | Copyright is complicated. If you own the copyright, i.e. you created the document or took a photograph, you can donate the copyright to the Archives. This does not automatically transfer with ownership. You can donate the records but retain the copyright. |
| Personal Data | To comply with legislation we have to ensure that any records that contain personal data of living individuals is closed to the public. This could include addresses, phone numbers, medical information, political views, etc. We ask that you tell us if any records could contain personal information. |
| Transfer | If we find that the records don’t relate to Dundee we may decide to transfer them to a more relevant archive. If there are any objects in the collection that relate to Dundee we may transfer them to the McManus or another museum. We need your permission to do this if the collection is a deposit. Returns If any items are not relevant or deemed not worth keeping, e.g. duplicate records, you can chose for us to return them to you or have them destroyed. |