Donations and Submissions

Faculty Papers

As part of the collection policy of the University Archives, we acquire, arrange, and describe the records of University faculty members. We are looking for material of historical interest that shows the academic activities and original thinking that takes place at Saint Mary’s.

As a result, we are interested in the following types of materials:

  • Original correspondence with peers.
  • Your own unpublished research or papers, or material that was published but is not available in the Novanet library system.
  • Reports, newsletters, and other publications from your department.
  • Material related to the administration of your department.
  • Material related to service on University committees, professional groups, or conferences.

Material that is of less interest to the Archives includes:

  • Printed material from other University departments, including such things as calendars, course schedules, University newspapers, other departments’ annual reports, etc.
  • Photocopies of journal articles or other research material.
  • Magazines, newspapers, journals and other printed material, unless it contains works by you and is not available through the Novanet library system.
  • Student papers or exams, though we may accept some as samples.
  • Research raw material that is replicated somewhere else. For example, if you have five boxes of questionnaires used to create a 30 page report, all we need is the report, unless the questionnaires contain vital unpublished data.

Material sent to the Archives becomes the property of the Saint Mary’s University Archives. It will be arranged and described for access by researchers, and non-archival material will be disposed of. Access restrictions can be placed on the material if you wish.

Departmental Papers

As with faculty papers, the Archives collects material from the various departments of the University. Contact us if you would like to discuss transferring any of your material to the Archives. Note that some departmental material (particularly if it is only being kept for a limited period of time, or contains restricted and private information, may better be housed in the Records Centre.

Non-Saint Mary's Material

The Archives does not generally accept material that is not directly related to Saint Mary's. However, on rare occasions certain outside collections may be accepted if they directly relate to something being actively taught at the University, and at the request of a faculty member. Please contact us for more details.

How to send material to the Archives:

  1. Contact us to let us know you are thinking of donating material to us, or if you have questions about what should be sent. We can visit your office if you like.
  2. Box the material up, and include a box list with as much detail as you can give us. Keep the material in its original folders if at all possible.
  3. Contact Facilities Management to get the material moved. Make sure you send us the box list, as well as any information we need on access restrictions.