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Center for Puerto Rican Studies Archives of the Puerto Rican Diaspora

How to Donate an Archival Collection to CENTRO

Donating collections to the Center for Puerto Rican Studies Archives at Hunter College provides a valuable opportunity to preserve and share the rich history and culture of Puerto Rican communities. The Archives welcomes a diverse range of materials, including personal papers, organizational records, photographs, audiovisual materials, and more, that document the Puerto Rican diaspora experience.

We assess donations based on the scope of the content and their alignment with our collecting focus, their potential to fill gaps in our holdings, and our capacity to care for the materials. We generally do not accept the following types of materials:

  • Collections predominantly focused on the island of Puerto Rico
  • Collections covering broader U.S. Latine communities without a significant Puerto Rican focus
  • Plaques, awards, or trophies, large items better suited for museum displays, materials exhibiting mold or exposure to pests, severely damaged or extremely fragile items, materials unrelated to our collecting areas, items with restricted access for unreasonable periods, personnel files, raw electronic big research data, more than three duplicate copies of items, most serial publications, or human and animal remains.
  • The center ensures that collections are carefully preserved and made accessible for research, education, and public scholarship.

DONATION PROCESS

  1. If you're interested in donating materials to the Center for Puerto Rican Studies Archives, please email us at centlb@hunter.cuny.edu with the following information:
    • A brief description of the themes and dates documented in the collection
    • The formats included (e.g., photographic prints, papers, VHS tapes).
    • The amount of material you're looking to donate (an estimate is fine—whether it’s 2 boxes or 20, it helps us plan).
    • Photos of the materials 
  2. An Archives staff member will reach out to discuss whether we can move forward with your donation. If we’re unable to accept it, we will try to point you to other places that might be a better fit.
  3. Next, we’ll arrange a meeting (in person or over Zoom) to go over the details. If needed, we may visit the collection in person to better assess it.
  4. We’ll then send you a donor agreement (1) that outlines our policies and procedures for the donation, including things like access restrictions and copyright transfers. Feel free to ask questions about the agreement—we want to make sure both sides are clear and comfortable with the terms.
  5. Once everything is agreed upon and the donor agreement is signed by both you and CENTRO, we’ll coordinate the transfer of materials. Depending on where you're located, we can pick up the materials, or you can drop them off at CENTRO. For digital materials, we’ll work with you on the best way to transfer files. An Archivist will be involved every step of the way to ensure the materials are transferred safely.
  6. When the collection arrives at CENTRO, we’ll create and publish an accession record (2) in our Archives Database and add it to our processing (3) queue. Keep in mind that processing times can vary depending on the amount and condition of the materials, as well as staff availability. Feel free to ask us any questions regarding processing times prior to donating your materials. We try to make unprocessed materials available for research when possible, depending on the condition of the materials and any access restrictions.
  7. While your collection is being processed, an Archivist may reach out if we have any questions. Once processing is complete, we’ll send you a link to the collection's guide and announce the collection on CENTRO's social media.

Donors play a key role in shaping the historical record and enabling future generations to engage with these important resources and we are more than happy to connect with you and discuss your potential archival donation to the CENTRO Archives. 

Definitions: 

1. Donor Agreement: A donor agreement is a "legal agreement that serves as the formal expression of the terms of a gift to a repository, including the terms of the transfer of ownership of records and/or intellectual property rights" (Society of American Archivists Dictionary of Archives Terminology).

2. Accession record: A database record that logs the acquisition of a set of materials along with any documentation accompanying the acquistion. Accession records allow staff to keep a log of all archival holdings and  allow users access to information about materials, regardless of processing status.

3. Archival processing: The process of organizing and describing (cataloging) archival material in order to protect their context, preserve their physical state, and provide access to users through catalog records and archival finding aids.