Accessions Policy

We are always grateful to the many people whose generous donations enrich our Society’s collection of artifacts and ephemera. We welcome and encourage continued donations and want to inform you about our selection process.

Our Accessions Committee meets as needed to review potential donations. In most all cases we are verifying that the donation has a direct connection to Amherst. Since we find ourselves with duplicates of many items such as postcards, programs, books, booklets and other printed material, we also consider whether the proposed item is unique to our collection. This is a particular concern since storage space is limited and proper sorting and handling of these archival materials can be very laborious. Further, we consider whether we would be able to properly preserve the item, or if perhaps another venue may provide a better home. For these reasons, we are not able to accept everything that is offered.

For those of you who might have something to add to our collection, you can email us (historicalsociety@hsanh.org) or contact one of the Board members who will point you in the right direction. Once the donation is accepted by the Accessions Committee, the donor will be asked to sign a Deed of Gift form, and the item(s) will be catalogued.

Often times, items are given to individual board members and eventually make their way to an Accessions Committee member. We would prefer to have the opportunity to accept an item officially and document that gift appropriately. Thank you for helping us in this important aspect of our society’s growing collection.

We truly encourage and appreciate your efforts to help us preserve important items of Amherst history.

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