Donate a collection

A shoebox in the attic is a terrible archive.

Most historical photographs don't survive a flood, a move, or an heir who never knew the names. The ones that do are usually rescued by accident.

If you're holding a collection — a relative's negatives, a studio's prints, an institution's forgotten drawer — we will digitize it at our expense, catalogue it properly, and keep it reachable. Your name, or the collection's, stays in the record. For good.

01

You tell us what you have

Roughly what it is, how much, and where it came from. No need to count every frame — an honest estimate is plenty to start.

02

We appraise & digitize

At our cost, to archival standard. When you donate a collection, both the originals and the rights come to us — that's what ensures it's preserved and available to the public rather than lost.

03

It enters the archive

Catalogued, dated, and credited to you or the collection's source — permanently named in every record it appears in.

We don't buy collections, and we don't take ownership of the people in them. We take custody — the job of keeping them findable after you no longer can.

Tell us what's in the box.

A person reads every one of these. Share what you have and we'll write back about next steps.

No obligation, no cost to you. We'll be honest if a collection isn't a fit for the archive.

The best collections almost ended up in the trash. Yours doesn't have to.