Donating to archives

Records Management and Archives is responsible for acquiring university-related archives produced by faculty, staff, students, alumni, and independent organizations associated with the University, as well as all archives documenting the history of Concordia and its two founding institutions: Loyola College and Sir George Williams University.

Generous contributions from internal and external donors assist in building RMA holdings and documenting the history of Concordia University and its founding institutions. RMA is also interested in documents related to donors' fields of expertise, research, and contributions to the University and to the community.

RMA accepts several types of materials, including but not limited to: textual, photographic, audiovisual, and cartographic documents in analog or digital forms, objects, and publications.

Please email Marie-Pierre Aubé, RMA Director and University Archivist, to discuss a potential donation. 

What we acquire

RMA is interested in biographical information of faculty members, staff members, alumni, friends of the University and individuals with links to Concordia. Below is a non-exhaustive list of documents collected by RMA:

Faculty and Staff:

• Biographical information: CVs, journals, diaries, recorded accomplishments, awards, etc. 
• Significant correspondence and documents related to community service, as well as documents related to participation in significant events.

Faculty:

• All of the above, plus teaching materials: lecture notes, examination questions, paper instructions, significant correspondence, course outlines, etc. 
• Research information: correspondence, research data, grant proposals, conference speeches, etc.
• Documents related to community services, as well as documents related to your participation in significant events.

Alumni:

• Documents that provide information on an academic path, significant papers, documents showing participation in University or independent organizations, associations, clubs, etc..

Organizations:

• Any records of organizations, associations, clubs, student publications, etc. with close links to Concordia.
• Administrative files, documents that illustrate an origanization's history, services, and activities.

By definition, an archival document is unique and provides vital and unique information about a Donor's life. Therefore, RMA does not accept mass-produced publications such as books, journals, brochures, magazines, etc. unless extensively annotated.

In addition, personal documents should not be part of your donation: health documents, tax documents, marriage contracts, divorce papers, wills, etc.

The Archives Donation Form (below) is accessible to potential donors and will be used to prepare a draft Archives Donation Agreement to be reviewed and signed by all parties, following which, RMA will arrange for pick-up of the Donor's materials. Once received, materials are processed over several weeks and a description of the new fonds is added to the RMA online archive catalog.

Questions?