Born Digital Materials
This area is to be developed as Special Collections and Archives adds staff with specialized knowledge to the team.
Original Materials
Special Collections and Archives collects original materials. We will only consider accepting copies or scans if the materials have strong relevance to our collections and the originals are unavailable.
Farm machinery demonstrated at Farmers Week, August 1949.
Duplicates
The department does not typically collect duplicate materials that are already in our collections, unless they are an example of an interesting provenance or have other distinguishing characteristics.
Time Periods
The department collects from all eras, unless otherwise stated, as long as the materials fit the collection development framework.
Geography
Priority is given to materials with a strong focus on South Carolina, particularly the Upstate region, or as noted in the collecting area. However, materials may be collected from all geographic areas if they otherwise fit the collection development framework.
Cooperative Collecting and Archiving
If we are offered a donation that is out of our collecting scope, we will try to refer the donor to another institution with a more relevant collecting focus. We also welcome referrals of materials from other institutions. We make efforts to ensure that our collecting areas do not overlap extensively with other institutions in South Carolina.
Furthermore, Special Collections and Archives staff and faculty recognize the importance of communities being able to maintain their own archives and heritage collections. We will actively work with local communities through sharing workshops for best practices in archiving community collections.
Language
Emphasis is placed on collecting materials that are primarily in English. However, materials in all languages will be considered and collected if those materials coincide with the collection development framework.
Loans and Deposits
Special Collections and Archives does not normally accept materials on loan or deposit unless the loan is for an exhibition.
Restrictions
Special Collections may impose restrictions on some materials as needed, based on departmental processing and preservation policies. Restrictions may also be applied owing to legal reasons. Donors may discuss additional desired restrictions with the department head. However, materials with permanent restrictions or restrictions that greatly inhibit use for teaching, learning, and scholarship will not be collected.
Deaccessioning
Special Collections and Archives reserves the right to deaccession materials which are extremely damaged or hazardous, are believed to have insufficient enduring historical value, are out of the scope of the collection development framework, cannot be taken care of according to best practices, or space and resources are lacking in comparison to the collection’s size. When applicable, the terms of the gift agreement will be followed.