Your organization should speak with its tax accountant or attorney about the possibility of a tax deduction for the donation of material to an archival repository. Archivists may not give tax advice and may not appraise the monetary valuation of a collection. It is the donor organization which arranges and bears the cost of any such appraisal. Arrangement and description of a collection is the most expensive operation in a repository. Organizations which are able to assist repositories by making grants to help defray the costs of arrangement, cataloging, and conservation of their donations of records are encouraged to do so.
Some archives require financial assistance to maintain a collection.
This brochure was prepared by the SAA Manuscripts Repositories Section. Grateful acknowledgement for permission to borrow from their respective brochures is made to the Nebraska State Historical Society and the Minnesota Historical Society. Cover photo courtesy of Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. 1995 by the Society of American Archivists. All rights reserved.