photo of a visitor and staff member in the archives

Outreach and Donating

On this page:

Outreach

Special Collections and Archives offers a variety of outreach options to make our collections available to everyone. Activities include:

  • Instruction for Wright State students/classes on using Special Collections and Archives and primary resource materials.
  • Presentations for classes, groups, or organizations on selected archival and historical topics, including an overview of our collections and services, the Wright brothers, genealogy, or university history.
  • General and special subject tours of the archives are available for classes and groups. These tours take you behind the scenes to see our collections.

Donate Collections

We collect, preserve, and provide access to primary sources that document the history of aviation, the local and regional history of the Miami Valley, and the history of Wright State University. For further information regarding our collecting scope, we encourage you to read our complete collection policy.

We work closely with donors to identify those materials of research interest that should be preserved. Although not all papers, photographs, and records fall within our collecting scope, the information below indicates materials that are often valuable in their content.

  • Aviation history: Donations of material related to aviation history and aviation technology in general, with particular geographic emphasis on aviation innovation and history in Ohio and the Miami Valley, home of the Wright brothers. Materials to be considered include photographs, films, technical papers and manuals, drawings, flight logbooks and journals, personal and organizational records, and aviation books and journals.
  • Personal and family papers: The personal papers of individuals and families from the Miami Valley region. For more information about donating personal and family papers, including a list of desirable types of documents, refer to the brochure A Guide to Donating Your Personal or Family Papers to a Repository.
  • Organization records: The records of organizations which document social, religious, political, and business involvement of the Miami Valley. For more information about donating organizational records, including a list of desirable types of documents, refer to the brochure A Guide to Donating Your Organizational Records to a Repository.
  • Publications: Desired publications include county, community, church, and business histories; family histories and genealogies, county atlases, business magazines, organization newsletters, and aviation journals and magazines.

It is not possible for us to accept all offered materials. This may be due to duplication, condition, format, or subject areas in which we do not collect. Please note that we do not accept artifacts and suggest you contact the appropriate state, county, or local historical society for information.

Effective June 2024: due to impending facilities improvements and collection management projects, we are not currently accepting materials donations at this time. Thank you for your understanding!

Support the Archives

Financial gifts are crucial to furthering the mission to collect, preserve, and make available our history. Visit Giving to the Libraries to designate your gift to the area of your choice. Our priority funds include:

  • Archives Facility Improvement Fund: Provide funding for improvements to the Special Collections and Archives' facility.
  • Special Collections Support Fund: Support collection development and preservation of manuscripts and records vital to our heritage.

Collection Policy

Mission Statement

Wright State University Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives, in support of Wright State University’s mission of educational excellence, collects, preserves, and provides access to primary sources that document the history of aviation, aviation technology, and the legacy of the Wright Brothers for which the university is named, the local and regional history of the Miami Valley, and the history of Wright State University.  Special Collections and Archives encourages and promotes the use of these materials for teaching, learning, research, and public service.

Appraisal/Acquisition Policy

All potential acquisitions by Special Collections and Archives are subject to appraisal by archives staff and potentially the University Libraries administration. This helps to balance the research potential of and overall access to collections with the resources necessary for their care and preservation.

Criteria to be considered during this appraisal may include (but are not limited to):

  • Relevance to the scope (collecting areas) described in the current collecting policy;
  • Uniqueness or existing availability (including in other formats or at other institutions);
  • Anticipated research use by and/or interest from Wright State faculty, students, and other relevant research communities served by Special Collections and Archives;
  • Research value and significance to the relevant topic or area of scholarship;
  • Physical condition, format, and quantity;
  • Clarity of provenance, ownership, title, or intellectual property rights;
  • Resources estimated to be required for appropriate management, preservation, and use; 
  • Representation of the experiences of diverse and inclusive communities.

This appraisal does not include placing a monetary value upon the materials.
Additionally, collections containing large quantities of similar materials may be subject to sampling (retaining and/or preserving only a representative portion for researcher use).

Examples of materials unlikely to be accepted by Special Collections and Archives include (but are not be limited to) those that are:

  • Not unique, archival, or the copy of record;
  • Formats not currently collected by Special Collections and Archives, such as artifacts (realia/ objects), especially those with little research value (e.g., plaques and trophies);
  • Highly restricted in terms of access or use, for such reasons as privacy, confidentiality, security, intellectual property rights, or the law, whether in perpetuity or for a period of time deemed by the archives staff to be beyond a reasonable limitation;
  • Transactional records with little or no long-term research value;
  • A danger to staff, users, or other collections, such as those showing signs of mold, rodent/pest infestation, or dangerous substances (e.g., nitrate or mercury);
  • Permanently inaccessible due to obsolescence or physical degradation;
  • Primarily copies or reproductions of archival materials held by other institutions;
  • Expected to require more resources than is reasonably warranted by their anticipated research or use value;
  • Better served elsewhere in terms of materials or user;
  • Duplicates (in excess of two copies) of materials already available in our archives collections (determined on a case by case basis).

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Special Collections and Archives strives to collect and preserve historical materials representing a broad spectrum of communities, interests, and viewpoints. This includes race, economic status, gender and sexuality, religion, and politics. To this end, diversity will be prioritized in terms of donor cultivation, appraisal, and acquisition.

Special Collections and Archives follows the Society of American Archivists Core Value Statement on Diversity:

Archivists collectively seek to document and preserve the record of the broadest possible range of individuals, communities, governance, and organizations. Archivists respectfully work to build and promote archival collections that document a multiplicity of viewpoints on social, political, and intellectual issues.

Within our organizations: Archivists must embrace the importance of identifying, preserving, and working with communities to actively document those whose voices have been underrepresented or marginalized. It is critical to forge connections with under-documented communities and individuals, support preservation of records relating to those communities’ activities, encourage use of archival research sources, and support the formation of community-based archives. Building collections that reflect the diversity of humanity is key to preserving a historical record that encompasses the stories of all peoples, instead of just those who wield enough power and influence to ensure their lives are documented. 1

Collecting Areas

University Archives

Special Collections and Archives in the Wright State University Libraries was established as the University Archives by the Wright State University Board of Trustees on July 31, 1974. Resolution 75-3 authorizes the University Archives to serve as the depository for records in all formats which document the history of Wright State University. Records that have historical, legal, evidential, and informational value will be preserved. Guidelines published by the records retention task force of the Inter-University Council of Ohio, and Wright State Policy 12220, will be followed in identifying records of historical significance which require permanent retention together with these basic guidelines:

  • The record should reflect the development and activities of university offices that reach across departmental and college divisions, and which formulate or approve university-wide or division-wide policy: Board of Trustees, President's Office, University Council, Faculty Senate, College Deans offices, and various faculty and administrative committees at the Presidential level.
  • The record should reflect the development of any program, project, or policy that has University-wide or Division-wide application or significance.
  • A publication, periodical, or newsletter issued by the University or one of the offices or organizations indicated above.

Records for Permanent Retention:

  • Meeting minutes of the Board of Trustees
  • Administrative records of the President's Office, Provost’s Office, and the offices of university vice-presidents
  • Select administrative records of upper administrative level offices
  • Meeting minutes, memoranda, and reports of administrative committees operating at or above the departmental level
  • Meeting minutes, correspondence, and reports of the faculty and its committees and faculty governance records and the Faculty Senate and its committees
  • Meeting minutes, correspondence, and subject files of the Office of Alumni Relations and the Alumni Association
  • Administrative records of the Office of Student Affairs and student activities offices
  • Newsletters, booklets, catalogs, class schedules, yearbooks, alumni magazines, and other publications distributed on a university-wide basis
  • Accreditation reports and supporting documents
  • Annual budget and audit reports
  • University marketing materials
  • Films, audio and video recordings, or photographs of university faculty, staff, groups, or events

Note: Refer to Wright State Policy 12220 for specific guidelines regarding the disposition of university records and/or the transfer of university records of permanent historical value to the archives.

Evaluation of records not listed in the above guidelines, but which have historical value for the university community- such as papers of university faculty or materials donated by alumni related to WSU student life- may be added with the approval of the University Archivist.

Institutional Online Repository (CORE Scholar)

CORE Scholar, Wright State University’s institutional repository, is an online digital repository for providing open, electronic access to: 

  • the scholarly output of Wright State’s faculty, staff, and students. These materials may be about any subject or discipline and are not confined to the collecting areas (topics) described elsewhere in this collection policy. 
  • selected digitized and/or born-digital content from Special Collections and Archives. These materials are subject to the collecting areas (topics) described in their respective sections of this collection policy.

Examples of materials and formats that are appropriate for CORE Scholar include (but may not be limited to):

  • Scholarly articles 
  • Open Educational Resources (OER) 
  • Images 
  • Presentations 
  • Books 
  • Oral histories 
  • Data sets 
  • Local journals 
  • Theses and dissertations 
  • Music performances 
  • Student papers, posters, and presentations 
  • University records

Special Collections/Manuscripts

Aviation History and Aviation Related Technology

Special Collections and Archives collects manuscript material on aviation history, with a natural emphasis on the lives and work of Wilbur and Orville Wright, the inventors of powered flight. Wright State University, named for these two Dayton natives, serves as a research center for the Wrights' life and work. Special Collections and Archives also serves as a research center for the history of aviation and aviation technology in general, with particular geographic emphasis on aviation innovation and history in Ohio and the Miami Valley, home of the Wright Brothers. 

Local and Regional History: Ohio Network of American History Research Centers

Special Collections and Archives is a member of the Ohio Network of American History Research Centers, established in 1970 to aid in the collection, preservation, and accessibility of research materials related to Ohio history. As a member of the network, Special Collections and Archives is the designated repository for local government records and manuscript materials from an eleven-county area of central southwestern Ohio.

Collecting is limited to the Special Collections Network Area consisting of the following counties: Auglaize, Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Logan, Mercer, Miami, Montgomery, Preble, and Shelby Counties.

Types of material collected may include but are not limited to: local government records, individual and family papers, business, labor union, and transportation records, papers of civic, cultural and fraternal organizations, churches, women's organizations, political figures, ethnic groups settling in the Miami Valley, and local medical history including the papers of physicians and other health personnel who have made significant contributions to the medical history of the Miami Valley. These may include individual and family papers and the records of organizations such as medical societies and associations.

Patient records will not be collected due to confidentiality laws. Exceptions may be made for patient records that are more than 150 years old, at the discretion of the Head of Special Collections and Archives, but only after legal counsel has determined that they do not fall under any legal constraint.

Special Collections/Books and Journals

Special Collections and Archives actively collects books and periodicals related to aviation history, and local and regional history. These secondary materials are housed in the Special Collections and Archives reading room. 

Aviation History

This collection will consist of books, pamphlets, and periodicals on aviation history with an emphasis on the lives and careers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, and the history of aviation and aviation technology to the present.

Local and Regional History

This collection will consist of works relating to the history of the Miami Valley in Ohio. Only books concerning the history of the eleven-county region assigned to Wright State University as a member of the Ohio Network of American History Research Centers will be actively collected. Emphasis will be given to the acquisition of materials of basic primary source interest including, but not limited to county histories, plat books and atlases, and scholarly works on aspects of Ohio history such as education, politics, government, transportation, agriculture, religion and business.

Genealogy/Family History

This collection will consist of published and unpublished family histories, and genealogical journals related to the Ohio Network of American History Research Centers geographic area.

Policies Regarding Financial Aspects of Collections Acquisitions2

Monetary Appraisals for Tax Deductions

In certain circumstances, it may be possible for a donor to take a tax deduction for the donation of a collection to a repository. Donors should speak with a tax accountant or attorney about this possibility. Archivists cannot give tax advice nor are they permitted to appraise the monetary value of a collection that is under consideration for donation to their repository. Special Collections and Archives may be able to provide the donor with a list of local manuscript appraisers who can (for a fee) make monetary appraisals. It is up to the donor to arrange and pay for any such appraisal. 

Monetary Donations

Most archival repositories are not-for-profit institutions. Preparing materials for use by researchers is the most expensive operation in a repository. It involves arrangement, preservation, rehousing, and description. Monetary support is not a prerequisite for the acceptance of a collection; however, donors and organizations are encouraged to assist the repository by providing funds to help defray the costs of processing of their records. An estimate of processing costs will be provided to the donor.

Reappraisal and Deaccessioning Policy

Reappraisal

Special Collections and Archives may periodically conduct reappraisal of any materials in its holdings in order to achieve one or more archivally appropriate collection management objective(s), such as to:

  • Comply with current institutional collecting policies and retention schedules
  • Better fulfill the mission of Special Collections and Archives, the University Libraries, or Wright State University
  • Improve overall access to materials
  • Make split collections whole
  • Correct faulty appraisal from the time of acquisition
  • Better balance research potential of collections with the necessary allocation of resources (space, staff, time, and conservation resources).

Special care must be taken in reevaluating the appropriateness of a collection that has already been accepted into our custody and which may have already been made available to researchers. Factors to be taken into consideration when conducting a reappraisal include but are not limited to:

  • Any and all criteria listed in the Appraisal/Acquisition Policy;
  • Statistics (actual or estimated) of prior use in research, scholarship, exhibits, outreach, or publications (if applicable);
  • Resources already expended upon the collection and source(s) of funding;
  • Risk of damage to relationships with existing donors, users, or other stakeholders or to the university’s reputation;
  • Effect upon public access to the information; 
  • Existence and terms of any externally imposed restrictions, such as donor agreements or government depository arrangements.

Deaccessioning

If after a careful and structured reappraisal process, the materials are found to no longer be appropriate, desirable, or feasible to remain in the holdings of Special Collections and Archives, then the materials will be considered for deaccessioning.

Any materials considered for deaccessioning will be governed by the following:

  • Materials must be free of all legal impediments.  There will be no deaccessioning of material when this action is contrary to any written agreement between Special Collections and Archives and the donor. However, Special Collections and Archives may contact the donor to request a revision to or replacement of the existing agreement, to allow for deaccessioning.
  • Reasonable attempts will be made to consult donors when materials are considered for deaccessioning.
  • The method of disposition will be determined by the Head of Special Collections and Archives in consultation with the University Librarian and may include one or more of the following:
    • return to donor
    • transfer to other cultural heritage institution
    • public sale
    • donation to second-hand retailer (e.g., Better World Books)
    • destruction
  • No private sales or gifts of material will be made to any Wright State University employee, Wright State University board member, or Friends of the Library board member of the University Libraries.
  • If materials are sold, all proceeds from the sale will benefit Special Collections and Archives.

1"Core Values of Archivists" Society of American Archivists, 2020 Aug., accessed 2020 Dec 11, https://www2.archivists.org/statements/saa-core-values-statement-and-code-of-ethics

2The text of this section (Policies Regarding Financial Aspects of Collections Acquisitions) has been adapted, under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, from text originally created by the Society of American Archivists, available online at https://www2.archivists.org/publications/brochures/donating-orgrecs and https://www2.archivists.org/publications/brochures/donating-familyrecs