Collectors – Gifts in Kind

In addition to records from Moravian churches and Provincial agencies, the Archives accepts personal papers and collections from individuals in the Moravian community and scholars whose work is focused on Moravians in North Carolina (especially if they used primary sources from our Archives!).

The collections at the Archives primarily support research and learning. When considering new acquisitions, we assess the materials’ relationship to existing collection strengths and relationship to developing fields of research and academic study involving Moravians or local history tied to Salem, North Carolina.

We are interested in the following, provided they give some insight into life in the Moravian communities of the Southern Province, past or present:

• Correspondence
• Journals and diaries
• Writings, including sermons and other speeches and drafts and manuscripts of articles and books
• Historical maps, blueprints, and architectural drawings
• Scrapbooks
• Unusual or unique printed material

We are interested in but have limited capacity to store and serve the following, provided they give some insight into life in the Moravian communities of the Southern Province, past or present:

• Photographs
• Audiovisual material containing more than music and under copyright by you or a Moravian entity
• Born digital material
• Web archives

When depositing these items, please be mindful of the quantity that you donate and keep in mind that there will likely be a longer delay before access will be granted that there is for other types of records.

We only accept the following items if they have significant importance to understanding Moravian history:

• Artwork
• Artifacts

We have limited space to display and store these kinds of items, and they likely have less research value than other kinds of material.

We do not accept the following items:

• Photocopies
• Copies of popular publications, including magazines and newspapers
• Duplicates of items already in our collection and duplicates contained within a donation
• Financial records
• Material containing personal identifiable information (PII), such as Social Security Numbers
• Material containing information that violates your rights under HIPAA
• Material containing information that violates your rights under FERPA or PPRA
• Audiovisual material that contains only musical recordings (please direct those to the Moravian Music Foundation)
• Audiovisual material that contains content copyrighted by a non-Moravian entity who is not you
• Sheet music, books only containing or relating to music, and musical instruments (please direct those to the Moravian Music Foundation)

These kinds of materials either lack significant research value, cannot be provided to researchers due to ethical best practices and/or federal law, and/or are out-of-scope for our holdings.

If you are interested in donating your papers, please contact the Archives at sparchives@mcsp.org. If we move forward with your donation, you will be asked to complete a Deed of Gift, and you may review a template here.