Hotchkiss School Archives Collections
The Hotchkiss School Archives’ mission is to acquire, preserve and make available the historical records of The Hotchkiss School, documenting its origin, development and achievements and its officers, faculty, staff, students, and alumni.
Type Of Collections
Archives collects material from the following areas of School life:
Board of Trustees
- Meeting minutes
- Committee reports
- Correspondence
- Biographical information of trustees
Heads of School
- Biographical Information
- Correspondence
- Writings
- Lectures
- Journals/Diaries
- Professional Activities
Faculty
- Committee Reports
- Photographs
- Syllabi
- Curriculum Notes
- Athletic Activities
Academics/Curriculum
- Course Catalogs
- Syllabi
- Teaching Notes
- Committee Minutes and Notes
- Student Work
Athletics
- Awards
- Correspondence
- Coaching Notes
- Schedules
- Score Books
- Uniforms
Arts and Music
- Programs
- Brochures
- Posters
- Performances
Buildings and Grounds
- Photographs
- Plans
- Blueprints
- Proposals
Student Life
- Scrapbooks
- Albums
- T-Shirts
- Posters and Flyers
- Letters
- Club activities
- Class Photos
- Student Publications
School Publications
- Catalogs
- Admissions Brochures
- The Record
- The Misch
- The Whipping Post
- Blueprints
- The Hotchkiss News
- Faculty and Alumni Writings
- Alumni and Development
Administration
- Official School Records
- Student Records
- Committees
- Alumni and Development
- Reunions
- Commencement
School Artifacts and Ephemera
- Awards and Trophies
- Cutlery and China
- Post Cards
- Souvenirs
Donating
Transfer of Records Within the School Community
The School Archivist and a designated person from each office or body producing records shall determine which inactive records have permanent value and arrange to transmit those records to the School Archives on a mutually acceptable schedule. The selection of records is based on guidelines established by the School Archivist in conjunction with department heads. The originating office or private donor may place further restrictions on access to their donations in addition to those mandated for administrative, Board of Trustees, employee and student records described in the official mandate from the School’s Board of Trustees, February 2007.
Gifts from Outside The School
Gifts coming from outside the School include items donated by alumni, parents, former faculty or friends of the School. In order for documents to become part of the Hotchkiss School Archives collection, the following needs to apply potential donors should consider the following:
- The gift should be relevant to and consistent with the purpose of the School’s Archives.
- Gifts should have demonstrated authenticity, established provenance and clear proof of title and will not be accepted if the donor's ownership of such records is uncertain
- The Hotchkiss School Archives should be able to provide for appropriate access, storage, and preservation that comply with accepted professional standards.
- Gifts should be in a condition suitable for exhibition or in a condition that the School has the resources to restore and maintain.
- Acquisitions become the property of the School Archives.
- All acquisitions are intended to be part of the Archives’ permanent collection for the benefit and maintenance of the collection and are subject to Archives’ restriction policies unless otherwise negotiated by the donor and the Archivist.
- All relevant copyright, reproduction rights and privileges will be transferred to the School.
Retaining Collections
Since collection appraisal is a continuous process, accepting material does not commit the The Hotchkiss School Archives to retain any material in perpetuity. In the case of publications, the School maintains a maximum of three copies of any item, particularly School magazines and yearbooks that can be found elsewhere on campus. Unwanted items within donated collections will be disposed of in accordance with the stipulations in the donation agreement. When possible, these items are returned to the donor, transferred to the Edsel Ford Memorial Library, or another department that might use them or sold. At some future time, the Archives may decide to digitize, or otherwise reformat donated collections for preservation purposes. In this instance, the original material may be kept by the Archives, returned to the donor, or destroyed according to the terms of the donation agreement.
Items the Hotchkiss School Archives Does Not to Collect
- Printed material that is available in another form, i.e. newspaper clippings.
- Books or periodicals unless their content is in some way unique or has particular links to The Hotchkiss School, its faculty, staff, or students. Duplicate published or distributed materials, i.e. School catalogs, commencement programs, etc.
- Most three-dimensional artifacts such as furniture, china or building fragments.
