Students enjoying a rowing outing – Part of the Historic Campus Photographs Digital Collection
The College Archives is always seeking out new records and collections that support our mission to preserve and make accessible the history of St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St. Mary’s County, and Southern Maryland. We collect anything from personal and political papers to family histories, correspondence, and business records. If you are an alumni of the College, or related to one, we are particularly interested in records that highlight the experiences of students and the campus culture. This might include any correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, journals, meeting minutes and flyers from clubs and student organizations, “underground” publications shared among classmates, and any other ephemeral items (such as play programs, school assignments, etc.) which belonged to former alumna and alumni. Materials related to the post-college careers of notable alumni are also welcomed.
It is important to consider that the school suffered a devastating fire in 1924, resulting in the loss of much of the school’s history and records. Any pre-1924 document or photograph related to St. Mary’s Female Seminary is an extremely important historical item. Although archivists generally prefer originals, in the case of pre-1924 items, analog or digital copies of items are gladly accepted.
In addition to pre-1924 records relating to St. Mary’s Female Seminary, the College Archives is also seeking to acquire records that are currently Missing from our Collections. If you have one of the publications listed, please consider donating to the College Archives.
The Process
We hope to make donating material as easy as possible. If you have records that you would like to donate, we will walk you through the process from start to finish. The first step is to talk with our College Archivist about the potential donation. The College Archivist will be able to determine if your records fit with our current collection focus, or if there is a more appropriate organization to contact.
Any donation to the College Archives should be accompanied by a signed Deed of Gift form. This form exists to create an internal record of donations to the College Archives, while also outlining what donors agree to when donating their materials. Additional restrictions and stipulations may be added to the Deed of Gift on request.
Once the Deed of Gift has been signed by the donor and the College Archivist, records can be formally transferred. Depending on the size of a collection, this can be done by mail or by dropping off the records at the College Archives. Other options may be considered for larger collections.
If you have any questions, or are interested in donating to our collections, please reach out to archives@smcm.edu.
After Donation
Once the collections are housed in the College Archives, they will be properly cared for and stored in a modern storage area which is equipped with fire suppression and its own, dedicated HVAC unit that maintains a consistent temperature and relative humidity. The College Archives will then organize, process, and describe the donation so that others can easily find them. This process does take time, but we aim to make all collections available as quickly as possible, unless restrictions are requested. Additional donations may be added to collections at any time.