Archives

We are a modestly staffed organization, and we encourage you to make an appointment before visiting us. This way we can ensure that someone will be here to help you. Otherwise, there are very few restrictions on access to the collections.

Please refer to the Dominican University Copyright Declaration for details about our policies.

Do not assume that Dominican University Archives holds physical and/or intellectual copyright on any given material. It is highly recommended that you consult with the Dominican archivist before attempting to publish any of our materials.

It is the responsibility of the researcher to secure permission to publish material found in the Archives and to adhere to laws of copyright and literary and intellectual property right.

If you have any further questions, we encourage you to consult the United States Copyright Office website.

All photocopies cost 50¢ per page. All scans and .pdfs cost $1 per page.

Copies are provided for your personal research needs only. Copying is a service to the patron, not a purchase of the material or of its contents. This service is provided as a courtesy, to expedite your research, and to lessen any wear on the documents.

Please credit any materials used using our preferred citations:

Copies are not to be given to any other person, institution, or used for any commercial enterprise. The Dominican University Archives reserves the right to require that copies be returned to us upon request when you have completed your research.

In some cases it might be necessary to refuse copying due to the physical condition of the material, lack of staffing, special restrictions outlined by the donor, or copyright laws (see below). The amount of copying from any particular work may also be limited at the discretion of the archivist or donor.

Please plan ahead if you will require a large mail or telephone copy request as such jobs often necessitate a substantial allowance for research time.

Archives and Special Collections Usage Restrictions

To protect the unique holdings of the Dominican University Archives, and to facilitate research, all researchers must abide by the following rules:

• Positive identification is required of all prospective researchers.


• Visitors must sign the Archives Log each visit.


• All coats, briefcases, portfolios, notebooks, purses, and all items not essential to one’s research must be stored during use of the archive.


• The use of a pen of any kind is prohibited.


• No eating, drinking, or smoking is permitted while using archival materials. There are, however, areas where such activities are permitted.


• Each patron is limited to one box of material at a time. Remove one folder at a time, and remove nothing from the folder even if you wish to have it copied.


• All materials must be handled with utmost care. Manuscripts may not be leaned on, written upon, folded anew, traced, erased, or handled in any way likely to damage them. It is the responsibility of the researcher to help safeguard all of the Archive’s materials.


• The exact order and arrangement of the materials must be maintained. If any misarrangement is discovered, please notify a staff member immediately. Do not rearrange them yourself.


• Proper consideration of other researchers is expected.

We also do require that, should you wish to bring a classroom into the Archive, teachers are responsible for arranging for adequate levels of supervision for our younger users.

Lastly, we humbly request that all researchers provide the Archive with a free copy of any publication which is based in whole or in part upon its holdings.